Lung cancer

Lung cancer is a disease characterized by the development of a malignant tumor in the tissues of the lungs. They are two porous organs located in the front of the chest that take in oxygen when a person breathes in and release carbon dioxide when they breathe out.

The disease is among the leading causes of death in Europe, among both men and women. This type of cancer claims more lives each year than malignancies of the colon, prostate, ovaries and breast combined.

People who smoke are exposed to the greatest risk of developing the disease. And the danger increases with time and the number of cigarettes smoked. If smoking is stopped, even after many years, the probability of developing a malignant lung disease is significantly reduced.

What are the symptoms?

The disease usually does not cause signs and symptoms in its early stages, and only appear when it has progressed significantly.

Clinical manifestations of the disease are most often:

• Sudden onset of coughing that cannot be controlled and its attacks last unusually long;
• Changes in chronic cough or so-called “smoker’s cough”;
• Shortness of breath;< br/> • Chest pains;
• Wheezing;
• Hoarse voice;
• Unexplained weight loss;
• Bone pains;
• Headache;

When should you seek medical attention?

See your GP if you have any symptoms that make you suspect you may have acquired the disease.

If you smoke and want to quit, consult your GP, who can recommend effective strategies for quitting smoking, such as counseling with an addiction specialist, medication and nicotine replacement products.

What are the causes?

Tobacco smoking is the cause of most cases of the disease, both in people who smoke and in those exposed to tobacco smoke.

But the disease occurs in people who have never smoked or even been exposed to cigarette smoke. In these cases, it is possible that a specific cause of the disease may not be established.

How does smoking cause this type of cancer?

Doctors believe that smoking causes the mutation in the DNA of cells in the lung tissue in the following way – when the smoker inhales cigarette smoke, which contains a large amount of carcinogenic substances, changes in lung tissue begin almost immediately.

Initially, the body is able to correct this minimal damage. But with each repetition of exposure to cigarette smoke, the new generations of cells that make up the lung tissue have an increasingly altered structure. Over time, it is possible that a change also occurs in the structure of the DNA of cells, which can also cause cancer.

Treatment of lung cancer

There are several treatment methods and which one to apply is considered in each case, taking into account the patient’s preference. Usually a combination of several is applied at the same time. Treatment methods are surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Sometimes the patient decides not to undergo treatment, for example if he considers that the side effects of it will outweigh the benefits. When this is the case, the doctor will prescribe supportive therapy to relieve the most characteristic symptoms – pain and shortness of breath.

To deal with shortness of breath you can try to relax – feeling short of breath can be really scary, but fear and anxiety can only make it harder to breathe.

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And so when you feel try to control your fear by starting to do something that makes you relax. Listen to music, imagine your favorite vacation spot, meditate or say a prayer.