What symptoms may lung cancer patients experience

Lung cancer often does not show clinical symptoms until the disease develops to the late stage. Therefore, only about 15070 lung cancer patients can get early diagnosis before the cancer cells spread to nearby lymph nodes or other parts. The five-year survival rate of lung cancer patients without lymph node metastasis can reach 50%. Unfortunately, in many patients, the cancer cells have spread even before the existing examinations have made a clear diagnosis.

Many early lung cancer diagnoses are accidental, that is, patients are found to have lung cancer when they are examined for other diseases. For example, patients may be diagnosed with early lung cancer unexpectedly when they undergo imaging examinations, bronchoscopy, or cancer cytology examinations for heart disease, pneumonia, or other lung diseases.

Citizens who have persistent cough, hemoptysis, and chest pain, especially those over 40 years old, should be alert to the possibility of lung cancer if they have the following symptoms:

1. People over 40 years old suddenly develop an irritating cough that lasts for more than 2 weeks and is ineffective with treatment. The nature of the cough changes in those who already have a cough.

2. For patients with chronic cough, the cough turns into an irritating dry cough with blood in the sputum, obvious chest pain, or repeated pneumonia in a certain lobe or segment of the lung.

3. Patients with pulmonary tuberculosis who have not responded to regular anti-tuberculosis treatment, whose X-rays show progressive enlargement of the lesion shadows, segmental pneumonia or atelectasis and eccentric cavities.

4. High-risk groups such as long-term smokers, those exposed to radioactive substances for a long time, and those with a family history of cancer.