If the disease is ignored, it can lead to death. Therefore, it is important for doctors and medical professionals to diagnose it at an early stage and treat it effectively. Lung cancer, an aggressive form of cancer, needs to be diagnosed before the first symptoms appear.
In order to detect lung cancer, it is first necessary to identify people who are prone to the disease. They are called “vulnerable population”. This population consists of smokers and other types of tobacco users, which are considered major risk factors for lung cancer. People who have smoked for 30 years have a higher risk of developing lung cancer by age 50, so long-term smokers should have a high-resolution CT scan once a year.
Cancer risk for smokers:
20 cigarettes per day for 1 year = 1 pack
30 packs = high risk of cancer
Some warning signs of lung cancer include:
Coughing up blood
Any type of chest pain that lasts for more than 20-30 days
Breathing
Unexplained weight loss
Headache
Loss of appetite
Chronic cough lasting 20-30 days
The main symptoms of lung cancer can be classified as follows.
Chest symptoms or chest symptoms: People with early stage lung cancer often have chest symptoms. Coughing for a long time is the main symptom of the disease. Small cell lung cancer causes a dry cough, while non-small cell lung cancer causes a wet cough with sputum. This sputum can sometimes contain blood.
For example, a patient’s sputum may contain blood in bronchogenic carcinoma, where the tumor spreads to the lung and related blood vessels. A tumor located in the center compresses the nearby blood vessels, which causes blockage of the neck vessels, shortness of breath, and voice changes. These symptoms are considered unusual. Other symptoms of lung cancer include fluid accumulation in the chest. Peripheral tumors involve the chest wall or diaphragm. Such a tumor causes acute pain in the chest area when breathing.
Small cell lung cancer, or SCLC: This is an aggressive form of the disease that accounts for about 13 percent of lung cancers. In this case, the cancer cells grow rapidly and spread to other parts of the body. Therefore, the symptoms appear when the body is already seriously damaged, so the diagnosis can be made only at a late stage.
Non-small cell lung cancer, or NSCLC: In this form of the disease, cancer cells form tumors inside the lungs.
Non-chest symptoms can be diagnosed as follows.
CT or cancer screening
A CT scan is a medical imaging technique used in X-rays to non-invasively capture detailed images of the body for diagnostic purposes.
To prevent exposure to radiation during the scan, CT scans use low doses of radiation in a 1-minute procedure.
