A Short Note On Prevention And Treatment Of Lung Cancer

What are lung cancers? Lung cancers are the abnormal cells which grow in uncontrolled manner in one or both lungs. They do not function as normal lung cells and do not develop into healthy lung tissue. The abnormal cells can grow, form tumours and interfere with the normal functions of the lung (Lungcancer.org, 2015). Lung cancers can be divided into two major types, namely non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancers (SCLC). NSCLC can be further classified into three main subtypes, namely adenocarcinoma, squamous-cell carcinoma and large-cell carcinoma (Longo & Harrison, 2012). Lung cancers can be diagnosed by chest X-ray, computerised tomography (CT) scan, positron emission tomography-computerised tomography (PET-CT) scan, bronchoscopy and biopsy (Nhs.uk, 2015). Unfortunately, lung cancers are often diagnosed at the later stages. This is due to the unrecognisable symptoms and warning signs at the earlier stages. NSCLC are often diagnosed at stage IV which accounts for 30-40% of cases whereas 60% of SCLC is diagnosed at stage IV. Lung cancer usually originates from the cells lining the bronchi, bronchioles and alveoli. Carcinogens especially tobacco smoke will alter the gene expression of the normal human lung cells, resulting in cell mutation. The proto-oncogenes will be converted to mutated form, oncogenes. Mutation leads to the decreased expression of the tumour suppressor genes. This results in uncontrolled cell proliferation, cell

Radiotherapy, also called radiation therapy, is the treatment of cancer and other diseases with radiation. Radiotherapy is used when the entire primary tumor cannot be surgically removed. Radiotherapy deposits energy

Surgery is the most common method used to treat lung cancer followed by chemotherapy or radiation. Surgery can be used if the cancer is benign. Surgery removes the cancer inside the patient. Although surgery is the most popular method, the chance of the doctor being able to remove all of the cancer is highly unlikely. Since the cells are so small and there are thousands of them it is very difficult to remove every one. When a patient uses surgery to treat the cancer, the cancer has a good chance it can come back, because it only takes a few bad cells to spread and create a tumor.

High doses of radiation kill cancer cells and stop them from spreading, while at low doses radiation is used to see insides of the human body, such as x-rays (WebMD).

Lung Cancer, like any other type of cancer, is the uncontrollable growth of cells in the lung tissue. The main causes that contribute to lung cancer include inhaling carcinogens (basically, smoking), exposure to ionizing radiation, viral infections and even air pollution. These factors basically damage the tissues lining the bronchi in the lung, leading the cancer to develop further (Vaporciyan & Nesbitt JC, 2000). Primary lung cancers that develop in the epithelial tissues of the lung are known as carcinomas and claim the top spot in terms of leading cancer-related death causes. As of 2004, lung cancer

The treatments for lung cancer depends on the stage and type of lung cancer and involves Surgery, Radiation therapy, Chemotherapy, Targeted therapy, and Lung cancer is usually treated with a combination of therapies in general. In surgery the tumor and the nearby lymph nodes in the chest are typically removed to offer the best chance for a cure. For non-small cell lung cancer, a lobectomy which involves the removal of the entire lobe where the tumor is located has shown to be very effective. Unfortunately, Surgery may not be possible in some patient due to the stage and type of lung cancer they have. Chemotherapy involves drugs used to kill cancer cells. A combination of medications is often used and may be prescribed before or after surgery, or radiation therapy. It can improve survival and lessen lung cancer symptoms in all patients, even those with widespread lung cancer. Radiation therapy contains the use of high-energy x-rays or other particles to destroy cancer cells. Side effects include fatigue, malaise, loss of appetite, and skin irritation at the treatment site. Radiation pneumonitis is the irritation and inflammation of the lung, which occurs in 15% of patients. It is important that the radiation treatments avoid the healthy parts of the lung.

Cancer is an incurable and unpredictable disease that, if left untreated, will likely result in death for the men, women, and children who must fight it. Sadly, approximately 36% of people will develop cancer during their lifetime, and of that percentage, fewer than 15% will survive, according to the National Cancer Institute. Along with surgery and chemotherapy, radiation is one of the few known methods for treating cancer, but it does not come without harmful side effects. While radiation therapy is currently a proven method for treating cancer, dangers to patients often outweigh its benefits, therefore a safer method for effectively treating and ultimately curing cancer.

In 1939, the United States started funding the Manhattan Project. A project which goal was to make a bomb using the power of nuclear energy. There were a few problems with making the bomb. One the resources needed to make the bomb were expensive and hard to find. And, by 1945, the budget for the Manhattan Project be around Two billion dollars.

