Overview of Lung Cancer
The most common cancer, the most difficult to detect and the least effective treatment, the most deadly today is lung cancer. In Vietnam, after liver cancer, lung cancer is the second most dangerous disease in both men and women. So what is lung cancer? How many stages of lung cancer are there, what are the symptoms and causes of lung cancer?
Currently, according to research results, lung cancer is divided into 2 types: small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer.
Causes of Lung Cancer
Patients get lung cancer due to the following causes:
- Smoking: Currently, 90% of patients with lung cancer are due to smoking, 4% of patients are due to inhaling a significant amount of cigarette smoke every day.
- The working environment is a factor that can easily cause lung cancer. Environmental agents that cause lung cancer include: dust, people working in steel, nickel, chromium and coal gas environments.
- Exposure to radiation: This is the cause of many cancers, including lung cancer. Patients working in uranium, fluorspar and hacmatite mines can be exposed to radiation by breathing air containing radon gas.
Symptoms of lung cancer
Common symptoms of lung cancer include:
- Prolonged cough that does not go away.
- Feeling short of breath, shortness of breath, bloody sputum.
- Chest pain.
- After a period of incubation, the patient may experience weight loss, fatigue, hoarseness, difficulty swallowing, wheezing, bone pain and even pleural effusion
How lung cancer is transmitted
Like other cancers, lung cancer cannot be transmitted from one person to another.
People at risk of lung cancer
People at high risk of lung cancer are smokers, passive smokers, people with relatives with lung cancer, working in environments with a risk of exposure to carcinogens… In particular, the older you are, the greater the possibility and frequency of getting cancer.
Lung cancer prevention
Based on the causes of the disease, the following measures can be proposed to prevent lung cancer:
- Do not smoke or avoid exposure to cigarette smoke.
- Improve the living environment as well as the working environment by improving industrial hygiene, avoiding exposure to smoke.
- Go for regular health check-ups to promptly prevent and have treatment methods.
Lung Cancer Diagnosis
To diagnose whether a patient has lung cancer or not, the following diagnostic methods must be used:
- Chest X-ray will help detect the disease early.
- Chest CT scan to determine the location, size and extent of the tumor’s growth outside the lung.
- Take a biopsy in an abnormal area of the lung, then stain and examine under an optical microscope to diagnose the extent of lung cancer.
Lung Cancer Treatment
Lung cancer has many different stages. Each stage of the disease requires a specific treatment method.
- Surgical method to remove the tumor: This method is most effective when the tumor is small and has not metastasized. To be able to have surgery, the patient needs to be in good physical condition.
- Radiation therapy: is applied to destroy tumors when they are small and have not metastasized or to limit the growth of large tumors. Radiation therapy can help prolong the patient’s life, but rarely cures the disease.
- Chemotherapy: 80-90% of lung cancer patients have their disease reduced when the cells are still small and chemotherapy is used for treatment. In late-stage cases, chemotherapy only has the effect of relieving symptoms and prolonging life.
- Supportive treatment: used for patients in the final stages of the disease, can only care for the patient, treat symptoms and relieve pain.
- Autologous immunotherapy: A breakthrough in cancer treatment – including lung cancer, helping to improve treatment effectiveness as well as the quality of life of patients.
