What is lung cancer?

Lung cancer is cancer that usually starts in the lining of the bronchi (the main airways of the lungs), but can also begin in other areas of the respiratory system, including the trachea, bronchioles, or alveoli. It is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women. In 2008, 215,020 new cases of lung cancer are expected, according to the American Cancer Society.

Lung cancers are believed to develop over a period of many years.

Nearly all lung cancers are carcinomas, a cancer that begins in the lining or covering tissues of an organ. the tumor cells of each type of lung cancer grow and spread differently, and each type requires different treatment. about 85 percent to 90 percent of lung cancers belong to the group called non-small cell lung cancer.

Lung cancers are generally divided into two types:

• Nonsmall cell lung cancer is much more common than small cell lung cancer. the three main kinds of nonsmall cell lung cancer are named for the type of cells in the tumor:
• Squamous cell carcinoma, also called epidermoid carcinoma, is the most common type of lung cancer in men. It often begins in the bronchi and usually does not spread as quickly as other types of lung cancer.
• Adenocarcinoma usually begins along the outer edges of the lungs and under the lining of the bronchi. It is the most common type of lung cancer in people who have never smoked.
• Large cell carcinomas are a group of cancers with large, abnormal-looking cells. these tumors usually begin along the outer edges of the lungs.
• Small cell lung cancer, sometimes called oat cell cancer because the cancer cells may look like oats when viewed under a microscope, grows rapidly and quickly spreads to other organs. There are two stages of small cell lung cancer:
• limited -  cancer is generally found only in one lung. There may also be cancer in nearby lymph nodes on the same side of the chest.
• extensive -  cancer has spread beyond the primary tumor in the lung into other parts of the body.

It is important to find out what kind of lung cancer a person has. the different types of carcinomas, involving different regions of the lung, may cause different symptoms and are treated differently.

What are the symptoms of lung cancer?

The following are the most common symptoms for lung cancer. however, each individual may experience symptoms differently.

Lung cancer usually does not cause symptoms when it first develops, but they often become present after the tumor begins growing. a cough is the most common symptom of lung cancer. other symptoms include:

• constant chest pain
• shortness of breath
• wheezing
• recurring lung infections, such as pneumonia or bronchitis
• bloody or rust-colored sputum
• hoarseness
• a tumor that presses on large blood vessels near the lung can cause swelling of the neck and face
• a tumor that presses on certain nerves near the lung causing pain and weakness in the shoulder, arm, or hand
• fever for unknown reason

Like all cancers, lung cancer can cause:

• fatigue
• loss of appetite
• loss of weight
• headache
• pain in other parts of the body not affected by the cancer
• bone fractures

Other symptoms can be caused by substances made by lung cancer cells–referred to as a paraneoplastic syndrome. Certain lung cancer cells produce a substance that causes a sharp drop in the level of sodium in the blood, which can cause many symptoms, including confusion and sometimes even coma.

None of these symptoms is a sure sign of lung cancer. Only a physician can tell whether a patient’s symptoms are caused by cancer or by another problem. Consult your physician for a diagnosis.

What are the risk factors for lung cancer?

A risk factor is anything that increases a person’s chance of getting a disease such as cancer. different cancers have different risk factors. several risk factors make a person more likely to develop lung cancer:

• Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer, with nearly 90 percent of lung cancers thought to be a result of smoking.

Additional risk factors include:

• secondhand smoke – breathing in the smoke of others
• smoking marijuana cigarettes, which:
• contain more tar than tobacco cigarettes.
• are inhaled very deeply.
• are smoked all the way to the end where tar content is the highest.

Because marijuana is an illegal substance, it is not possible to control whether it contains fungi, pesticides, and other additives.

For more information on lung cancer or to find out more about El Camino Hospital’s current clinical trials, give us a call at (800) 216-5556

Lung cancer is divided into two types, namely:

- Non-small cell lung cancer, ranging from 80% of all lung cancer patients – Small call lung cancer, around 20% of all lung cancer patients. Small cell lung cancer is divided into two types, namely the limited stage and extensive stage.

Although the number of patients with small cell lung cancer types of lung cancer a little more, but information about small cell lung cancer symptoms and treatments are very important for us to know.

Small cell lung cancer symptoms that often arise are:

- persistent cough. Patients will complain of persistent cough. this cough will eventually interfere with the activities and lives of patients. Coughing will not recover even after getting treatment to relieve cough.

- Shortness of breath Patients will complain of shortness of breath. Shortness of breath is initially mild that patients do not complain, but the longer shortness of breath is more severe, so patients can work or will not work.

- Chest pain small cell lung cancer symptoms are also frequently arises is chest pain. DAA pain management in lung cancer should receive serious attention from a doctor. Chest pain in patients with lung cancer can be very powerful at all; patients can suffer greatly from this chest pain.

Small cell lung cancer Treatments

-          Limited Stage

Chemotherapy (platinum-based regimen) is much more effective for small cell lung cancer than for NSCLC.

