lung cancer, cancer cancer, in medicine, common term for neoplasms, or tumors, that are malignant. Like benign tumors, malignant tumors do not respond to body mechanisms that limit cell growth.
..... Click the link for more information. that originates in the tissues of the lungs lungs, elastic organs used for breathing in vertebrate animals, excluding most fish, which use gills , and a few amphibian species that respire through the skin. The word is sometimes applied to the respiratory apparatus of lower animals.
..... Click the link for more information. . Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States in both men and women. Like other cancers, lung cancer occurs after repeated insults to the genetic material of the cell. By far the most common source of these insults is tobacco smoke, which is responsible for about 85% of U.S. lung cancer deaths (see smoking smoking, inhalation and exhalation of the fumes of burning tobacco in cigars and cigarettes and pipes. Some persons draw the smoke into their lungs; others do not. Smoking was probably first practiced by the indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere.
..... Click the link for more information. ). The incidence of lung cancer in other countries follows their smoking patterns. Some other carcinogens known to cause lung cancer are found in the workplace. These include bischloromethyl ether and chloromethyl ether in chemical workers, arsenic in copper smelting, and asbestos asbestos, common name for any of a variety of silicate minerals within the amphibole and serpentine groups that are fibrous in structure and more or less resistant to acid and fire. Chrysotile asbestos, a form of serpentine , is the chief commercial asbestos.
..... Click the link for more information. in shipbuilders and other asbestos workers. Radon radon (rā`dŏn), gaseous radioactive chemical element; symbol Rn; at. no. 86; mass no. of most stable isotope 222; m.p.
..... Click the link for more information. poses a risk to uranium and fluorspar miners and may pose a risk in some private residences as well. African Americans have a higher incidence of lung cancer than European Americans, even after adjusting for smoking.

Types of Lung Cancer

Lung cancers are classified according to the type of cell present in the tumor. The majority are referred to as non–small cell carcinomas. These include squamous cell or epidermoid carcinomas (the most common type worldwide), adenocarcinomas, and large cell carcinomas. Small cell carcinoma (which includes the subtypes oat cell and intermediate) comprises approximately 20% to 25% of lung cancers; it often has metastasized by the time it is detected. Lung cancer most commonly spreads to the brain, bone, liver, or bone marrow.

Symptoms

The primary symptoms of lung cancer are cough, shortness of breath, hoarseness, blood in the sputum, and pain. In some types, the cancer cells themselves produce hormones or other substances that can create an imbalance and result in various symptoms. Metastatic lung cancer also can cause symptoms that result from its effect on the organ to which the cancer has spread.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Diagnosis of lung cancer may be made by physical examination, chest X rays, bronchoscopy (see bronchoscope bronchoscope (brŏng`kəskōp')
..... Click the link for more information. ), or percutaneous needle biopsy biopsy (bīäp`sē), examination of cells or tissues removed from a living organism.
..... Click the link for more information. (insertion of a fine needle through the skin and into the lung to obtain tissue for study). In many cases definitive diagnosis is made after surgical specimens have been evaluated. Evaluation of suspected sites of metastasis may involve CAT scans CAT scan (kăt) [computerized axial t
..... Click the link for more information. or magnetic resonance imaging magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), noninvasive diagnostic technique that uses nuclear magnetic resonance to produce cross-sectional images of organs and other internal body structures.
..... Click the link for more information. (MRI). A special CAT-scanning technique (helical low-dose CAT-scanning) has also been used for initial diagnosis because it can detect small tumors before they have spread.

Lung cancer is staged according to its location, size, cell type, and spread. This staging plus the state of health of the patient are used to determine treatment.

Treatment typically consists of surgical excision of the tumor alone or in combination with either external-beam radiation therapy or chemotherapy using one or more anticancer drugs. Photodynamic therapy is sometimes used if the cancer is still localized. In this therapy a substance that makes cells more sensitive to light is injected into the body. When it has passed out of most of the tissues, but remains in the cancer cells, the cancer is destroyed by a beam of laser light.

Prevention

Not starting to smoke or ceasing to smoke is by far the most effective lung cancer preventive. The risk of lung cancer in ex-smokers begins to decline about five years after quitting, and after 15 to 20 years their risk is 80% less than that of smokers. The reduction in cigarette smoking since the 1964 report of the Surgeon General's Advisory Committee on Health began to be translated into a decrease in the incidence of lung cancer in the 1990s; this decrease averaged more than 1% per year from 1990 to 1995. The preventive role of dietary antioxidants antioxidant, substance that prevents or slows the breakdown of another substance by oxygen. Synthetic and natural antioxidants are used to slow the deterioration of gasoline and rubber, and such antioxidants as vitamin C (ascorbic acid), butylated hydroxytoluene
..... Click the link for more information. is under study.

Bibliography

See D. N. Carney, ed., Lung Cancer (1995). See also publications of the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society.

lung cancer

Malignant tumour of the lung. Four major types (squamous-cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, large-cell carcinoma, and small-cell carcinoma) have roughly equal prevalence. Most cases are due to long-term cigarette smoking. Heavy smoking and starting smoking earlier in life increase the risk. Passive inhalation (“secondhand smoke”) is linked to lung cancer in nonsmokers. Other risk factors include exposure to radon or asbestos. Symptoms, including coughing (sometimes with blood), chest pain, and shortness of breath, seldom appear until lung cancer is advanced, when treatment with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation or some combination of the three is less effective. Most patients die within a year of diagnosis.