Lung cancer

Introduction: Lung cancer

Cancer of the lung is mostly related to smoking or tobacco use. Because of the prevalence of these practices, lung cancer is one of the most common types of cancer. Some of the symptoms include chronic cough, coughing up blood, or chest pain. However, patients with only persistent coughing do not always seek medical advice early enough. Even when they do, lung cancer is sometimes misdiagnosed as something less harmful, making lung cancer the 4th most claimed malpractice injury.

Symptoms of Lung cancer

• Chronic coughing - a common early symptom
• Coughing up blood
• Worsening cough
• Chronic chest pain
• Fever

See full list of 26 symptoms of Lung cancer

Home Diagnostic Testing

Home medical testing related to Lung cancer:

• Colon & Rectal Cancer: Home Testing
  • Home Colorectal Cancer Tests
  • Home Fecal Occult Bleeding Tests
• Home Lung Function Tests

Medical Textbooks Online about Lung cancer

Book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Diagnostic Tests for Lung cancer

• Physical exam
• Chest x-ray
• Lung function tests
• Sputum cytology
• Lung biopsy

See full list of 17 diagnostic tests for Lung cancer

Wrongly Diagnosed with Lung cancer?

• Misdiagnosis of Lung cancer
• Failure to diagnose Lung cancer
• Underlying causes of Lung cancer (possibly wrongly diagnosed)
• Failure to diagnose Lung cancer

Misdiagnosis and Lung cancer

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Read more about Misdiagnosis and Lung cancer

Causes of Lung cancer

• Metastatic lung cancer - many lung cancers result from metastasis of other cancers.
  • Breast cancer
  • Colon cancer
  • Rectal cancer
  • Stomach cancer

See full list of 12 causes of Lung cancer

More information about causes of Lung cancer:

• Underlying causes of Lung cancer
• Lung cancer as a complication caused by other conditions
• Lung cancer as a symptom
• Medical news summaries relating to Causes of Lung cancer
• Cause statistics for Lung cancer

Treatments for Lung cancer

• Surgery
  • Lung segmental resection - also called a "wedge resection"
  • Lobectomy - remove an entire lobe of a lung
  • Pneumonectomy (lung removal)
  • Cryosurgery

See full list of 12 treatments for Lung cancer

Videos for Lung cancer

Patient Surveys for Lung cancer

• Patient Profile Survey
  Take Survey  View Results
• Survey about the symptoms of your Lung cancer
  Take Survey  View Results

Prognosis for Lung cancer

Prognosis for Lung cancer: Survival rates have improved for non small-cell lung cancer because of advances in combination radiation/chemotherapy treatment. However, small cell lung cancer is still very difficult to treat. Small cell is the most aggressive of lung cancers, and many patients have advanced disease at the time of diagnosis. Small cell lung cancer is responsive to both chemotherapy and radiation, yet nearly all these patients eventually relapse and need additional treatment. (Source: excerpt from Lung Cancer: NWHIC)

More about prognosis of Lung cancer

Reseach about Lung cancer

Visit our research pages for current research about Lung cancer treatments.

Clinical Trials for Lung cancer

The US based website ClinicalTrials.gov lists information on both federally and privately supported clinical trials using human volunteers.

Some of the clinical trials listed on ClinicalTrials.gov for Lung cancer include:

• Differentiation of Malig. & Ben. Solitary Pulm. Nodules & Prediction of Clin. Outcome Using Perfus. Analysis of DCEMRI - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• Yoga-Based Cancer Rehabilitation Program - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• Phase I/II Study of Fractionated Stereotactic Radiotherapy for Medically Inoperable NSCLC or Metastatic Lung Tumours - This study is not yet open for patient recruitment (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• The Utility of FDG-PET for Radiation Treatment in NSCLC - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• Phase II Trial of a 96-Hour Continuous Infusion of Paclitaxel Followed by Cisplatin for Patients With Stage III/IV and Relapsed NSCLC - This study has been completed (Current: 23 Nov 2006)

See full list of 1088 Clinical Trials for Lung cancer

Prevention of Lung cancer

Prevention information for Lung cancer has been compiled from various data sources and may be inaccurate or incomplete. None of these methods guarantee prevention of Lung cancer.

• Quit smoking
• Avoid second-hand smoke
• Test your house for radon
• Avoid asbestos

Read more about prevention of Lung cancer

Statistics for Lung cancer

• Medical statistics for Lung cancer
• Prevalence and incidence statistics for Lung cancer
• Death and Mortality statistics for Lung cancer
• Society statistics for Lung cancer

Types of Lung cancer

• Primary lung cancer - see categorization by cell types affected:
  • Small Cell Lung Cancer - also Small cell carcinomas or "oat cell" cancers
  • Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer - more common than small cell lung cancer; there are various non-small cell subtypes:
    • Squamous cell carcinoma (lung) - also called "epidermoid carcinoma".
    • Adenocarcinomas (lung)

See full list of 8 Types of Lung cancer

Stories from Users Related to Lung cancer

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User Interactive Forums

Read about other experiences, ask a question about Lung cancer, or answer someone else's question, on our message boards:

• I can not get a diagnosis. Please help.
• Tell us your medical story.
• Share your misdiagnosis story.
• What is the best treatment for this?
• See all the forums.

Definitions of Lung cancer:

Carcinoma of the lungs; one of the commonest forms of cancer - (Source - WordNet 2.1)