Health information

QUESTION: Your column and its many warnings about the dangers of smoking have
finally gotten to me
I am still worried about the possibilities of lung
cancer, however and would appreciate a better understanding of the disease and
its treatment
Would you please oblige?

ANSWER: Congratulations, you’ve taken the single best step in preventing lung
cancer.
Lung cancer is among the leading causes of cancer death in the United
States for both men and women, and cigarette smoking is by far the most common
cause
Unfortunately, lung cancer usually remains undetected until a patient
develops symptoms, and by that time it is pretty well advanced.
Symptoms of lung cancer include coughing (the most common one), shortness
of breath, dull chest pain, and coughing up blood
If you have any of these
symptoms, see your physician without delay.
Cancer is the rapid growth of what were once normal body cells
Lung
cancer can take the form of a tumor (a lump of cancerous tissue) or may be
spread out, with cancerous cells strewn among normal ones
A benign tumor
contrasted with a cancer (or malignant growth) is one that essentially keeps
to itself, but it may cause problems as it takes up space
A cancerous growth
sends out cancer cells that grow elsewhere in the body in a process known as
“metastasis” and is one of the reason early diagnosis and treatment is so
important.
There are many varieties of lung cancer and treatment for each varies,
depending on where in the lung the tumor is and how advanced it is
The
primary treatments for lung cancer are surgery, radiation and chemotherapy
drugs.
Surgery is used to remove as much cancerous tissue as possible, but if
the patient is not in good enough shape to withstand an operation, surgery may
not be an option
Radiation therapy may be also needed after surgery.
Radiation kills fast-growing cells, such as cancer cells, but has the unwanted
effect of killing some healthy cells also
Radiation is used for patients who
have a disseminated type of cancer (one that is widely spread), since surgery
simply can’t get at and remove all these malignant cells
It can also be used
after surgery, to destroy any cancer cells that may remain.
The use of anticancer drugs, or chemotherapy, is usually reserved for a
type of lung cancer known as small-cell lung cancer, which is a type that
disseminates quickly and is usually well-advanced when it is detected.
Anticancer drugs act similarly to radiation, in that they kill fast-growing
cells
This is why a side effect of both radiation and chemotherapy is hair
loss, since hair roots are cells that also grow quickly
Because many lung
cancers are well-advanced by the time they are diagnosed, the percentages of
people with this diagnosis who survive more than five years after diagnosis is
certainly not as high as we all might wish for
This is a distressing
situation that demands that we come up with improved early detection systems
for lung cancer
The secret to increased survival lies in early detection
techniques quickly followed by effective methods for treatment
The intensive
campaign against smoking, which may annoy many uninformed people, must
continue, to stop a major cause of cancer in the United States from remaining
a hazard to life.

The material contained here is “FOR INFORMATION ONLY” and should not replace
the counsel and advice of your personal physician
Promptly consulting your
doctor is the best path to a quick and successful resolution of any medical
problem.

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