One difficulty in diagnosing lung cancer is the fact that in many patients symptoms of the disease are not apparent until the cancer is in an advanced stage.

Knowledge of lung cancer symptoms is important for everyone but most especially for those at high risk. Those individuals should contact their physician at once if they have any suspicion that they may have lung cancer.

Hidden Disease

Lung cancer in it’s earlier stages can go unnoticed. Usually symptoms will appear when the tumor has grown or the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. Sometimes lung cancer will be detected when an x-ray of the chest is done for some other complaint.

The lack of early symptoms of lung cancer allows the disease to grow, making it more difficult to treat and making it more likely that it will spread to other parts of the body.

Sometimes what appears to be a chest cold or some other common respiratory illness, is actually a symptom of lung cancer. These symptoms can be difficult to notice as something more serious and ignored or treated with over the counter medication as a simple virus.

Symptoms

Lung cancer symptoms are usually similar to those you would feel with a common virus or infection. They include:

* A cough that will not go away

* Chest discomfort

* Difficulty breathing

Being informed and aware is the best way to catch lung cancer symptoms early. Watch out for the following:

* A new cough that develops suddenly, especially if you smoke or used to smoke.

* A cough that just will not go away no matter what medication you use to treat it.

* Pain in the chest that is dull, yet persistent.

* Gasping

* Hoarseness

* Repeated respiratory illness

Depending upon the type of lung cancer, a variety of symptoms can be seen. One form of lung cancer tumors are Metastatic and may react differently in the body and cause different symptoms. While most do not cause any symptoms, they can sometimes spread to the adrenal glands, the bones and even the brain.

The difficulty of detecting lung cancer in the early stages is part of the reason why it has such a high death rate.

Anne Durrel originally comes from Stockton, California, USA. She has written many articles about Lung Cancer . Other guide you may be interested in reading: lung cancer prognosis tips, and lung cancer stages guide!

It is not easy to understand the figures about the lung cancer survival rate.

You really have to understand how these are put together and what exactly they represent.

All the figures you see may not be exactly what you think since there are many factors that influence how the lung cancer survival rates are determined.

The Nitty-Gritty

Lung cancer survival rates statements refer to a group of people at certain age suffering from lung cancer with some specific types of cancer.

It may also indicate rates for people suffering from lung cancer at any disease.

No matter if the person is in remission or still have cancer, usually the survival statistics relate to the survival rate after five years.

Understand that the lung cancer statistics are based upon average and a large group of people. And since every case is very different, so they only predict what the survival rate will be for a particular person.

Lung Cancer Survival Rate Factors

Remember, there are many things that influence lung cancer survival rate statistics, but here are some of the factors that can alter survival rates area:

* Cancer Stage

* Type of cancer

* The kind of symptoms present

* General health conditions

* The date of diagnosis

When a doctor gives patient information on the possible outcome of their diagnosis, it is based upon a general idea of what happens in the average case.

It is only an estimate, not an exact science.

The Average of Lung Cancer Survival Rate

The average Lung Cancer Survival Rate for those diagnosed with early stage lung cancer is 49%. This means that 49 out of 100 people live for at least 5 years after diagnosis.

People diagnosed with lung cancer that has spread have only 3% of survival rate or only 3 out of 100 people live 5 years after diagnosis.

Using Survival Rates

Now you know what lung cancer survival rate statistics means, and you can begin to find out how they may be used.

The most common use is to help patients understand what lies ahead for them in dealing with the disease and the possibility of their death.

Anne Durrel has written extensively on Lung Cancer . She comes from California. You may want to check out her other guide on signs of lung cancer tips, and lung cancer symptoms guide!

Lung cancer is an abnormality with the tissue in the lung where the cell’s normal routine of life is to grow fresh cells if they are needed – with a malignancy, the development is uncontrolled.

Many lung cancers, approximately ninety five%, are cancers of the outermost tissue on the lung, although a very tiny percentage of these lung malignancies might be mesotheliomas that are coming from lung cancers of the pleura.

