Lung Cancer

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When a person has lung cancer, cells in the lungs grow out of control. More people die from lung cancer than from any other kind of cancer. More women die each year of lung cancer than of breast cancer.

What causes lung cancer?

• Smoking causes almost all lung cancer.
• The more you smoke and the longer you smoke, the more likely you are to have lung cancer.

What are the signs of lung cancer?

• A cough that does not go away
• Chest pain
• Weight loss
• Not feeling hungry
• Coughing up bloody mucus
• Trouble breathing
• Hoarseness
• Lots of lung infections, such as pneumonia

How is lung cancer found?

• Chest x-ray or scans to check for spots on the lungs
• Looking at coughed up cells under a microscope
• A doctor can use a small, flexible tube with a camera that is put into the airways. It checks for parts of the lung that don't look normal and takes samples of tissues.

There are two kinds of lung cancer:

• Small cell lung cancer
• Non-small cell lung cancer

Each kind of lung cancer grows and spreads in different ways and is treated differently.

Stages of lung cancer:

• "Stage" means how far the cancer has spread. Sometimes lung cancer is found early and it is only in the lungs. Other times it has spread to other parts of the body.
• When lung cancer is found, the doctor will do tests to see how far the cancer has spread. The test will help the doctor decide which treatments to suggest.
• How well those treatments work depends on how far the cancer has spread.

How is lung cancer treated?

• Surgery--an operation to take out the cancer
• Chemotherapy--drugs that kill cancer cells
• Radiation--high-dose x-rays that kill cancer cells You might need two or more of these treatments.

August 2005