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Approach to Lung Cancer





Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung.



The vast majority (85%) of cases of lung cancer are due to long-term tobacco smoking.



Lung cancer is classified as small cell lung cancer and non small cell lung cancer. This classification was done to help aide treatment decision. Non small cell lung cancer includes squamous cell lung cancer, adenocarcinoma, large cell carcinoma and bronchoalveolar carcinoma.



Risk for lung cancer increases with age. The longer you smoke, the greater the risk. Very few cases gets diagnosed in people under 40 years old and the most common age of diagnosis is between age 70 to 74 years old.



Symptoms of lung cancer include difficulty breathing, coughing up blood, chest pain, loss of appetite, weight loss and general fatigue.



Some lung cancer do not cause any noticeable symptoms until they are quite advanced and have spread to other parts of the body.



Drug treatment or chemotherapy is the usual treatment of small cell lung cancer because they spread too quickly for surgery to be useful.



For the other types of lung cancer, surgery is first used to remove the main tumour, if it has not spread too far. If surgery is not possible, then radiotherapy is used instead.



What are the benefits of quitting smoking?

1 year after quitting: The excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker’s.

15 years after quitting: The risk of coronary heart disease is that of a nonsmoker's

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