Sight:– Lung
Sex Prediction:– Male/Female
Age:– Any Age Group. People Older In Age Are More Prone To Lung Cancer.
Incidence:– Incidence of lung cancer increasing due to smoking and environment conditions. Cancer related death is most due to lung cancer.
Types Of Lung Cancers:
- Small Cell Lung Cancer:
Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is also known as oat cell carcinoma or small cell undifferentiated carcinoma. This cancer usually develops quickly and spreads to other regions like lymph nodes, brain, adrenal glands, bone, and the liver. Risk of SCLC highly increases with tobacco smoking. However, less than 5% of patients have never smoked. - Non Small Cell Lung Cancer:
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is divided into three categories, based on appearance and other characteristics of the cancerous cells: - Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC): SCC forms around 25-30% of all lung cancer cases. SCC is related to tobacco smoking and typically grows in the central region of the lungs.
- Adenocarcinoma: Adenocarcinomas account for approximately 40% of all lung cancer cases. This cancer type usually develops in the outer region of the lungs.
- Large Cell Carcinoma (LCC): LCC accounts for approximately 10-15% of all lung cancer cases. LCC is associated with rapid tumor growth and poor prognosis.
Other, less common types of lung cancers include characinoid tumors, adenoid cystic carcinomas, hematomas, lymphomas, and sarcomas.
Risk Factors:-
Some people are more expected to develop lung cancer as opposed to others. If you have a nodule, the risk factors doctors use to help decide if the nodule may be cancers are:
- Being older in age
- Tobacco smoking
- Having had cancer
- Contact with cancer causing agents (asbestos, silica, radon gas, lead, cobalt sulfate, Nitromethane, X-radiation, Gamma radiation, etc)
- Infectious disease of the lung
- Having had other lung disease
Screening:-
- Chest X-ray
- Chest CT (Computer tomography)scan
- Bronchoscopy(insertion of tube into the bronchi)
- Sputum cytology
Diagnosis Of Lung Cancer
The Pathology Report:-
If there is doubt that a patient is suffering from lung cancer, a sample of tissue (biopsy) is usually taken for assessment. After a biopsy is taken, the pathologist examines the sample at with both naked eyes and microscopic levels. The final report contains details of the tissue’s emergence, cellular make up, and status of disease or normalcy.
Staging:-
Staging a cancer is a method of describing the level of the disease. Mostly cancer staging is done wih the help of T/N/M system. It allocates the extent of severity depending on the size, location, and its reach in the body. Staging of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is done with the help of TNM criteria. Small cell lung cancer is generally staged with the Veterans Administration Lung Study Group System, which is a 2-stage system depending on the site of the cancer. The majority small cell lung cancers are detected in the extensive-stage.
Limited-stage: The cancer is located in only one lung and lymph nodes on the same side of the body
Extensive-stage: The cancer has spread to the other lung and/or other regions of the body
Symptoms Of Lung Cancer:-
- Persistent Cough
- Sputum streaked with blood
- Chest pain
- Voice change
- Recurrent pneumonia and Bronchitis
- Breathlessness
Lung Cancer Treatment
Surgery:-In Early Stage Lung Cancers
Lung surgery methods: Removal of tumor can sometimes be done with one of two methods. The classic method is Thoracotomy. Thoracoscopy also called VATS is a newer method.
Lung surgery types:
Wedge Resection – removal of small part of the lobe.
Segmentectomy – Removal of large part of the Lobe.
Lobectomy – Removal of the entire lobe.
Sleeve Lobectomy– Removal of the entire lobe and part of the Bronchus.
Pneumonectomy – Removal of the entire lung.
Lymph node Surgery: During the surgery, the tumor lymph nodes that have or are likely to have cancer are removed. Lymph nodes are removed with the help of lymph node dissection or systematic lymph node sampling.
Radiation:-
Radiation Therapy uses beams of high energy to treat cancer by damaging the genes of the cell. This either kills or stops the growth of cancer cells. Since radiation can also harm normal cells, new methods are introduced to target the tumor in a precise manner like Image guided Radiotherapy(IGRT) technique,Sterotactic body Radiotherapy(SBRT)
Radiation Methods : – (EBRT) External beam radiation therapy for EBRT a machine outside the body delivers radiation ; The other method is internal radiation therapy also called as (The Brachytherapy).internal radiation involves placing a radioactive object in or near the tumor. For the lung cancer, internal radiation can shrink a tumor blocking an airway. The tube is removed after the treatment.
Radiation is used with mostly and weekly low dose chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy:-
Chemotherapy or chemo is the use of drugs to treat cancer. Chemotherapy stops the growth process of cells in an active growth phase it does not work on the cells in the resting phase.
Most chemotherapy drugs for Lung Cancer are liquids that are slowly injected in the vein some are a pill that are swallowed
Chemotherapy is given in cycles of treatment days followed by the days of rest. This allows the body to recover before the next cycle. Cycles vary in length depending on which drugs are used. Often a cycle is 14, 21, 28 days long.