Lung cancer is a cancer that starts in the lungs and is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. People who smoke are at the top of the lung cancer risk group. However, it is known that people who have never smoked in their lives can also get lung cancer. The risk of lung cancer increases with each cigarette. Even if a person smokes for many years, the risk of lung cancer is greatly reduced when they quit smoking.
Lung Cancer
TYPES OF CANCER
Lung Cancer Symptoms
Lung cancer does not cause intense signs and symptoms in its initial stages. Signs and symptoms of the disease appear as the disease progresses. The signs and symptoms of lung cancer are generally as follows:
⦁ The first symptoms of lung cancer include an increasing and persistent cough
⦁ Coughing up a little blood
⦁ Shortness of breath
⦁ Chest pain
⦁ Involuntary weight loss
⦁ Hoarseness
⦁ Headache
⦁ Bone and joint pain
If you are experiencing signs or symptoms that concern you, you should make an appointment with a pulmonologist. If you smoke and find it difficult to quit, you can also make an appointment with your doctor to see a smoking cessation clinic. Your doctor will develop strategies for you to quit smoking through counselling, medication or nicotine replacement products.
What Causes Lung Cancer?
Smoking takes the first place among the causes of lung cancer. There is a risk of cancer for both smokers and people exposed to smoke, which we call passive smokers. However, lung cancer can also occur in people who have never smoked and in people who have never been exposed to cigarette smoke for a long time.
Why Does Smoking Cause Lung Cancer?
Doctors believe that smoking causes cancer by damaging the cells surrounding the lungs. When cigarette smoke filled with carcinogens is inhaled, changes in lung tissue begin immediately. The human body can repair this damage at first. However, as exposure to cigarette smoke increases, the cells lining the lungs become increasingly damaged. After a certain period of time, the cells become abnormally active and eventually cancer can develop.
Types of Lung Cancer
Doctors divide lung cancer into two main types according to how the cancer cells look under a microscope. Your doctor will plan a treatment programme according to the type of cancer you have.
⦁ Small cell lung cancer: Almost all people with small cell lung cancer are smokers. It is a less common cancer than non-small cell lung cancer.
⦁ Non-small cell lung cancer: Non-small cell lung cancer is a general name for other types of cancer. These include squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma and large cell carcinoma.
Risk Factors
Some risk factors increase your chances of developing lung cancer. Some risk factors can be controlled by quitting smoking. However, examples such as a family history of lung cancer are among the uncontrollable risk factors.
⦁ Smoking: The risk of cancer increases according to the number of cigarettes smoked daily and the number of years of smoking. If you quit smoking, no matter how many years you have been smoking, you will greatly reduce your risk of cancer.
⦁ Passive smoking: Even if you do not smoke, the risk of lung cancer increases if you are a passive smoker.
⦁ Previous cancer treatment: Receiving radiation to the chest area while being treated for another cancer increases the likelihood of developing lung cancer.
⦁ Radon gas: Radon gas is produced by the natural breakdown of soil, rock and water and is released into the air we breathe. Radon gas can accumulate almost everywhere, including in our homes.
⦁ Exposure to asbestos and other carcinogens: Exposure to asbestos or other cancer-causing carcinogens (such as arsenic, nickel and chromium) at work increases the risk of cancer.
⦁ Family history of lung cancer: If you have a family member with a history of lung cancer, there is a chance that you may also develop cancer.
Complications Caused by Lung Cancer
Lung cancer is known to cause the following complications:
⦁ Shortness of breath: Airways may become blocked due to lung cancer and shortness of breath may occur. Fluid accumulation may occur in the lungs due to cancer. This may cause the lungs not to expand sufficiently during breathing and increase shortness of breath.
⦁ Coughing up blood: Coughing up blood (haemoptysis) may occur due to cancer. From time to time, haemoptysis may increase in intensity. There are special treatments for haemoptysis.
⦁ Pain: Cancer that continues to progress and spread can cause pain.
⦁ Fluid accumulation in the chest cavity (pleural effusion): Fluid accumulation in the chest cavity (pleural cavity) can occur due to lung cancer.
⦁ Spread of cancer to other parts of the body (metastasis): Lung cancer often spreads to other parts of the body, such as bone and brain. This is called metastasis.
Cancer that spreads as a result of metastasis can cause pain, nausea, headaches or other symptoms depending on the organ affected.
Lung Cancer Prevention Methods
There is no clear and definite method to prevent lung cancer. However, you can reduce your risk of cancer with the following suggestions:
⦁ Do not start smoking
⦁ Stop smoking
⦁ Avoid passive smoking
⦁ Have your home tested for radon gas
⦁ Avoid contact with carcinogenic substances at work
⦁ Take care to consume seasonal fruits and vegetables
⦁ Exercise on certain days of the week
Lung Cancer Diagnosis
If there is a suspicion that you have lung cancer, your doctor may want to investigate your cancerous cells by ordering a series of tests.
