Lung Cancer Chemotherapy

Archive for February, 2009

INTRODUCTIONLung cancer may also be the most tragic cancer because in most cases, it might have been prevented, 87% of cases are caused by smoking. Lung cancer has long been the most common cause of cancer death in men and since 1987 it has also become the most common cause of cancer death in women. It is the second most commonly occurring form of cancer in most western countries and although the lung cancer incidence is less common in developing countries, the rapid increase in the popularity of smoking will see the number of sufferers in those countries quickly catch up with the western world.Lung cancers can arise in any part of the lung, and 90%-95% of cancers of the lung are thought to arise from the epithelial, or lining cells of the larger and smaller airways (bronchi and bronchioles); for this reason, lung carcinomas are sometimes called bronchogenic carcinomas or bronchogenic cancers.The most common types are epidermoid carcinoma, small cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma and large cell carcinoma.Most experts agree that lung cancer is attributable to inhalation of carcinogenic pollutants by a susceptible host. Who is most susceptible? Any smoker over the age of 40, especially if they began smoking before ...

Lung carcinoma is the foremost cause of cancer-related death in the world. Approximately 85% of cases are related to cigarette smoking. Its symptoms can consist of cough, weight loss, hemoptysis, chest discomfort or pain, and, less commonly; however, a lot of patients present with metastatic disease with no any clinical symptoms.The diagnosis is in general completed by chest x-ray or CT scan and confirmed by biopsy. Depending on the stage of the disease, treatment includes surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or a combination.With no treatment, small cell carcinoma of the lung has the most aggressive clinical course of any kind of pulmonary tumor, with median survival from diagnosis of simply 2 to 4 months. Small cell carcinoma, if compared with other cell types of lung cancer, has a greater tendency to be extensively spread by the time of diagnosis, but is much more responsive to chemotherapy and irradiation.Non-small cell lung cancer is divided further into adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and also large cell carcinoma histologies. All of them share similar treatment approaches and prognoses but have different histologic and clinical characteristics.Each kind of non-small cell lung cancer has different types of cancer cells. The cancer cells of every type develop and ...