What Is Lung Cancer?

Lung cancer is a disease of an uncontrolled cell growth in lungs. It is the second most common form of cancer in most western countries, and it is the leading cause of caner deaths. Lung cancer is indeed a alife threatening disease, since it often spreads before the disease is discovered.

Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers in the US, accounting for about 15% of all cancer patients. There are also approx or 175,000 new cases every single year. Lung cancer is the top cancer-killer in both men and women alike, in the US.

Since the late 1980s, lung cancer has topped breast cancer as the leading category of cancer death in women. It is also very hard to treat effectively. Lung cancer is usually categorized as non-small cell or small cell, depending on how the cells appear under the microscope.

Alike to a host of other types of cancer, lung cancer is started by activation of oncogenes or inactivation of tumor suppressor genes. The risk of developing lung cancer is increased 10-40 times if you are a smoker. If you smoke more than 20 cigarettes each day, your risk of getting lung cancer is about 30 to 40 times higher than if you did not smoke cigarettes.

One of the most obvious symptoms of lung cancer is coughing up blood, or "haemoptysis". If small cell lung cancer is found in its early stages and if it appears to be localized to only the lung (without any spread to lymph nodes), a 5/yr survival rate is about twenty percent. If lung cancer is suspected or discovered, you will have a series of many tests that are designed to confirm that the disease is present, and to determine how widely the cancer has spread around to other area.

If lung cancer is discovered, a patient may opt into one of the several clinical trials that being held to help improve treatment. Currently the only way to diagnose lung cancer is with invasive techniques, such as taking a sample of flesh or cells from the inside of the lung for analysis.

Currently, when lung cancer is discover in an individual, the disease has already spread past the lung in approx 15 percent to 30% of patients. It is also possible that if lung cancer is discovered, it may be found at an early stage. The very best way to prevent lung cancer from developing is to quit, or never start smoking.

For indepth information on lung cancer, please visit my lung cancer site.