The basics of cancer:
SYMPTOMS
The kind of symptoms that one has and their severity depends on how long the tumor has been there and how
far it has spread. If the growth of the tumor has stayed localized to the lung than a patient may experience
If the Tumor spreads to sites that are distant from the lung than the symptoms can be varying depending on where it spreads to. If the tumor spreads to the brain than it could cause headache, blurry vision, nausea, vomiting, and weakness of any of the limbs. If it spreads to the vertebral column than the tumor can cause back pain. If it spreads to the spinal cord than one might undergo paralysis and if it spreads to the bone anywhere it can cause bone pain.
- Coughing
- Coughing up blood
- Shortness of breath
- Chest pain worsened by deep breathing
- Hoarseness of voice, which happens because of compression of the nerve that works for the vocal cord
- Shortness of breath,which is a result of compression of the nerve that supplies the muscles of the diaphragm
- Severe shortness of breath if the tumor begins to compress the trachea or the airways of the lung.
- Difficulty swallowing if there is compression of the esophagus.
- Swelling of the face and hands, from compression of the superior vena cava which is the vein that returns deoxygenated blood from the upper body.
If the Tumor spreads to sites that are distant from the lung than the symptoms can be varying depending on where it spreads to. If the tumor spreads to the brain than it could cause headache, blurry vision, nausea, vomiting, and weakness of any of the limbs. If it spreads to the vertebral column than the tumor can cause back pain. If it spreads to the spinal cord than one might undergo paralysis and if it spreads to the bone anywhere it can cause bone pain.
The Diagnosis
When diagnosing a patient with Non Small cell lung cancer a doctor first looks at weather the patient has symptoms common of Non small cell lung cancer such as coughing or shortness of breath. Usually just observing these symptoms will not be enough to determine weather a patient actually has the cancer and doctors will need to administer tests and ask the patient questions. The first thing they will probably ask is whether you smoke, and if so, then for how long and how often. This is because smoking cigarettes is the leading cause of NSCLC (Non Small Cell Lung Cancer). After listening to your breathing and asking about your habits they will administer tests that revolve around various parts of your body. The test are so broad because NSCLC is so fast growing that by the time it is diagnosed it has usually spread from the lungs. Some of these tests include:
- Bone scan
- Chest x-ray
- Complete blood count (CBC)
- CT scan
- Liver function tests
- MRI
- Positron emission tomography (PET) scan
- Sputum test (cytology, looking for cancer cells)
- Thoracentesis (removal of fluid from the chest cavity around the lungs)
Treatment
_Non small cell lung cancer when treated is usually not treated with surgery because the cancer is fast to spread. Instead treatment usually involves chemo therapy and radiation.
Limited Lung Cancer-
limited lung cancer is what its referred to if the cancer is still only in one lung and or the central lymph nodes. This stage of the cancer is treated with a combination of chemo and radiation therapies and, if diagnosed early enough, surgery.
Extensive Lung Cancer
Extensive lung cancer is when the cancer has spread beyond one side of the chest and possibly to further areas of the body. About two thirds of the people with NSCLC when diagnosed have extensive lung cancer and need to be treated mainly with chemotherapy. If they react well to the chemotherapy then patients will often get radiation therapy for the brain to prevent the cancer from spreading there which it commonly does.
Chemotherapy
Radiation-Therapy
Limited Lung Cancer-
limited lung cancer is what its referred to if the cancer is still only in one lung and or the central lymph nodes. This stage of the cancer is treated with a combination of chemo and radiation therapies and, if diagnosed early enough, surgery.
Extensive Lung Cancer
Extensive lung cancer is when the cancer has spread beyond one side of the chest and possibly to further areas of the body. About two thirds of the people with NSCLC when diagnosed have extensive lung cancer and need to be treated mainly with chemotherapy. If they react well to the chemotherapy then patients will often get radiation therapy for the brain to prevent the cancer from spreading there which it commonly does.
Chemotherapy
- Chemo therapy is the ingestion or injection of drugs which are meant to stop or slow rapidly growing cells. In adults most cells are not rapidly growing so the chemo therapy mostly affects the cancer cells. There are some cells that are naturally fast growing like hair, bone marrow which is where blood cells are made, and the lining of the gastrointestinal tract which leads to unpleasant side affects such as hair loss, fatigue, and a lowered blood count.
- During Chemotherapy there are usually two or more drugs being administered, most often, intravenously. The drugs are usually given over a one to three day time period about every three weeks. This period of taking the drugs and then waiting for their affect on normal tissue to subside before beginning again is referred to as one cycle of chemotherapy. Depending on how the cancer and the patients body is responding to the Chemotherapy up to six or more cycles of therapy may be necessary.
- For people with limited lung cancer the drugs cisplatin and etoposide are often used in combination.
- For people with extensive lung cancer the drugs cisplatin or carboplatin are often used in combination with either etoposide or irinotecan.
Radiation-Therapy
- Radiation therapy is the use of radiation to destroy and kill cancer cells. Radiation is administered in focused, high energy x rays through various machines depending on what part of the body is being given the radiation and how precise the doctor is trying to be. Radiation therapy kills cancer cells over time during the 5 appointments a week over several weeks which an average patients might have. Unlike chemotherapy, radiation is a local treatment meaning that it is treating only the area with the cancer, also it is relatively painless. The treatment being local restricts side affects only to the site where the radiation is being given. For example: someone getting chest radiation might experience fatigue, mild reddening of the skin on the chest, and a sore throat, where as someone getting brain radiation might experience redness and itching of the scalp, fatigue, and hair loss.
- Radio frequency ablation, which is a procedure that uses a heat-generating, electrode-tipped catheter to destroy tumor cells.
- CyberKnife, which is an advanced stereo-tactic radio-surgery device that uses computer technology to give radiation therapy with extreme precision
- Intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) lets doctors give a high dose of radiation to the tumor site while a patient is still in the operating room during surgery. One-time IORT is more convenient than traditional radiotherapy and reduces the exposure of healthy tissues to radiation.
- Intensity modulated radiation (IMRT) that reduces the dose of radiation received by healthy tissue, and can allow doctors to deliver radiation to difficult-to-reach areas.
- Brachytherapy, which is the the placement of radioactive materials at the tumor site to deliver more targeted radiation therapy and make treatment more convenient.
Prevention
Because the overwhelmingly main cause of NSCLC is smoking cigarettes the best way to prevent getting NSCLC is to never smoke cigarettes or any other tobacco product or to quit smoking. Quitting no matter how long you've been smoking is a good idea because it is usually long term use that causes cancer. Second hand smoke has also proven to cause lung cancer so if possible distance yourself from anyone who smokes tobacco products or ask them to stop.
Why is smoking cigarettes harmful ?
Why is smoking cigarettes harmful ?
- When you smoke cigarettes you inhale the over 7000 chemicals in tobacco, 250 of which are known to be harmful and, out of those, 69 are known to be carcinogens(cancer causing). These chemicals include:
- Arsenic
- Benzene
- Beryllium
- 1,3–Butadiene
- Cadmium
- Chromium
- Ethylene oxide
- Nickel
- Polonium-210
- Vinyl chloride
- Use of any tobacco product such as hookas or pipe tobacco can cause NSCLC and even smokeless products like chewing tobacco or snuff can cause cancer, although not NSCLC.