Lung Cancer

What is lung cancer?

Lung (pulmonary) cancer is a potentially life-threatening disease that occurs when cells within your lung undergo changes that cause them to multiply rapidly. The cancerous cells don’t die like healthy lung cells; instead, they collect to form masses that affect your lung function.

Lung cancer typically affects one lung at first but may pass into your other lung and nearby lymph nodes. Without treatment, the cancer could spread to other parts of your body (metastasize), at which point your chances of survival drop significantly.

What are the types of lung cancer?

There are two main types of lung cancer:

Non-small cell lung cancer

This is the most common type of lung cancer. There are three types of non-small cell lung cancer: adenocarcinomas, squamous cell carcinomas, and large cell carcinomas.

Small cell lung cancer

Small cell lung cancer begins in the bronchi, which are the airways in your lungs. This type of cancer occurs almost exclusively in smokers.

What causes lung cancer?

Cigarette smoking causes 80-90% of all cases of lung cancer, and exposure to secondhand smoke increases your risk. Cigarette smoke contains carcinogens that damage cells in the tissues inside your lungs. With ongoing exposure to these cancer-causing substances, the affected cells grow abnormally and develop into lung cancer.

You can also get lung cancer if you’re a non-smoker who has never been exposed to cigarette smoke. Lung cancer can develop from inhaling carcinogens such as radon and asbestos. However, in some cases, the cause can’t be determined.

What symptoms develop due to lung cancer?

Lung cancer usually doesn’t cause symptoms until it reaches an advanced stage. When symptoms appear, you’ll experience:

• Cough that doesn’t improve or gets worse
• Onset of wheezing
• Cough that produces blood
• Shortness of breath
• Hoarseness
• Fatigue
• Chest discomfort
• Unexplained weight loss

Depending on the location of your lung cancer, you may develop symptoms beyond the lungs.

How is lung cancer treated?

Lung cancer treatment typically begins with chemotherapy, with or without radiation. 

Several state-of-the-art radiation therapy techniques are available for treating lung cancer, including:

• Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT)
• Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT)
• Image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT)
• Four-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (4D CRT)

These treatments use advanced technology to pinpoint cancerous cells with the utmost precision. This ensures that the radiation therapy reduces or eliminates your cancer while causing a minimal effect to healthy surrounding tissues.

Patients with non-small cell lung cancer may be candidates for targeted therapy, which uses advanced medications to stop new blood vessels from growing. Surgery may also be an option in some cases.

To get expert lung cancer treatment, call the office of Kamlesh Kumar Sankhala, MD, or request a consultation online today.