Details of Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is a type of cancer that begins in the lungs.

• Shortness of breath
• Chest pain
• Hoarseness
• Losing weight without trying
• Bone pain
• Headache
• Coughing up blood

• Smoking
• Exposure to secondhand smoke

• Imaging tests
• Sputum cytology
• Tissue sample (biopsy)

Treatment plan will depend upon a number of factors, such as overall health, type and stage of cancer, and the patient’s preferences.

Surgery: In surgery, surgeon removes the lung cancer and a margin of healthy tissue. Procedures include Wedge resection, segmental resection, lobectomy and pneumonectomy.

Radiation therapy: Radiation therapy uses high-powered beams, such as X-rays and protons, to kill cancer cells.

Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy can be used to kill cancer cells and prevent them from growing. It can be injected into the body or taken orally.

Immunotherapy: Immunotherapy uses your immune system to fight cancer. Your body's disease-fighting immune system may not attack your cancer because the cancer cells produce proteins that make them undetectable by the immune system cells. Immunotherapy works by interfering with that process.

Stereotactic body radiotherapy:

Targeted drug therapy:

Palliative care:

Which makes this worse:

• Smoking
• Radiation therapy
• Exposure to secondhand smoke
• Exposure to radon gas
• Exposure to asbestos and other carcinogens

• Shortness of breath
• Fluid in the chest (pleural effusion)
• Spread to other parts Pain