Lung Cancer: A Brief Discussion about the Lethal Disease
By
Aiman Habib
Figure: Taken from (mayoclinic.org)
Suppose you are
working in a firm full of labour, and every worker have a specific task to do.
What happened when anyone of them gets disturbed and unable to work properly?
Then, definitely, the overall performance of the firm will get affected. Same in
the case of Human Beings, they also have some labour for their performance,
these are cells. Cells within the
human body undergo division of labour i.e. every cell is specific for its task
and performance, if some of them get disturbed, then the overall performance of
the human body will be affected, and if they show unusual activities it will be
lethal for the entire Human Being.
If the cells of
the specific part of our body show abnormal growth and begin to reproduce
uncontrollably, then the condition is said to be cancer. After reading this
article you would be able to get informed about the most deadly type of cancer
all around the World, and especially it is known as the top killer cancer in
the United States. This article explained you about the type of cancer, which
is highly life-threatening and alarming and people suffering from cancer can
survive more than 5 years after its exposure and this cancer are said to be lung cancer. Like other types of
cancer, lung cancer mainly has two major types. First one is the “non-small cell
lung cancer” which is the most common and the second one is “small cell lung cancer”
that spreads more quickly. No doubt, every type of cancer is lethal but
according to different studies, due to this lethal lung cancer annually about 3
millions of deaths of individuals occur worldwide and specifically in the United
States, almost 35,000 deaths of individuals occur. In the United States, it ranked
as the second most common type of cancer.
It might be
important to know that early lung cancer might not cause any symptoms; it
means patients only caught in later stages. The average life span of the
patients of small cell lung cancer is believed to be 9 to 12 months, and if the
person does not undergo proper treatment it can go down to 4 to 6 months.
While, the expected life span of the patients of non-small cell lung cancer is believed
to be 9 to 11 months if the condition of the patient got severe after
diagnosis, but if the patient is in limited-stage then hHe/she
will live for 16 to 22 months. It means the life span of the patient depends on
the severity of the disease. The purpose to write about lung cancer is just to aware people from this fatal disease which becomes more and more fatal day by
day. Now, let’s start the discussion about Lung Cancer.
What is Lung Cancer?
Lungs are the
two spongy organs located in the chest and responsible for the process of
inhalation and exhalation. The lung cancer develops when there is an
uncontrolled cell growth occurs within the tissues of the lungs. Lung cancer is
formed when the pleural membrane (covering) of the lungs starts to make too
much fluid. The fluid then collects within the pleural space and stops the
lungs from expanding fully. This causes the patients to feel breathless. The
tumour cells are malignant and can multiply in the near parts of the body such
as chest wall or diaphragm, obtains a new blood supply to continue tumour growth.
Although lung cancer can develop in any part of the lung, most commonly it
begins in the air passages (bronchi) and airway branches (bronchioles).
What
are the causes of Lung Cancer?
Mainly, any type of cancer is caused when the mutations occur
in the DNA. Lung Cancer is also caused by mutations in the DNA. When cells
reproduce themselves, start division and replication, and began to form
identical cells. At the time of production of new cells, the human body is
constantly renewing itself. Inhaling harmful cancer-causing substances or
carcinogens (like cigarette smoke, radon, asbestos etc.). These factors damage
the cells that line within the lungs and cause a tumour to develop.
Specifically, exposure to certain chemicals and smoking
tobacco can greatly increase the risks of getting lung cancer. According to the
Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 90% of all lung cancers
are due to cigarette smoking.
What are the symptoms of
lung cancer?
Typically, in the early stages, lung cancer does not show any
signs and symptoms. But, as the disease gets advanced its start to expose
itself.
The symptoms include:
- A new cough that does not go away
- Coughing up blood even a small amount
- Shortness of breath
- Chest pain
- Hoarseness (in which patient undergo abnormal voice changes due to sore throat or cold)
- Losing weight without trying
- Bone Pain
- Headache
- Loss of appetite
- Infections such as bronchitis or pneumonia that does not go away
- Feeling tired or weak
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Treatment
Usually, the patients suffer from
lung cancer have a shorter lifespan if diagnosed in advance stages but after the
treatment some measures are made in order to extend the life span of the
patient.
The type of treatment a person
receives in order to get cure from lung cancer depends upon the several
factors. These include:
·
Types
of lung cancer (small cell or non-small cell lung cancer)
·
Size
and position of the tumour
·
Stage
of the cancer
·
Your
overall health
Surgery
Surgery is the preferred treatment for the patients
suffered from early-stage non-small cell lung cancer. But, unfortunately, most
patients with advanced lung cancer are not suitable for surgery.
