Detection of lung cancer
Lung cancer is a terribely dangerous disease that affects millions of people world wide every year. Millions die and millions are negatively impacted by their passing. Lung cancer is a disease that we all need to learn about because someone we know or love will probably have to deal with it at some point. It is also very important that we realize what the causes of lung cancer are and how to prevent it. Many people have heard that lung cancer is mostly caused by smoking, which is absolutely true. Over four hundred different carcinogenic substances have been found in tobacco smoke. While there are other causes like asbestos and radon exposure, as well as genetics, the simple fact is that smoking causes lung cancer. Another important thing to learn about lung cancer are the detection methods used to find and identify the disease. If you or a loved one are at risk for lung cancer you might want to learn a little bit more about these methods. Detailed bellow are some of the different methods and an explanation of how they can help find the disease.
Unfortunately there is no early screening practice for lung cancer, unlike diseases such as cervical cancer or prostate cancer. If such an exam could be generated it would surely save many thousand lives every year. Chest x-rays and sputum cytology have been used as a screening technique but have generally been show to be ineffective in locating the disease quickly. Some new technology is in development that might work as an early screening test for the general public. Such an exam, if effective, could be very usefull and save thousands of lives.
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Because the disease is so difficult to diagnose or detect early, most lung cancers are only found after they have developed to very dangerous levels. Even at this point the cancer is detected because of symptoms that lead to other, unrelated medical exams. If the test could be detected early the survival rate would probably jump considerably. As it is, late detection and treatment has only a fifteen percent recovery rate.
The basic symptoms of lung cancer are things like a constant cough that will not go away, chest pain, hoarseness, weight loss, coughing up blood, shortness of breath, wheezing, ongoing unexplained fever. If the cancer has spread to other parts of the body the patient might experience jaundice, neurological problems, and bone pain. If you experience any of these symptoms you should immediately contact a physician and be looked at. A simple examination could save your life of the life of someone you know. Waiting or hessitating to get checked out could cost you your life. This is especially the case if you are at risk for lung cancer.
Once a doctor suspects lung cancer they will have an X-ray and CT scan or MRI done. These tests image the lungs and should be able to determine if there is some sort of tumor and what the tumor is doing. They should hopefully also be able to determine if the cancer has spread, which is the primary danger. Once the physician has made the diagnosis a program of treatment can be hammered out and settled on.
If you or a loved one experiences any of the symptons of lung cancer, and especially if they are at a high risk for contracting the disease, you should have them go to a doctor at once. Do not hesitate with this disease because it will not hesitate with you. By becoming informed about the diseaes you will have taken the first step towards fighting it.