Diagnosing Lung Cancer

Diagnosis of lung cancer malignancy is difficult sometimes simply because 25% of sufferers clinically determined to have lung cancer malignancy may have no warning signs before diagnosis. A diagnosis comes about in these cases whenever a chest radio-graph is carried out for a different unrelated cause and then an abnormality shows up. Usually a biopsy (tiny piece of lung tissue) is used in order to verify the diagnosis.

Lung cancer symptoms like prolonged chest discomfort, coughing, and wheezing weight loss, exhaustion, persistent hoarseness, as well as difficulty swallowing may be attributed to other reasons and therefore diagnosing lung cancer malignancy could be delayed.

Earlier stages of lung cancer malignancy are considered far more responsive to treatment and less likely to have additional organ involvement but that of course is dependent upon the type of cancer too.

Studies claim that around eighty percent of deaths related to lung cancer malignancy around the world result from cigarette smoking even though other carcinogens may also lead to lung cancer. Exposure to Radon gas is also a root cause of lung cancer malignancy with nearly 12 percent of all lung cancer deaths attributable to exposure to radon.

Particles in the air likewise seem to have some relation to the development of some types of lung cancer. The finer the air particle the more deeply it penetrates within the lung.

Asbestos fibers are also a reason for lung cancer – these silicate fibers can easily remain inside the lungs over time periods of more than 20 years. Employees subjected to these asbestos fibers have a five X increased chance of developing lung cancer malignancy and smokers that are exposed have got a 50 to 90 times greater risk than non-smokers.

Various other lung conditions appear to increase the danger of developing lung cancer to four or five times above normal.

Management of Lung Cancer Malignancy

Chemotherapy is a program of drug treatments intended to effectively poison the cancer growths. Radiation treatment may perhaps be used with a healing intention on lung malignancy or it can be used for symptom relief or as a precaution after surgical procedures.

Surgical treatment – Some lung cancers are operable and others are not, but normally surgery is followed or preceded by chemotherapy or radiation to try and kill virtually any stray cancer cells. This strategy is often used in situations where cancer has been identified in its earlier stages and hasn’t spread to other regions of the body.

Treatment would depend on the stage of lung cancer as well as involvement of certain other organs, the type of cancer malignancy, as well as the overall condition of the affected person with the lung cancer. The possible treatment methods change day-to-day, and new and fresh treatments for lung cancer as well as its different types are being developed all the time.

Anne Durrel comes from California. She has, combined, over 3 years of experience in Lung Cancer. You may want to check out her other guide on lung cancer symptoms tips and asbestos siding guide.

The use of marijuana for medical purposes has a history that goes back thousands of years– the herb has been used for all sorts of aliments such as a stress reliever in India, to subsiding child birth pains. Its uses can be traced all throughout Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

For past 10 years, recent studies have shown marijuana’s effects on various types of pains. They range from diabetic treatment, spinal chord injuries, and damaged nerves in people with HIV–Patients with cancer and Multiple sclerosis are also showing promise with marijuana related studies.

Medical marijuana has been theorized to help with nausea related to symptoms induced by chemotherapy, and with severe loss of appetite as with patients with AIDS wasting syndrome.

Marijuana has an active compound known as THC (tetrahydro cannabinol) which act like the action of chemicals that naturally occur in the brain. The THC activates receptors that trigger physiological responses in the brain.

A legal prescription form of THC (Marinol) exists, yet researchers say it’s far from a perfect drug. Taken orally, its absorption is highly variable and unpredictable and often delayed, says Dr. Igor Grant, a UC San Diego psychiatrist who directs the university’s Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research. “Smoking is a very efficient way to deliver THC,” he says.

Medical marijuana is considered illegal under federal laws, so its only available is selected clinics in states such as California where they have passed laws making marijuana legal for personal medical use.

Research on the medicinal use of marijuana relies on government-issued marijuana cigarettes, which come in different strengths and are supplied by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

The University of California Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research in San Diego helps coordinate clinical studies to investigate the safety and effectiveness of marijuana and they’ve discovered in their studies related to neuropathic pain, Multiple sclerosis, and nausea.