Pearlman Cancer Center

Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer in both men and women. Lung cancer kills more than 95,000 men and 59,000 women annually. The good news is that much of the damage done by smoking can be healed if the smoker quits early enough, before lung cancer occurs.

There are two general types of lung cancer, small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC). Small cell lung cancer, also called oat cell carcinoma of the lung, is usually treated with chemotherapy and is much more common, making up about 75 percent of all lung cancer cases. Types of non-small cell lung cancers include squamous cell, adenocarcinoma, and large cell cancers. Treatments for non-small cell cancers include surgery, radiation or chemotherapy alone or in combination, depending on how far the disease has progressed.

Warning Signs

Nagging cough
Coughing up blood
Recurrent attacks of pneumonia or bronchitis
Chest and arm pain
Unexplained weight loss
Increased shortness of breath upon exertion
Increase in the amount of sputum
Swelling of the face and arms

The best way to prevent lung cancer is by not smoking tobacco. Heavy smokers and people who are exposed to environmental pollutants (for example, asbestos, nickel, chromium compounds and chloromethyl ether) are most likely to develop lung cancer. Breathing smoke exhaled by others, sometimes called "secondhand smoking," also increases your risk of developing lung cancer.

Because lung cancer shows very few symptoms in its earliest and most curable stages, every person over 40 should have a baseline chest X-ray to look for the disease. Additional chest X-rays should be done at the discretion of your physician.

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