The overall initial response rate measured by remission of tumor growth or shrinkage of primary tumor mass, or both, with limited small-cell stage from 60% to 90%. a complete response occurs in 45% to 75% with a long-term complete remission (cure) rate about 20%.

-          Extensive Stage

Systemic chemotherapy results in an overall initial response rate of 60% to 70%, with complete response in 20% to 30%. Unfortunately, complete response rates are temporary (median 4 months), and chemotherapy becomes palliative due to the eventual recurrence of tumor.

The median survival rate ranges from 9 to 12 months.

Hope for breakthrough lung cancer test

8:20am Thursday 10th March 2011

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SCIENTISTS in York are hoping to make a breakthrough in developing a non-invasive test for lung cancer.

Cizzle Biotech, a small company set up to further research into the disease, has received £300,000 from Yorkshire Cancer Research and the White Rose Technology Seedcorn Fund to continue its work.

The advances are a spin-off of research started by Dr Dawn Coverley at the University of York, on the Ciz1 b-variant gene, which it is hoped can be used to develop a simple blood test.

Doctors around the world would be able to use the test to improve predict drug response, monitor response to treatment and detect residual disease.

John Lucas, head of Cizzle, said: “The potential of our proposition to benefit cancer patients has increased dramatically with the discovery that the Ciz1 b-variant is prevalent in both small cell and non-small cell lung cancer plasma.

“We know that b-variant is easily detected in plasma from late stage lung cancer patients and absent from plasmas from healthy people, so a key goal now is to test whether Ciz1 b-variant is present in the blood of patients with early stage disease.

“In non-small cell lung cancer, for example, accurate staging is particularly important for decision making about surgery and chemotherapy, making a reliable biomarker such as this highly desirable.”

if Cizzle, which is based at York Science Park, can successfully develop an early stage, non-invasive lung cancer test, patients who have yet to display symptoms of lung cancer may be diagnosed and treated sooner, resulting in improved chances of recovery.

Morgan Williams, Yorkshire Cancer Research’s commercial development officer, said: “This latest investment is another example of that approach, where we financially support good projects that have real potential to fulfil a need, in this case in lung cancer.”

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my dad was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer end of feb 08. symptoms started begining of february. he was paraplegic and ex smoker gave up 4 years ago. he also had heart attack end of august 07. some say that cancer is dormant before it forms a tumor and my question is do you think cancer was there before the heart attack or did heart attack change something for the cancer to start.

*Smoking
*Toxic chemicals
*Environmental pollution
*Family history (gives you a slight risk)

Lung cancer depends upon the person.

Lung cancer can be both slow growing and fast growing. He can ask the pathologist since most tumors have a specific growth range. Many people have no indication of lung cancer until it actually impairs their breathing, which is often quite advanced. that is why treatment isn't always that successful. So sorry that he is sick! My Dad is currently quite ill as well. It's tough because he just can't do what he wants to do.

You can have lung cancer for years and years and not know as by the time the symptoms start its malignant. it wouldn't have been dormant but it could have been benign and then become more agressive as it grew. the heart attack wouldn't have encouraged the cancer. As its just when the coronary artery becomces obstructed and the heart gets starved of oxygen causeing it to become damaged or parts of it to die.
I don't know weather this could also starve the body of oxygen also, but if it did, that could have slowed the cancers growth. if the cancer is in the lungs close to the heart, it could be that the cancerous growth was pressing on the heart causing an obstruction of sorts.

'this isn't fact' this is based on my knowlage.

here is a research group with a message board someone there might know boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/

feb of 07 i had spots on my lung,i also had breast cancer,in dec on my next ct scan the spots had grown in to a tumour,i had no symptons and the tumour is not connected to the breast cancer,i think it was there before the heartattack hun

wen you keep farting and sharting.

cancer experts
i want to know about small cell lung cancer i've read that usualy cancer is dormant for years before it start to grow.
my question is how long usualy takes for the cancer while is growing to show symptoms does it happen realy fast or does it take less than a year les than six month less than three months or does it just take weeks. thanks

That really all depends on when a person decided to get checked. Many times the only symptoms are fatigue or shoulder pain, or shortness of breath.. or all of the above three. most of these symptoms are put down to over work, stress and perhaps an injury so are left untreated. In my case, I thought it was overwork and was just real tired, I developed what I thought was a bronchial attack so went for a routine xray.. the xray looked suspicious, a CT scan was set up.. within a month of tests I was diagnosed with stage iv inoperable, terminal cancer. I know one lady who fell down, hurt her shoulder so went to have it xrayed, her stage four cancer was found. She had no other symptoms… so it really depends on the person. all I can really say is you have to know your body and when something doesn't feel right…. go and have a check up. Its just too difficult to put a time frame of when symptoms will appear.

When lung cancer starts exhibiting symptoms, it is in an advanced stage (III or IV). Early stage (I and II) are often found by accident during an X-ray performed for other reasons, as early stage does not exhibit any symptoms.

The length of time for grow depends on the cancer type. Squamous cell is a slow growing cancer, whereas small cell is a fast growing.