Lung Cancer
What Is It?
Lung cancer is the 2nd most common cancer in the United Kingdom (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer). There were 37,100 people diagnosed in the UK in 2003. In most people lung cancer is related to cigarette smoking. Although some people who have never smoked get lung cancer, smoking causes 9 out of 10 cases.The more you smoke, the more likely you are to get lung cancer but it is the length of time you have been a smoker that is most important. Passive smoking (breathing other people's cigarette smoke) does increase the risk of lung cancer, but it is still much less than if you smoke yourself.
Other risk factors for lung cancer:
Exposure to radon gas
Exposure to certain chemicals
Air pollution
Scarring from previous lung disease, for example tuberculosis (TB)
A family history of lung cancer
Past cancer treatment
Diet
Symptoms
Common symptoms are:
Having a cough most of the time
A change in a cough you have had for a long time
Being short of breath
Coughing up phlegm (sputum) with signs of blood in it
An ache or pain when breathing or coughing
Loss of appetite
Fatigue
Losing weight
Treatment
There are a number of factors that will help your specialist plan your treatment:The type of lung cancer you have
Where the cancer is within the lung
Your general health
Whether the cancer has spread (the 'stage')
Results of blood tests
Small cell lung cancer is mostly treated with chemotherapy. Surgery is not usually used because there is always a high chance of this type of cancer having spread. The surgery would remove the cancer locally, but it would not treat any cells that may have escaped before the operation. You may also have radiotherapy to treat this type of lung cancer.
Non small cell lung cancer can be treated with surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy or a combination of these, depending on the stage when the cancer is diagnosed.