Basically, there are three types of surgery for lung cancer. These are:
Lobectomy: A surgery type in which one or more large parts of the lungs are removed. This is recommended by the doctor if the tumour is in the 1 part of one lung.
Pneumonectomy:
A type of surgery in which the whole lung is removed. This
type is recommended by the doctor by the doctor when the tumour is spread in the
middle part or within the whole lung.
Segmentectomy: In this type of surgery, a small piece of the lung is removed. This is only recommended by the doctors when the tumour is in the
small portion of the lung. This is usually very early-stage non-small cell lung
cancer.
After surgery, a person might face
some complications, it is estimated that around 1 in 5 lung cancer surgeries
will lead to complications. These complications may include excessive bleeding,
inflammation or infection of the lungs.
Radiotherapy
It is the most common treatment
for the patients suffered from lung cancer; it’s been a very effective treatment
for lung cancer. In radiotherapy, high energy X-rays are used to destroy
tumour cells while they do not target normal cells. It is given in small
fractions and patients undergo 33 sessions of it.
If a person suffers from non-small
cell cancer and don’t have enough energy for surgery, then the patient
undergoes radical therapy, and if a person suffers from small tumour then he
will be cured by stereotactic therapy. Radiotherapy is the best way to control
the symptoms like coughing and pains and also slow down the spread of tumour in
case, if the condition of the patient is not satisfactory and cure is not possible.
Another type of radiotherapy called prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) also
sometimes used during the treatment because the tumour can spread to the brain so in
this treatment brain is treated with low-dose of radiations as a preventive
measures.
Radiotherapy can be given directly
to the affected part of the body (conventional external beam radiotherapy) or
directly target the tumour avoiding the surrounding healthy cells (stereotactic
radiotherapy) or thirdly, can be given
by the used catheter_ which is a thin tube inserted into the lungs and for some time placed against the tumour and then permanently removed the tumour,
(internal radiotherapy). But most often, stereotactic radiotherapy is used.
Chemotherapy uses powerful
cancer-killing medicines in order to treat cancer. Chemotherapy is given in
cycles in order to give time to treatment for its proper work. The time period
of the chemotherapy depends on the type and the severity of the tumour. Chemotherapy
uses the combinations of medicines, these medicines are usually given to the
patients intravenously, or a tube connected to one of the blood vessels in your
chest and some people get oral treatment in the form capsules or tablets.
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy is a type of
medication in which a group of medicines given to the patient in order to
stimulate the immune system to target and kill the tumour cells. This treatment
can be given alone or in combination with chemotherapy. A medicine known as pembrolizumab is used as an option for
treatment of small-cell lung cancer; it can be given through a drip. It takes
around 30 minutes to receive a dose.
But all of these treatments have a side effect along with their positive effects. These may include feeling sick,
being sick, fatigue, hair loss, mouth ulcers, difficulties swallowing
(dysphagia) etc.
Future clinical trials for the
treatment of small-cell lung cancer: Lung cancer is one of the most dangerous
disease considered in the United States, so new researches are being made in order
to diagnose and prevent lung cancer in its earliest stages and make people
protective against it. The new strategy which is used for diagnosis is the
Targeted Therapy, in which certain molecules interact with tumour cells. These
molecules are known as molecular targets. The targets are found by looking at
the genetic mutations in the lung cancer cells or the proteins that are made by
cancer cells. In case of small-cell lung cancer, the new targets that are
identified are EFGR (epidermal growth factor receptor), ALK (anaplastic
lymphoma kinase) gene, MET (met proto-oncogene), NTRK (neurotrophic tyrosine
receptor kinase), BRAF and ROS1. Many of these drugs being researched and some
drugs have been approved for the treatment work in order to fight tumour cells
by blocking their pathways.
Author’s
inspiration
Aiman Habib, (BS Biotechnology)
has written this article. She was inspired motivated by her mentor Miss Iqra
Aslam (MPhil Biochemistry), Lecturer of Biochemistry at University of
Management and Technology, Sialkot, Punjab, Pakistan.
Reviewer and
editor information
Muhammad Numan (PhD Scholar
Biochemistry) and Miss Iqra Aslam (MPhil Biochemistry) have reviewed and edited
this article.
References
All the references that are used to write this article are given below.
- https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-40389-2
- https://www.cancer.org/cancer/lung-cancer/detection-diagnosis-staging/signs-symptoms.html
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lung-cancer/symptoms-causes/syc-20374620
- https://www.healthline.com/health/lung-cancer-causes
- https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/lung-cancer/treatment/
- https://lungcancer.net/research/
- https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/lung-cancer/about
- https://lung.cancerresearch/what-is-lung-cancer/
Good job👍👏
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