Everything You Need to Know About Lung Cancer | An In-depth Of Lung Cancer And Its Management | Lung cancer refers to the uncontrolled growth of cells in the tissues of the lungs, mainly referred to as tumours. A tumour can either be malignant or benign. Harmful tumours are the ones that are associated with cancer. Lung cancer is one of the types of difficult cancers, especially when they are diagnosed late. This is because it can easily spread to other organs, especially the liver, brain, and adrenal glands. Lung cancer can arise from the bronchioles or the pleura.
What causes lung cancer? This is a question that you could be asking yourself. The truth is that there’s no clear cut answer on what causes lung cancer. Not only lung cancer, but all types of cancers have not been medically and scientifically proven to be caused by factors. In the aspect of lung cancer, here are some things that are risk factors for lung cancer.
Cigarette smoking
It has been confirmed that most of the persons diagnosed with lung cancer are addicts to smoking. This includes or types of smoking, whether bhang or cigarettes, because they both eliminate the soot that causes cell multiplication in your lungs’ tissues.
Exposure to chest therapy
If you have previously undergone some chest radiation therapy, you increase the chances of developing lung cancer.
Exposure to carcinogens
Carcinogens such as asbestos, chromium, nickel, and many others can also make you prone to developing lung cancer.
Familial History
If anyone along your familial lineage has ever suffered from lung cancer, this can also be a risk factor for you developing lung cancer.
What will signal you that you have lung cancer? During the early stages of this condition, the signs and symptoms are always not prudent. Therefore, these signs and symptoms will only be visible when the disease advances. Here are some of the signs that when you see or experience, you ought to seek medical attention:
- Frequent coughing that does not heal despite the antibiotics that you are using.
- Presence of blood in your spit or your cough
- Breathing heavily and sometimes running short of breath
- Loss of weight
- Chest pains accompanied by headache.
- Hoarseness in your voice when talking
Management of Lung Cancer
Lung cancer can be treated effectively when it is diagnosed during its early stages. Lung cancer treatment involves the following:
Lung Surgery
In this surgery, the surgeon will remove the lung affected by cancer and other margins of healthy tissues. The surgery can either be:
- Wedge resection- where the surgeon removes a small section of the lung.
- Segmental resection: The surgeon removes a larger portion of the lung.
- Lobectomy: The surgeon removes the whole lobe of a lung.
- Pneumonectomy: The surgeon removes the entire lung.
Radiotherapy
In this therapy, the physician uses beams of high powered energy to kill the cancerous cells. Most of the time, radiotherapy is combined with chemotherapy when cancer has not advanced adversely through your lungs.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is also one way of managing lung cancer, and it involves the use of drugs to destroy cancerous cells. The drugs can be administered orally or intravenously. Chemotherapy always consists of a combination of various drugs consumed for a certain period.
Conclusion
Apart from the mentioned forms of treating lung cancer, palliative care is also necessary for managing diseases. Palliative care helps in minimizing the signs and symptoms of the disease and also gives you hope. This care helps align the vibrational frequencies of the patient, thus improving his/her quality of life. In palliative care, nutrition therapy is also crucial in helping the patient to regain his weight and improve nutritional status.
