What are the symptoms of advanced lung cancer

What are the symptoms of advanced lung cancer?

In the late stage of lung cancer, due to the weakening of multiple organ functions, patients cannot eat normally, their bodies will be extremely weak, leading to overall weight loss and inability to maintain normal body temperature. Patients may also have difficulty breathing due to bronchial tumor compression, coughing and hemoptysis, and more serious patients may suffocate, so it is necessary to do a good job of nursing patients.

In general, cancer pain symptoms usually occur in patients with advanced cancer, including advanced lung cancer, because the large-scale metastasis of cancer cells can easily cause muscle and bone pain throughout the body. Patients usually suffer from severe pain, and medication has little effect, requiring injections to relieve pain. Patients with a long course of illness may experience weight loss, fatigue, edema, and loss of appetite.

Patients with lung cancer bone metastasis may experience body aches. Patients with brain metastasis may experience dizziness, headaches, nausea, vomiting, and blurred vision. Before death from advanced lung cancer, cardiopulmonary failure usually occurs, with symptoms such as chest pain, dyspnea, cyanosis of the lips, inability to lie flat, edema of the body, and some patients coughing up blood, becoming irritable, becoming confused, or even falling into a coma.

Specifically, advanced lung cancer may present with the following symptoms:

1. Compression or invasion of the phrenic nerve can lead to ipsilateral diaphragmatic paralysis, chest tightness and shortness of breath.

2. Compression or invasion of the recurrent laryngeal nerve can lead to vocal cord paralysis and hoarseness.

3. Compression of the superior vena cava can cause venous congestion in the face, neck, and upper limbs.

4. Pleural invasion can lead to pleural effusion, and large amounts of pleural effusion can cause shortness of breath. If cancer invades the pleura and chest wall, it can cause persistent and severe chest pain.

5. Cancer invades the esophagus and may compress the esophagus, causing difficulty in swallowing.

6. Tumors at the top of the pleura invade the organs and tissues at the upper chest opening, which can cause severe shoulder pain, upper limb venous congestion, edema, and upper limb movement disorders. Lung cancer in the advanced stage may have symptoms such as malignant pathology, severe malnutrition, anemia, and weight loss.