Lung cancer is one of the most common types of cancers in the world. There are three main types of lung cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, small cell lung cancer, and lung carcinoid tumor. Just like any other cancer, lung cancer is dangerous, and a life threatening problem. Many studies and researches have been presented to find a cure, but an exact cure has yet to be found. There are however multiple causes, ways to diagnose, and treatments for lung cancer. When you think of lung cancer, you think of smoking, it is the most common cause of cancer but there are many other causes that people don’t think about. You don’t have to be a smoker to develop lung cancer, secondhand smoke, radon, diesel exhaust, air pollution, and some gene changes cause lung cancer as well. The genes that help a cell grow, divide, or stay alive are called oncogenes. The genes that slow down cell division, or cause calls to die when they are supposed to, are called tumor suppressor genes. Cancer can be caused when these oncogenes turn on, or even when these tumor suppressor genes decide to turn off. Most of the genes that cause lung cancer are developed through your life; inherited genes rarely play a huge factor in lung cancer. Lung cancer screening tests are recommended only for adults who have no symptoms but may be at high risk for developing lung cancer. There are three things you should ask yourself before being screened for lung cancer, have you smoked in the past 15 years? Were, or are you a heavy smoker? Are you 55-80 years old? There are three risks of doing screening tests. One is that it can be said that someone has lung cancer, when no cancer is present, which may lead to unnecessary tests, and surgeries. This is called false-positive res... ... middle of paper ... ...ents are diagnosed at a late stage when any curative method of treatment is not possible. Lung cancer is dangerous, it takes more lives per year than breast cancer, colon cancer, and prostate cancer combined. It’s harder to treat lung cancer than these other types of cancers. The last additional fact I learned was that every year in the United States about 200,000 people are diagnosed with lung cancer, and more than 159,000 die from this disease. Lung cancer is the most common type of cancer in the world. Although, it is a challenging cancer to treat more ways and treatments are being presented and studied daily. Lung cancer is a deadly disease that presents many problems in a person’s life. There are ways to decrease your chance of developing cancer, but there are too many environmental factors that play a role in cancer to be sure you can positively prevent it.
One of the common diseases in the respiratory system that many people around the world face is emphysema or also known as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It is a chronic lung condition where the alveoli or air sacs may be damaged or enlarged resulting in short of breath (Mayo Clinic, 2011). If emphysema is left untreated, it will worsen causing the sphere shaped air sacs to come together making holes and reduce the surface area of the lungs and the amount of oxygen that travels through the bloodstream, blocking the airways of the lungs (Karriem- Norwood, 2012). The most common ways a patient can get emphysema are by cigarette smoking or being exposed to chemicals, dust or air pollutants for a long period of time. Common physical exams reveal a temperature of 100.8 Fahrenheit, 104 beats per minute, a blood pressure of 146/92, and a respiratory rate of 36 breaths per min (Karriem- Norwood, 2012). (see appendix A.1,A.2, A.3, A.4 for complete proof.)
There are more than a million people suffer from cancer in the United States every day. Lung cancer is not the only type of cancer but it affects many people and families every day. Lung cancer makes the lives of its patients and the families. Lung cancer is one of the deadliest types of cancer and also one of the most common. Hundreds of thousands of people get diagnosed with lung cancer every year in just the United States. Also close to just as many people die from lung cancer in the US every year. I am going to talk about lung cancer and what it is, how to lower your risk of getting it, statistics of it, and the research and treatment of it.
“Lung cancer is an uncontrolled, extremely deadly division of cells in the lung'; (World Book, “Lung Cancer';). The two major types of lung cancer include small and non-small cell. Many different risk factors contribute to lung cancer. There are numerous symptoms that are difficult to detect in the early stages of lung cancer. Doctors use special machines to detect the severity of each stage. Treatments and cures differ in each individual case. Lung cancer is a huge problem because it is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women (Microsoft, “Lung Cancer';).
Tumors are formed by the alteration of the body’s own cells. This can be caused by environmental factors such as radiation, like UV exposure, chemicals or viruses 1. These can disrupt genes that control growth and cause an increase in cell division and proliferation. Proto-oncogenes are those genes that control normal but essential cell processes that keep cell growth and death in check. Two important categories are apoptosis genes, which regulate cell death, and tumor suppressor genes, which decrease cell propagation 1 . If these genes were mutated to the point where they cannot produce a functioning protein, cell division would continue far past what it was supposed to and unhealthy cells would be allowed to live and continue to multiply. This is what creates a malignant tumor. Certain conditions in the body can also promote the growth of cancer cells. One of these is a deficiency of natural killer (NK) cells, which are able to kill cancer cells by creating a pore in the cell membrane with perforin and releasing granzymes into the cell. Low levels of perforin allow for tumor growth 1. Chronic inflammation can also ...
