Lung Cancer

Definition of lung cancer:

Cancer that forms in tissues of the lung, usually in the cells lining air passages. The two main types are small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer

Symptoms

Early lung cancer often does not cause symptoms. But as the cancer grows, common symptoms may include:

• a cough that gets worse or does not go away
• breathing trouble, such as shortness of breath
• constant chest pain
• coughing up blood
• a hoarse voice
• frequent lung infections, such as pneumonia
• feeling very tired all the time
• weight loss with no known cause

Most often these symptoms are not due to cancer. Other health problems can cause some of these symptoms. Anyone with such symptoms should see a doctor to be diagnosed and treated as early as possible.

Treatment

Lung cancer is hard to control with current treatments. For that reason, many doctors encourage patients with this disease to consider taking part in a clinical trial. Clinical trials are an important option for people with all stages of lung cancer

Cancer treatment is either local therapy or systemic therapy:

• Local therapy: Surgery and radiation therapy are local therapies. They remove or destroy cancer in the chest. When lung cancer has spread to other parts of the body, local therapy may be used to control the disease in those specific areas. For example, lung cancer that spreads to the brain may be controlled with radiation therapy to the head.
• Systemic therapy: Chemotherapy and targeted therapy are systemic therapies. The drugs enter the bloodstream and destroy or control cancer throughout the body.