What is central lung cancer? What are the specific symptoms of central lung cancer?

Central lung cancer is the cancerous tissue near the hilum of the lung, where the trachea and bronchus bifurcate. It is called central lung cancer because it is close to the hilum. There are no obvious symptoms in the early stages of lung cancer, but in the middle and late stages, symptoms such as coughing, coughing up blood, chest pain, shortness of breath and weight loss may appear. If you or your family members have lung cancer, you should maintain a normal attitude and follow the doctor's instructions. Do not seek medical treatment blindly.

According to the location of lung cancer, it can be divided into central lung cancer and peripheral lung cancer. The central type is close to the hilum of the lung, and the peripheral type is far from the hilum of the lung. The onset age of central lung cancer is mostly over 50 years old, more males than females, and the incidence rate of smokers is more than 50% higher than that of ordinary people. In the early stage of the disease, patients often delay the best treatment time because they do not have any obvious early symptoms, so that it has entered the late stage when it is discovered. What are the symptoms of lung cancer?

1. Cough

Central lung cancer can compress the adjacent tracheal tissue, causing obstruction of tracheal ventilation and gas exchange, thereby causing coughing, which is mostly irritating dry cough, rarely accompanied by sputum. At the same time, cancer cells will invade the inner wall of the trachea, causing damage to the tracheal wall mucosa, which will stimulate the trachea and cause brief spasm during breathing. This is the reason for the cough.

2. Chest pain

The enlarged cancerous tissue will cause serious damage to the local function of the lung tissue, stimulate the tiny blood vessels and corresponding nerves to cause local inflammatory response. Usually, you will feel occasional chest pain, which is not very severe, but it will get worse when you cough. This is because coughing will cause intense lung activity, causing a stress response in the cancerous tissue.

3. Coughing up blood

Cancerous tissue can invade the large and small blood vessels in the lungs, causing coughing up blood or coughing up a lot of blood. When invading small blood vessels, it can cause blood in sputum or coughing up blood, and when invading large blood vessels, it can cause heavy bleeding. In the late stages of cancer, because the walls of the blood vessels in the lungs are damaged, blood is deposited in the lungs for a long time, and blood clots will appear. Along with the patient's cough, these blood clots will be coughed out of the body.

4. Weight loss

In the late stage of cancer, patients will experience loss of appetite, indigestion, fatigue and other organ function declines throughout the body, which will cause severe malnutrition and weight loss over time. After cancer invades the nerves, patients will have adverse symptoms such as loss of appetite and emotional instability. The combination of multiple factors causes the patient's physical condition to seriously decline, which are the main causes of malnutrition and weight loss.

For lung cancer patients, even the current medical technology is not sure of a complete cure, so if you or your family members have cancer, try to keep a normal attitude towards this matter. Although lung cancer cannot be cured, you should consider alleviating the pain of the patient and reducing the psychological and economic burden on the family, and do not seek medical treatment blindly. For the majority of middle-aged and elderly patients who do not have lung cancer, it is recommended to maintain a healthy lifestyle, quit smoking, and go to the hospital for regular physical examinations, so as to prevent the occurrence of lung cancer.