Treatment: As long as the cancer has not spread to outside of the lung, it can be removed with surgical resection. There are now less invasive ways to remove cancer from the lungs, such as using a small video camera to see inside the chest, resulting in smaller incisions. There has very recently been a new way to treat non small cell lung cancer that would otherwise be inoperable. Shown to be more effective than normal radiation therapy and simply observing the cancers progress, stereotatic body radiation therapy can ???. Laser treatment is sometimes used to unblock air passages that are blocked by a tumour and attempt to control some spreading of the cancer cells. It is different to the other ‘treatments’ as it doesn’t actually provide a solution to getting rid of the cancer, but makes the symptoms more bearable for the patient.

Cancer, like other illnesses does not discriminate. It affects the rich and the poor and anyone who is susceptible to it. According to the American Cancer Society, millions of people are diagnosed each year. With these diagnostics, there are also many deaths. This is because some people do not respond to treatment or they come in too late. There have been some cases where there are no treatments or cures for the type of cancer as well. Cancer is like a plague and it has to be stopped and it takes the job of  radiation therapists and many other oncology specialists to come together to defeat it.

There are clinical trials that are working through new chemotherapy regimens, precision medicine or targeted therapy, ALCHEMIST, AGFR, angiogenesis inhibitors, cryotherapy, and IGRT. Surgery includes pneumonectomies, segmentectomies, lobectomies, and thoractomies. A pneumonectomy is the removal of the entire lung; a segmentectomy is the removal of a small segment of the lung; a lobectomy is the removal of a lobe of the lung; and a thoracotomy is the removal of cancerous lung tissues. In some cases, chemotherapy will follow up a surgery for lung cancer. Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to treat a disease. With cancer, there is adjuvant chemotherapy and preoperative chemotherapy. Adjuvant is after surgery while preoperative is before surgery. If a patient is of advanced age, or has other medical conditions that will make it harder for the patient to undergo surgery, they can have radiation done. Radiation uses high energy particles or waves to damage cancer cells. Lastly there is a combination of these techniques. A patient can have radiation before a surgery, chemotherapy before a surgery or after, or a patient can have a combination of radiation and chemotherapy. A patient can pick any way they would like, but the choice needs to look at how the patient is doing, what stage they are in, any other medical problems, and how they want to feel going through all of

Lung cancer is a tumor that affects either one or both of the lungs.A primary cancer begins in the lungs and a secondary cancer begins in another place in the body and makes its way up towards the lungs. Lung cancer is the 5th most common cancer. In Australia 59% of males were diagnosed were as 41% of Australian females were diagnosed.

Radiation therapy is the ionization of atoms in tissues resulting in formation of highly reactive radicals in a well-defined, restricted volume (1). In other words, ionizing radiations are used to eradicate tumors and at the same time preserve structure and function of normal tissue. A limitation is prevented from being a problem. If bone marrow or neuronal cells are destroyed or injured, they do not regenerate. However, with radiation therapy, these cells are often saved from injury or destruction, unless the tumor is infecting bone marrow or neuronal cells. Today, radiation therapy is the most popular type of cancer therapy in use. It is used to treat one-half to two-thirds of all cancers, which translates to more than ten percent of the population

The first treatment option is surgery. There are many different ways of getting the surgery. The first way is called Lobectomy. What they would do is cut 1 of the 5 lobes to get rid of the tumor. The 2nd option is called a wedge resection. They do this if you can't have one of your lobes removed. They just remove the tumor and not a whole lobe. The 3rd option is segmentectomy. This is another option if you can't have a lobe be removed. The fourth and last surgery option is called Pneumonectomy. If the tumor is in the middle of the lung, you can get the whole lung removed.

In 2007, it is predicted that almost 1.5 million people will be diagnosed with cancer in the United States (Pickle et al., 2007). More than half of these cancer patients will undergo the use of radiation as a means for treating cancer at some point during the course of their disease (Perez and Brady, 1998). Cancer, a disease caused by an uncontrollable growth of abnormal cells, affects millions of people around the world. Radiotherapy is one of the well known various methods used to treat cancer, where high powered rays are aimed directly at the tumor from the outside of the body as external radiation or an instrument is surgically placed inside the body producing a result of internal radiation. Radiation is delivered to the cancerous regions of the body to damage and destroy the cells in that area, terminating the rapid growth and division of the cells. Radiation therapy has been used by medicine as a treatment for cancer from the beginning of the twentieth century, with its earliest beginnings coming from the discovery of x-rays in 1895 by Wilhelm Röntgen. With the advancements in physics and computer programming, radiation had greatly evolved towards the end of the twentieth century and made the radiation treatment more effective. Radiation therapy is a curative treatment approach for cancer because it is successful in killing cancerous tumor cells and stop them from regenerating.