What are the symptoms of lung cancer?

Lung cancer is a chronic and life-threatening disease that is characterized by the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells in any part of the lungs.

If the condition is not treated immediately, cancer cells, called metastases by doctors, can invade and spread to other parts of the body.

Early diagnosis of lung cancer is very important to improve the quality of life of patients. In addition to this, it is also important that patients consult medical experts as soon as symptoms of early stage lung cancer appear.

First of all, in order to learn about effective treatments for this condition, patients should undergo medical diagnostic procedures recommended by doctors.

Symptoms of lung cancer

Weaker and stronger symptoms and signs of this serious disease include abdominal pain, chest pain, loss of appetite , fatigue and exhaustion. In addition to this, patients who experience dysphonia, dysphagia, chronic cough, and hemoptysis should also consider lung cancer.

Regarding the main symptoms, patients may experience the syndrome of inadequate antidiuretic hormone levels or hypercalcemia.

Other main signs of the disease are a sudden change in sweating patterns, muscle weakness in the arms, as well as disorders in the eye muscles. To increase the chances of curing the disease or at least improving the quality of life, patients are advised to seek immediate medical attention when these symptoms appear.

Diagnosing lung cancer

To confirm that a patient has lung cancer, healthcare professionals use sophisticated and specialized technologies to diagnose the location as well as the size of the tumor or the tumors that cause the disease.

One of the most popular diagnostic tests performed by medical professionals is the chest X-ray.

If doctors cannot see tumors in the results of an X-ray, but still have suspicions that the patient may be suffering from the disease, they may also recommend other diagnostic procedures, such as computed tomography , scan as well as bronchoscopy.

Treatment of lung cancer

To treat this serious disease, doctors recommend different. Early-stage patients, as well as those whose disease has entered the third stage, may undergo surgical procedures so that doctors remove tumors in the lungs.

This method is ineffective if cancer cells have penetrated the lymph. Through the lymphatic tissue, they spread as metastases to other organs, and in 30 percent of cases, people with lung cancer also get metastases in the brain.

If the patient’s condition precludes surgery, such as stage IV lung cancer, it is usually recommended that he undergo chemotherapy or radiation therapy.

Other effective treatments that patients can try if they want to remove tumors and cancer cells in their lungs include radiofrequency ablationand targeted therapy.

Some of the drugs recommended by oncologists to patients who prefer to undergo targeted therapy are bevacizumab, carboplatin and paclitaxel.