Lung Cancer
Causes of Lung Cancer
- • Around 80% of lung cancers are caused by smoking or by indirect exposure to smoke (passive smoking)
- • Breathing industrial chemicals eg asbestos, arsenic or radon
The risk of lung cancer increases with age. There are few if any inherited conditions that increase the risk of lung cancer in non-smokers.
In the UK around 38,000 people are diagnosed with lung cancer each year.
Symptoms of Lung Cancer:
- Difficulty breathing
- Coughing up blood
- Chest pain
- Loss of appetite
- Weight loss
- General fatigue
Some lung cancers don’t cause any symptoms until they are quite advanced and have spread to other parts of the body.
Types of Lung Cancer
- 1. Small cell lung cancer
- 2. Squamous cell carcinoma
- 3. Large cell carcinoma
- 4. Adenocarcinoma
Smoking is strongly linked to the first three cancers.
Lung Cancer can be diagnosed on chest X-rays. However the main method is bronchoscopy where a thin tube is inserted down the airways under anaesthetic. This allows doctors to see the inside of the lungs and they can also take a biopsy. A CT scan may find out if the cancer has spread.
Treatment of lung cancer
Chemotherapy is the usual treatment for small cell lung cancers. Radiotherapy may also be used. For the other types of lung cancer surgery is used to remove the tumour. If surgery is not an option then radiotherapy is used instead. Chemotherapy can be used in different ways to shrink the tumour before surgery or to kill off any remaining cancer cells after surgery.
These treatments can prolong a patient’s life but cures are very rare.