What Causes Lung Cancer
Cancer of the lungs produces irregularities to the cell of the lung organ. When there is a disruption in the body’s internal system, the cancer leads to an uncontrolled growth in the tissues that eventually forms a mass of tissue called a tumor. The lung’s is responsible for taking in the air we breathe and transport it to other parts of the body. While in this process, the lungs aids the body to eliminate carbon dioxide from the blood stream and promotes fresh air to circulate to other vital organs in the body. There are two category of tumors; malignant and benign, Malignant tumors develop more rapidly, while benign tumors usually take a longer time to developed and can be treated without it expanding to other parts of the body.
Lung cancer is considered as a malignant tumor due to the fact that it starts to grow outward very early on in its development. When cancer growth continues to a certain degree then it becomes capable of spreading to other sections of the body to cause further damage. The organs that have a greater chance of being infected by a lung cancer are the liver, adrenal glands, brain and bone. The lung is also easily infected by other types of cancers that form in other sections of the body. Lung cancer is recorded as the most common cause of death throughout the globe due to cancer in both male and females. It predominantly affects older persons, the majority of the persons diagnosed with lung cancer are 65 years of age and older, about 3% of lung cancers occur in persons under the age of 45.
The most common cause of cancer is cigarettes or tobacco smoking whether first or second hand. Second hand smokers are persons who breathe in smoke released from other persons who smoke in their environment. Smoking is estimated to be connected to approximately 90% of all lung cancer cases. The longer a person practices smoking; there is a heightened possibility of contracting lung cancer and even other cancer diseases. Persons who experience second hand smoking or what is known as passive smoking suffer from a 24% increase in developing lung cancer when compared to a person who does not live with smokers. There are reportedly about 3,000 lung cancer casualties that occur each year in America.Tobacco smoke has over 4,000 chemical compounds that are cancerous, the main carcinogen in tobacco are nitrosamines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
Exposure to a substance known as asbestos is also a leading cause of lung cancer. Asbestos fibers are silicate fibers which when exposed to can follow persons for a lifetime in the lung tissue. Asbestos is either banned or scarcely used in a many countries. Exposure to asbestos paired with smoking also increases the possibility of developing an asbestos-related lung cancer over 50 – 90 times versus a person who doesn’t smoke. Other causes of lung cancer are related to exposure to environmental factors such as air pollution due to vehicle exhaust, power plants, and extracts of chemicals like radon gas which is a decay product of uranium. Persons with a family history of lung cancer cases are also more proned to develop the disease. Patients who have previously been treated for lung cancer maintain an additive risk of 1 – 2% per year for developing a second lung cancer.
Lung cancer is normally diagnosed by doing a chest radiograph, a bronchoscopy and/ or a CT scan. If irregularities are seen then doctors may continue with screening exams and then determine what the next step will be. Lung Cancer is one of the more difficult cancers to treat. Treatment may determined by the state of which the cancer is in at the time of detection. At earlier stages doctors will more likely employ chemotherapy or radiation therapy, in other cases infected persons may have to undergo surgical procedure.