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Lung Cancer Essay

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There are two different types of lung cancer, non-small cell lung cancer and small cell lung cancer. It is all depending on the size of what the cells look like under a microscope. Both of these types of lung cancer can grow differently which leads to them both being treated differently. Non-small cell lung cancer is the more common of the two and it usually grows fairly slow. There are three main types of non-small cell lung cancer and they are squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, and large cell carcinoma. Small cell cancer is the least common and it grows fairly rapid and it can easily spread to other organs in the body (Cavendish, p.946).

Usually cells grow and divide at a specific pace that keeps the body working healthy but …show more content…

A bronchoscopy is when a patient is sedated and a fiberoptic flexible tube is moved through the mouth into the bronchi tube (the tube that carries air to the lungs) and they can find blockages made by tumors or cancer. Blood tests are also taken to see if cancer cells have spread to the liver or bones.

Staging of non-small cell lung cancer is described with the TNM system. T stands for tumor, it’s size and how far it has spread, N stands for the lymph nodes, and M stands for metastasis, spread to other organs. All of these are combined and a stage is assigned to each group.

There are four different stages for the non-small cell lung cancer T stages. “Tis” is when cancer is found only in the lay of cells lining the air passages and not found anywhere else. “T1” is when the cancer is no larger than 3 centimeters. “T2” is when the cancer is no larger then 3 centimeters, it involves a main bronchus but is not closer then 2 centimeters to where the trachea branches off into the main bronchi, it has spread to the visceral pleura, the cancer partially clogs the airways but the lung is not collapsed or under pneumonia. “T3” is when the cancer has spread to the chest wall, the diaphragm, the mediastinal pleura, or the parietal pericardium, when the cancer involves a main bronchus and is closer then 2 centimeters to where the trachea branches into the main bronchi but

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