Lung Cancer

Lung Cancer

Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment

Signs and Symptoms

The lung's job is to remove carbon dioxide from the blood and replace it with oxygen. It acts like a pump with every breath you take. The air you breathe comes in through your nose or mouth, and passes though your trachea, or windpipe, into the lungs through two tubes called main stem bronchi. One of the tubes goes to the right lung and the other one to the left lung.

In the lungs, each of the main stem bronchi divide into smaller tubes, called bronchi, and then into even smaller tubes called bronchioles. The bronchioles end in tiny air sacs called alveoli where the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide — the gases you breathe — takes place. There are three sections of lung or lobes on the right side of the chest and two sections on the left side.

Cancers that begin in the lungs are divided into two major types — small cell lung cancer and non-small cell cancer. The two types are distinguished by how the cancer cells look under a microscope. Each type of lung cancer grows and spreads differently and calls for different treatment.

Non-small cell lung cancer is more common and generally grows more slowly. There are four main types of this cancer. They are named for the cells in which the cancer develops: squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, bronchoalveolar carcinoma and large cell carcinoma.

Small cell lung cancer, sometimes called oat cell cancer, is less common. This type of lung cancer grows more quickly and is more likely to spread to other organs.

Symptoms

Common signs and symptoms of lung cancer include:

• A cough that doesn't go away and gets worse over time
• Constant chest pain
• Coughing up blood
• Shortness of breath, wheezing or hoarseness
• Repeated problems with pneumonia or bronchitis
• Swelling of the neck and face
• Loss of appetite or weight loss
• Fatigue

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Medical Center.
Last updated May 8, 2007