Lung cancer is serious disease that kills thousands around the world every year. It is a health issue that worries health organizations for past long years. It is in simple words, the growth of abnormal cells in the lung that invade nearby tissues and form tumours. Lung cancer begins in the lungs and affect any part of the respiratory system,  with the cancer cells spreading, metastasizing to the lymph nodes and other parts of the body.

Smoking is a major reason for lung cancer, causing deaths. Being exposed to arsenic, asbestos, radioactive dust, or the chances of getting lung cancer are the maximum. People who are exposed to radiation at work or elsewhere also have more chances of getting lung cancer.

Early lung cancer doesn’t show out any symptoms, making it hard to identify in the early stages. In its advanced stage, it gets affected to the working of the lungs. The first signs of lung cancer may include coughing, wheezing, feeling short of breath and getting blood in any mucus that you cough up.

There are chances of lung cancer getting spread to the chest and then to other parts of the body. The cancer getting affected to the brain can cause seizures, headaches, or vision changes.

Lung cancer is identified through a chest X ray or a CT scan. Surgery, anti-cancer medicines like chemotherapy, radiation or a mix of all three are involved in the treatment of lung cancer. The treatment mostly depends on the type of cancer.
The treatment is effective in the primary stages. But in the late stages, things may go out of control. Just less than half of people affected by lung cancer make it out to live more than a year after the cancer is found. And only about 15 out of every 100 people cross 5 or more years.  It is a must to say good bye to cigarettes to avoid cancer. The more distance you maintain from smoking, the safe you are from lung cancer.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 27th, 2008 at 9:56 am and is filed under Lung Cancer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.