Lung cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer within the United States with tobacco smoking being the biggest risk factor. In 2012, more than 220,000 people were diagnosed with lung cancer and approximately 150,000 died from the disease. “Lung cancer rates in the United States climbed dramatically throughout much of the 20th century, as smoking became more popular, and peaked in the 1980’s before declining in the 1990’s” (Furlow, 2014, p. 298). Screening of high risk people for lung cancer has been extending patients’ lives with early detection with the use of computed tomography (CT).
Non-small-cell lung cancer is more common than small-cell lung cancer. It makes up about 80 percent of all diagnosed lung cancers. It is actually four different kinds of lung cancers that grow and respond to treatment in about the same way. These four types of non-small-cell lung cancer are termed squamous cell, adencarcinoma, large cell, and mixed cell. Two other related cancers that are also included in the non-small-cell lung cancers group are carcinoid and mesothelioma. Non-small-cell lung cancer grows more slowly than small-cell lung cancer. Non-small-cell lung cancer tends to grow first in the area where it started then invades the surrounding lung tissue and ribs. It eventually spreads to other areas of the body, mainly bones, brain, and liver.
Over a hundred years ago lung cancer was considered a very rare disease. Lung cancer is a disease that is known worldwide. Lung cancer is one of the four most common cancer. Lung cancer is detrimental to the Respiratory System and can cause permanent damage. Lung cancer is a tumor that grows in your lungs and it can also spread to other parts of your body. Early stages of lung cancer are hard to detect because it could take about a year for the tumor to grow to the point when you start experiencing symptoms. The most common cause of lung cancer is smoking cigarettes and other tobacco products. There are other causes like secondhand smoke, asbestos, and lung cancer is common in your family.Lung cancer has different risk factors, symptoms,
Lung cancer dates back to 1761 when it was called disease. In 1878 only 1% of the populations were thought to have it. When the 1900s came by that number rose to 15%. There was only 374 case filed by 1912. It wasn’t until 1929 when smoking became a factor in lung cancer. Fritz Lickint was the first person to tell the public about the dangers of smoking that which went into a campaign act to tell worldwide about the dangers of smoking.
Most cancer happens at different rates in other parts of the world. Lifestyle can increase a person’s risk for cancer because it can affect cells that are prepared to become cancerous by helping them grow. The environment can change genes which cause them to be cancerous in the first place. An abnormal cell is what causes a tumor. This cell appears to be no different from normal ones and only functions and divides when needed. Then, even though the organ it supports has a sufficient amount of cells, it divides uncontrollably (Weinberg 1-2).
Cancer patients often wonder if going through treatments like chemotherapy and radiation are worth the risk of the side effects, in addition to the cancerous side effects. They feel that they can’t enjoy or relax in what a short amount of time they have left because they are bedridden from the nausea and pain that treatments put them through. Patients tell their loved ones to just let them die so long as they don’t have to go through any more pain. Those who are too old, are unable to recover from the effects, or are just too far in the grips of cancer, should refuse the more harsh treatments like chemo and radiation. On the positive side, refusing treatments after a certain point can save their families from the stress and cost of hospital bills. If caught early enough, patients can opt for safer and easier routes to getting rid of cancer like surgery or by doing a stem cell transplant.
Cancer is undoubtedly a huge issue today, since about 41% of Americans will be diagnosed with cancer (United Press International). However, not many are talking about the significance of mental health for the victims. Each year 12.7 million people are diagnosed and 7.6 million will perish annually from the disease (UPI). Each year, millions of people perish from the disease, and about 25% of them with severe mental illness (National Cancer Institute). The treatment for this disease causes fogginess-depression, anger and many other emotions whose symptoms are often overlooked. Though cancer is not always terminal, it can dramatically affect the mental state of the victim and their loved ones. More should be done to emotionally support cancer
Trevena L. (2009) Cancer screening Reprinted from Australian Family Physician: School of Public Health, University of Sydney, New South Wales. Vol. 38, No. 4
diagnosed late and the 5-year survival rate is only 15%. Possible treatments for lung cancer are
Cancer is defined as where the abnormal cells are divided without any control and they are able to invade into tissues. At times cancer can be cured right away once it is detected through treatments that the doctor recommends, but at times cancer cannot be cured based on what stage the cancer is at. It is very important that every individual gets a physical check up to see if they are diagnosed or detected with any sort of cancer or disease. There are 100 types of cancers out there, but the type of cancer that I will be focusing on is Lung cancer. One of the controversial issues on a lung cancer is the ...
The risk of lung cancer among cigarette smokers increases with the duration of smoking and the number of cigarettes smoked per day. This observation has been made repeatedly in cohort and