Lung Cancer Symptoms - Lung Cancer: Mass Murderer

The only way to help yourself battle Lung Cancer is to quit smoking. Lung cancer is the most common cancer in both men and women, and it's the most common cause of death in both men and women. The cancer originates in the cells of the lungs; however, it may spread to the lung from other parts of the body. Although there are several kinds of lung cancer, bronchogenic carcinoma is the only one that is most common, and it is almost always caused by lung damage from cigarette smoking. Inhaled tobacco smoke damages the cells that line the bronchi. The more cigarettes a person smokes, the greater the risk of lung cancer. However, a small proportion of the disease (10 to 15 percent in men and 5 percent in women) is caused by substances encountered or breathed in at work. Working with asbestos, radiation, arsenic, chromates, nickel, chloromethyl ethers, mustard gas, and coke-oven emissions has been linked with lung cancer, but usually only in people who also smoke cigarettes.The first symptom of bronchogenic carcinoma is usually a cough, which is most often what the person considers a normal smoker's cough. The disease is closely associated with chronic bronchitis. More than half of the people who develop lung cancer have had bronchitis for years. Along with the cough there is generally some phlegm, which may be bloodstained. You may also be breathless and may have chest pains that are sharp and may become sharper when you take a deep breath, or dull and persistent pains. Sometime there may be wheezing. Sometimes the first symptom of lung cancer originates from the organs to which the cancer has already spread. Bronchogenic carcinoma spreads in about one out of eight cases. The symptoms of this secondary cancer depend on where the cancer cells have settled. If they are in the brain, you may have headaches, feel confused, have an epileptic seizure, or have other symptoms. In the bone, the symptoms are pain, swelling, or fracture. If the cancer is in your skin, cystlike swellings will appear. If it is in your liver, the symptoms may be fatigue, weight loss, and jaundice. Cigarette smoking is the main cause of about 90 percent of lung cancer cases in men, and about 70 percent of them in women. Lung cancer has become more common in women because more women are smoking cigarettes. For cancers other than small cell carcinoma that hasn't spread beyond the lung, surgery is sometimes possible. Among people who have an isolated slow-growing tumor removed, 25 to 40 percent survive at least 5 years, but must have regular checkups.

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