3 1.1 Lung Cancer

Types of Lung Cancer


Let’s begin with a brief review of respiratory anatomy:

 

[1]


Click on the interactive diagram to learn more about the different types of lung cancer:

 

[2]


As you can see, non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) make up roughly 85% of cancer diagnoses.[3]So what does the symptomatology of NSCLC look like?

NSCLC Signs and Symptoms

Signs and symptoms include:

  • Cough
  • Dyspnoea  – shortness of  breath
  • Haemoptysis – bloody mucus or discharge from coughing
  • Postobstructive pneumonia – as result of airway obstruction
  • Systemic effects – including anorexia, weight loss, weakness, and profound fatigue
  • Metastases of lung cancer is very common and can lead to more severe signs and symptoms.[4]

Now that we know what NSCLC looks like, who is affected most by this illness?

NSCLC Populations

  • Women have lower incidence and death rates in the US
  • Asian ethnicity is a favourable prognostic factor for overall survival in the US
  • Access to medical care has a significant impact on racial differences in survival rates in the US
  • Still, lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality in the US and China. [5][6]

  1. Made with biorender.com
  2. Made with biorender.com
  3. Lemjabbar-Alaoui, H., Hassan, O. U. I., Yang, Y. W. & Buchanan, P. Lung cancer: Biology and treatment options. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Reviews on Cancer 1856, 189–210 (2015).
  4. Hoffman, P., Mauer, A. & Vokes, E. Lung cancer. Treatment and Research. The Lancet 355, (Springer, 2016)
  5. Bach, P. B., Cramer, L. D., Warren, J. L. & Begg, C. B. Racial Differences in the Treatment of Early-Stage Lung Cancer. N. Engl. J. Med. 341, 1198–1205 (1999).
  6. Lemjabbar-Alaoui, H., Hassan, O. U. I., Yang, Y. W. & Buchanan, P. Lung cancer: Biology and treatment options. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Reviews on Cancer 1856, 189–210 (2015)

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Selected Topics in Health and Disease (2019 Edition) Copyright © by Dr. Ju. All Rights Reserved.

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