What are the symptoms of lung cancer? These symptoms suggest the occurrence of lung cancer

Lung cancer is a malignant tumor with a very high incidence rate. Most patients have a long history of smoking. The early symptoms of lung cancer are not very obvious and can be easily mistaken for throat discomfort, delaying treatment. When the symptoms are severe, treatment becomes more difficult. What are the diagnostic methods for lung cancer? Listen to the expert's introduction below:

Lung cancer is an abnormality that is often evaluated after a chest X-ray. It helps to know if the abnormality may be benign (noncancerous) or malignant (cancerous.) If the abnormality is malignant, further studies are done to see if the cancer has spread (metastasized) to other parts of the body.

The most common symptom of early lung cancer is an irritating cough caused by the growth of the tumor under the bronchial mucosa, which is mostly dry cough or with a small amount of white foamy sputum. Another common early respiratory symptom is bloody sputum, usually with blood spots and blood streaks in the sputum, and occasionally intermittent small amounts of hemoptysis; large amounts of hemoptysis are only seen in a few cases of bronchial adenoma. When the tumor grows and causes varying degrees of obstruction of larger bronchi, symptoms such as chest tightness, wheezing, and shortness of breath may occur.

In cases of bronchial obstruction complicated by lung inflammation or necrosis of the central part of a huge tumor to form a cancerous cavity, there are symptoms such as fever, increased sputum volume, and mucopurulent sputum. Mild chest pain is also quite common in early lung cancer cases, most of which are irregular dull pains caused by inflammation of the parietal pleura and chest wall.

Early detection of lung cancer symptoms is more conducive to treatment. However, about 5% to 10% of early lung cancer patients do not have any symptoms. When they go to the hospital for diagnosis and examination, it is already in the late stage. Early detection is crucial to avoid the corresponding signs that may appear after the cancer grows and causes bronchial obstruction, and also try to avoid the invasion of cancer into the extrapulmonary tissues of the chest, and the appearance of pleural effusion, pericardial effusion, diaphragm elevation, chest wall tenderness, superior vena cava compression, vocal cord paralysis and other signs. When the symptoms of distant metastasis outside the chest can involve various parts of the body, it is already in the middle and late stages.

Advanced lung cancer usually refers to the disease progressing to the fourth stage, which means that the cancer from the lungs has spread to other parts of the body, making the prognosis not so good. At this time, lung cancer patients often cough up mucus or blood or both. Dyspnea is another common symptom of advanced patients. Every time you breathe, you will have a dull pain in the chest. This pain may also extend to other parts of the body, depending on where the cancer cells have spread. Patients with advanced lung cancer usually have no appetite, which leads to weight loss, and the whole person becomes thinner day by day.