⦁ Imaging techniques: Various imaging techniques can detect the presence of a lung tumour. Methods such as computed tomography or X-rays can detect small lesions in the lung.
⦁ Sputum cytology: If you have a cough and expectorate sputum, your sputum can be examined under a microscope. Sputum can detect the presence of tumours or lesions in the lung.
⦁ Tissue sample (biopsy): A biopsy can be used to take a sample of cells that are thought to be abnormal.
Lung Cancer Stages
Careful analysis in a laboratory will reveal which type of lung cancer you have. Which stage of lung cancer you are in will inform the doctor so that appropriate treatment can be started. Staging tests involve imaging procedures to look for evidence of which organs beyond the lung the cancer has spread to. Not every test may be suitable for every person. Your doctor will therefore order the tests that are most appropriate for you.
The stages of lung cancer are shown by Roman numerals ranging from 0 to IV. When the first symptoms of lung cancer appear, tests may show that you are in the first stage. The first stage is labelled ‘0’. This stage indicates that the cancer is confined to the lung and is in its early stages. If the lung cancer is in the last stage, it is indicated by ‘IV’. At this stage, it is clear that the cancer is advanced and has spread to other organs of the body.
Lung Cancer Treatment
Your doctor will create a treatment plan based on your general state of health, the type of cancer, the stage of the cancer and your preferences.
Surgery
Surgery removes the tumour causing the lung cancer and some surrounding healthy tissue. Surgery to remove lung cancer involves one of the following procedures
⦁ A small piece of lung containing the tumour with healthy tissue is removed.
⦁ A large section of the lung is removed.
⦁ The entire lobe of the lung with the tumour is removed.
⦁ The whole lung is removed.
If you have surgery, your doctor may also remove the lymph nodes in your chest to check for signs of cancer. Surgery may be an option if the cancer is confined to the lungs. If you have more advanced lung cancer, your doctor may recommend chemotherapy or radiation therapy to reduce the cancer before surgery. If there is a possibility of cancer recurrence after surgery, your doctor may recommend postoperative chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy is the use of high-powered energy from sources such as X-rays and protons to kill cancer cells. During radiation therapy, you lie on a table and a machine moves around you to deliver radiation to the cancerous areas of your body. Radiation therapy can be given to patients with localised lung cancer before or after surgery. It is usually applied together with chemotherapy. In patients who cannot undergo surgery, radiation therapy is combined with chemotherapy and becomes the primary cancer treatment. In end-stage lung cancers, radiation therapy can help reduce symptoms such as pain.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells. One or more chemotherapy drugs are given either intravenously or by mouth. Chemotherapy can usually last for weeks or months. Chemotherapy is usually used after surgery to remove the remaining cancer cells. It is sometimes used alone or sometimes in combination with radiotherapy. It is also known that chemotherapy is used to reduce cancer cells and make them easier to remove. In people with advanced lung cancer, chemotherapy can be used to relieve pain and other symptoms.
Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy
Stereotactic body radiotherapy, also known as radiosurgery, is an intensive radiation treatment that delivers many types of radiation to the cancer from many angles. Stereotactic body radiotherapy may be an option for people with small lung cancer who cannot have surgery. It may also be recommended in the process of treating lung cancers that have spread to other organs of the body, including brain cancer formation.
Targeted Cancer Treatment
Targeted drug therapies focus on specific abnormalities found in cancer cells. By blocking these abnormalities, targeted drug therapies can cause cancer cells to die. Some targeted therapies only work in people whose cancer cells have certain genetic mutations. Your cancer cells must be tested in a laboratory to see if these medicines can help you.
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy uses your immune system to fight cancer. Your body's disease-fighting immune system may not attack your cancer. This is because cancer cells produce proteins that help them hide from immune system cells. Immunotherapy is a treatment to interfere with this process. Immunotherapy treatments are usually divided into two categories for people with locally advanced lung cancers and for people with cancers that have spread to other parts of the body.
Palliative (Supportive) Care
People with lung cancer often experience the signs and symptoms of cancer as well as the negative side effects of treatment. Supportive care, also known as palliative care, is a set of treatments to minimise your signs and symptoms. Your doctor may recommend that you meet with a palliative care team soon after your cancer diagnosis to help you relax during and after cancer treatment. Studies have shown that patients receiving palliative care have increased survival rates for small cell lung cancer. Lung cancer survival can be increased with supportive care.
How long does a person with lung cancer live?
It should be noted that the patient's life expectancy is prolonged with personalised treatment, and the one-year life expectancy, which is 15%-20% in advanced lung cancer, increases to 60%.
Is there a chance of surviving lung cancer?
Although this disease takes the lives of many people, the rate of recovery from the disease is around 80% - 90% with early diagnosis and treatment.
How to recognise lung cancer?
The clearest symptom is persistent cough. In addition, chest pain, shortness of breath, fever, hoarseness, swelling in the face and neck, shoulder and arm pain, back pain, difficulty in swallowing and bloody sputum.
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