How long is the incubation period of lung cancer? What are the early symptoms of lung cancer?

Lung cancer has a high incidence and mortality rate. Early detection is the key for patients. The incubation period of lung cancer can be as short as a month or as long as twenty years. The early symptoms of lung cancer mainly include irritating cough, chest tightness, chest pain, and shortness of breath. These symptoms indicate that there may be something wrong with your body and you should see a doctor as soon as possible.

Lung cancer is a malignant tumor with a very high mortality rate and morbidity rate. With the continuous acceleration of the industrialization process in modern society and the increasing severity of air pollution, more and more people are suffering from lung cancer, and there is also a trend of younger people. However, did you know that lung cancer has a latent period and will not develop immediately. Any malignant tumor, including lung cancer, will have some early symptoms. Understanding the early symptoms will help us prevent early lung cancer. Here, experts will explain the latent period and early symptoms of lung cancer in detail, hoping to help you.

Lung cancer has a certain incubation period, which varies in length and is closely related to the patient's individual constitution. Clinically, the longest incubation period of lung cancer patients can be as long as 20 years, and the shortest is only a few months. So what are the early symptoms of lung cancer? The following is a point-by-point description.

1. Irritating cough, which is one of the prominent symptoms of early lung cancer. The cough is characterized by paroxysmal irritating cough, that is, the body feels choked by gas, but it disappears quickly. Patients always have the illusion that they can't cough completely. There is no sputum or only a small amount of white foamy sputum when coughing. If the patient has a bacterial infection, there will be purulent sputum. If the symptoms do not improve after 2 weeks of antibacterial treatment, you should be alert to early lung cancer.

2. Chest tightness and chest pain. Chest tightness is one of the early symptoms of lung cancer, mainly due to space-occupying lesions in the lungs. When the volume of the lung tumor gradually increases, it will pull the surrounding ligaments, causing chest pain. However, the early chest pain is intermittent and the location is not obvious.

3. Shortness of breath In the early stages of lung cancer, patients may feel occasional difficulty breathing even when they are calm, and sometimes mistakenly think they are having asthma.

In summary, the mortality rate of lung cancer is very high, and the prognosis of patients is not very good. Many patients are already in the late stage when they discover lung cancer. At present, clinical practice advocates early detection and early treatment. The incubation period of lung cancer varies from person to person, and the longest incubation period can be as long as twenty years. The early symptoms of lung cancer include irritating cough, chest pain, chest tightness and shortness of breath. If the above early symptoms appear, it is best to go to the hospital for diagnosis as soon as possible so as to receive treatment as soon as possible.