Overview of the 5 major symptoms of advanced lung cancer

Lung cancer is a highly malignant tumor. The condition is more serious in the late stage, and symptoms often include chest pain, hoarseness, facial and neck edema, shortness of breath, pericardial or pleural effusion, etc.

1. Chest pain

Most lung cancer patients have regional intrathoracic dissemination in the late stage and often show symptoms of chest pain, which requires timely treatment.

2. Hoarseness

The recurrent laryngeal nerve that controls the left side of the vocal function goes down from the neck to the chest, bypasses the large blood vessels of the heart and goes back up to the larynx, thus controlling the left side of the vocal organ. In the late stage of lung cancer, the tumor invades the left side of the mediastinum, compressing the recurrent laryngeal nerve and causing hoarseness, but without sore throat and other symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection.

3. Edema of face and neck

Facial and neck edema is mainly caused by the tumor invading the right side of the mediastinum and compressing the superior vena cava, which will initially cause the jugular vein to become distended due to poor blood return. Timely diagnosis and treatment can relieve the symptoms.

4. Shortness of breath

Lung cancer patients in the advanced stage often have varying degrees of chronic lung disease and experience varying degrees of shortness of breath. In addition, patients in the advanced stage may also experience shortness of breath if they are weak, anemic, have airway compression, obstructive pneumonia, pleural effusion, pericardial effusion, etc.

5. Pericardial or pleural effusion

In the late stage of lung cancer, the lymph nodes are blocked by the tumor, and tissue fluid may accumulate in the pericardium to form pericardial effusion or in the chest cavity to form pleural effusion.