Six distress signals indicating lung cancer

Lung cancer is a "cunning" cancer. Professor Bai Chunxue, director of the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, reminds us that the early symptoms of lung cancer are often not particularly obvious, and 70%-80% of patients are already in the middle or late stages when they seek medical treatment, which requires heightened vigilance against some related symptoms. People who have smoked for many years, have a family history of cancer, or work or live in a highly polluted environment should pay special attention.

Some early symptoms of lung cancer are actually "help signals" sent by the body. Dr. Wang Huijuan from the Department of Internal Medicine at Henan Cancer Hospital introduced that six symptoms such as cough, hemoptysis, chest pain, fever, clubbing, and arthritis, which seem to have nothing to do with lung cancer, should not be taken lightly.

cough

It may be a mild dry cough or a severe cough, with varying amounts of sputum. People who have a long-term cough should be alert to lung cancer if the nature of their cough changes, such as a change in frequency or an irritating dry cough.

Hemoptysis

If male smokers over the age of 40 have blood, blood streaks or small blood clots in their sputum, there is a high possibility that they have lung cancer, which is also one of the early symptoms of lung cancer.

Chest pain

Intermittent, mild, dull or piercing pain in the chest that may last from minutes to hours. If the tumor invades the pleura, the pain will be more severe, continuous and fixed.

fever. Male smokers over 45 years old who have long-term chronic lung inflammation accompanied by fever and whose treatment is ineffective should be especially alert to the possibility of lung cancer.

Finger clubbing

Also known as drumstick finger, it is characterized by hypertrophy of the first joints of the fingers and toes, protrusions and bending of the nails, and is often accompanied by pain.

arthritis

Often present with clubbing. It manifests as migratory arthritis symptoms, burning pain in the elbows, knees, wrists, ankles, and metacarpophalangeal joints, and movement disorders.

Wang Huijuan finally reminded that once lung cancer is diagnosed, in order to achieve the best treatment effect, a standardized pathological diagnosis should be carried out first, and the stage of the disease should be clarified. On this basis, a multidisciplinary comprehensive treatment plan should be formulated.