Lung Cancer
Lung cancer is a tumor that forms in your lungs.
Body System
The normal respiratory system works by taking air in, putting it into the lungs. From there it goes into the blood cells in the blood stream. Then it cycles through the body.
With someone with lung cancer, the respiratory system is clogged. A lot of the bronchial tree is clogged by the tumor cells. Your body cannot get the oxygen that it needs.
Target Population
There are about 224,210 new cases of lung cancer (both small cell and non-small cell). There are about 159,260 deaths from lung cancer. About 1 in 13 men in the United States develop lung cancer.
There is not a racial group that is more likely to get lung cancer.
Onset
Diagnosis
Smoking history
Substances that you have been exposed to
Family history of cancer
Signs and Symptoms
A cough that doesn't go away and worsens over time
Constant chest pain
Coughing up blood
Shortness of breath, wheezing, or hoarseness
Repeated problems with pneumonia or bronchitis
Swelling of the neck and face
Loss of appetite or weight loss
Fatigue
Treatment
Surgery- removing tumors from your lungs
Lobectomy- take out a lobe of a lung when the cancer is isolated to that one lobe
Segmentectomy. This is another way to remove the cancer when an entire lobe of the lung cannot be removed. In a segmentectomy, the surgeon removes the portion of the lung where the cancer developed.
Pneumonectomy. If the tumor is close to the center of the chest, the surgeon may have to remove the entire lung.
Radiofrequency Ablation. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is the use of a needle inserted into the tumor to destroy the cancer with an electrical current. It is sometimes used for a lung tumor that cannot be removed with the other types of surgery listed above.
Radiation therapy
Chemotherapy
Prognosis
smoking shortens male smokers’ lives by 13.2 years and female smokers’ lives by 14.5 years.
32 out of 100 people will live for 1 year
10 out of 100 will live for 5 years
- 5 out of 100 will live for 10 years