The Deadliest Cancer - Lung Cancer

Taking its position as the leading cause of cancer death, lung cancer has been the cause of a shocking estimate of 1.8 million deaths worldwide in 2020.

Lung cancer is a disease caused by uncontrolled cell division in your lungs, which are spongy organs in your chest that take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide. Although the cells in our body divide and make more copies of themselves as a part of their normal function, sometimes they get changes (mutations) that cause them to keep making more of themselves when they shouldn’t. Damaged cells dividing uncontrollably create masses, or tumors, of tissue that eventually prevent your organs from working properly.

Although cancer is widely known to be non-discriminative, smoking tobacco of any kind has been found to be the primary risk factor for lung cancer. Other risk factors include exposure to secondhand smoke, air pollution, hereditary cancer syndromes, and a history of chronic lung diseases.

There are various stages to this deadly disease. Stage 0, or in-situ, is when the cancer is in the top lining of the lung or bronchus. It hasn’t spread to other parts of the lung or outside of the lung. The cancer continues to stay stagnant and doesn’t spread outside the lung throughout Stage I. During Stage II and III, the mass of cells continues to divide uncontrollably, getting larger with each passing stage, and it spreads to lymph nodes inside the lung. It can be said the cancer is at Stage IV if it has spread into the other lung, the fluid around the lung, the fluid around the heart or distant organs.

The rather nerve-wrecking and scary part of cancer is that it can grow in your body unnoticed for a long time, years even, before you know it’s there. Lung cancer often doesn’t cause symptoms in early stages making it even more dangerous. So ensure to get checked and tested for cancer regularly to potentially save a life!

Written by Elizza Miriam Mathew

References

Lung cancer. (2023, June 26). World Health Organization (WHO). Retrieved August 30, 2023, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/lung-cancer

Lung cancer - Symptoms and causes. (2022, March 22). Mayo Clinic. Retrieved August 30, 2023, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lung-cancer/symptoms-causes/syc-20374620

Lung Cancer: Types, Stages, Symptoms, Diagnosis & Treatment. (2022, October 31). Cleveland Clinic. Retrieved August 30, 2023, from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/4375-lung-cancer