Lung cancer
Louis-Philippe Boulet in Applied Respiratory Pathophysiology, 2017
Cancer results from the uncontrolled proliferation of a single cell that eventually forms a tumor, which initially invades its organ of origin. The tumor can then locally spread to nearby and even to distant organs, forming metastases and from there ultimately cause death. The mechanism by which a single cell gives rise to a cancerous tumor results from the interplay of different genetic and environmental factors. More than 95% of lung cancers are carcinomas because they stem from epithelial cells. In about 90% of cases, this results from the exposure of bronchial and alveolar epithelial cells to the carcinogens contained in cigarette smoke. The most common symptoms of lung cancer are cough, dyspnea (shortness of breath), hemoptysis (coughing up blood), and weight loss. Lung cancer is diagnosed on a biopsy examined under a microscope by a pathologist. The treatment and prognosis depend on the histological type and extent of tumor spread at diagnosis as well as the general condition of the patient. Current treatments for lung cancer include surgery, radiotherapy, conventional chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy. Even with treatment, lung cancer has a poor prognosis, the survival rate at 5 years reaching only 15%. This chapter describes the risk factors, epidemiology, semeiology, histopathological classification, diagnosis, staging, treatment, and prognosis of lung cancer.
Radiologic Diagnosis of Pulmonary Neoplasms
Philip T. Cagle, Timothy C. Allen, Mary Beth Beasley in Diagnostic Pulmonary Pathology, 2008
The greatest cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States is lung cancer. According to statistics from the American Cancer Society for 2006, 31% of all cancer-related deaths for men and 26% for women were due to lung cancer, which totaled an estimated 161,419 lives lost (1). One of the reasons for the high mortality associated with lung cancer is its late presentation. Once the diagnosis of lung cancer is made, the average patient can expect an estimated five-year survival of just 10% to 15% (2). For many patients, the diagnosis of lung cancer begins with radiographic imaging and the finding of a pulmonary nodule, either with chest radiographs or chest computed tomography (CT) (Fig. 1). According to the Nomenclature Committee of the Fleischner Society that organizes and defines terms to be used for thoracic radiology, a nodule is defined as a round opacity, at least moderately well marginated and no greater than 3 cm in maximum diameter. Over 150,000 patients a year present with pulmonary nodules found on chest radiographs, with 90% of them being completely incidental findings unrelated to their initial diagnostic workup (3). While it is the job of the pathologist to come up with a tissue diagnosis of lung cancer, it is the job of the radiologist to detect pulmonary nodules and identify characteristics that make them either benign or malignant. Correct identification by the radiologist of benignity can save the patient from further unnecessary evaluation and associated morbidity. Early detection of malignancy can potentially decrease patient mortality associated with lung cancer.
Lung Cancer (a) Diagnosis and Causes, Smoking Habits, etc.
Fred W Wright in Radiology of the Chest and Related Conditions, 2022
Reported survival rates of patients with lung cancer differ to some extent from centre to centre, depending on the selection of patients before they are seen in particular clinics; they also depend on the type of tumour and the type of operation (if any) performed. Geddes (1979) pointed out that out of 100 patients with lung cancer, 80 will have inoperable disease at the time of diagnosis and most will die within three years, only one or two surviving for five years. Of the 20 (then considered potentially operable), only six survived for five years, despite surgery. Present studies with CT, etc. suggest that less than 10% are operable. Rudd (1996) gave the overall five year survival after apparently successful resection at about 25%, varying from 75% for a small tumour without nodal involvement (stage I) to 5% for tumours with nodal invasion (stage IIIa). He also quotes the long-term survival after radical radiotherapy as around 5% at five years.
Ganoderma triterpenoids attenuate tumour angiogenesis in lung cancer tumour-bearing nude mice
Published in Pharmaceutical Biology, 2020
Wei Liu, Ruiying Yuan, Aihua Hou, Song Tan, Xin Liu, Pengcheng Tan, Xiaoming Huang, Jinguo Wang
Lung cancer involves malignant lung tumours that originate in the bronchial epithelium cells. It is characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in lung tissue, which may cause metastasis, invasion of adjacent tissues, and infiltration outside the lungs. Lung cancer is divided into small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (Lecharpentier et al. 2011; Aberle et al. 2011; Wen et al. 2017). It is the most frequent cancer among all malignant tumours worldwide, causing cancer-related deaths of 1.6 million individuals every year (Liu et al. 2017). In addition, lung cancer is the primary cause of cancer-related deaths among men and second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women worldwide. In recent years, research on treatments of lung cancer have led to many advances in surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy (Wang et al. 2018). Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are effective therapeutic methods for cancer in the clinic. However, there are adverse reactions and side effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Many biologically active metabolites derived from plants, fungi, algae, and animals have been demonstrated to be effective in terms of anticancer effects and have minimal adverse reactions and side effects (Yin et al. 2013; Natan and Banin 2017).
PTD modified paclitaxel anti-resistant liposomes for treatment of drug-resistant non-small cell lung cancer
Published in Journal of Liposome Research, 2018
Rui-jun Ju, Lan Cheng, Yao Xiao, Xin Wang, Cui-qing Li, Xiao-ming Peng, Xue-tao Li
Lung cancer is a kind of malignant carcinoma characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung (Ai et al., 2016). By identifying pathological features, lung cancer is commonly classified into two types: small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) and non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) (Downey et al., 2014). NSCLC is a type of epithelial lung cancer and accounts for approximately 80–85% of lung carcinoma cases. NSCLC still remains the leading cancer-related deaths throughout the world (Ai et al., 2016). Currently, NSCLC is mainly treated by surgical resection. However, many NSCLC patients are ineligible for curative surgery due to advanced stages of the cancer, which leads to a high recurrence rate of 90% in the first 5 years (Biswas et al., 2013; Guo et al., 2012). Despite the chemotherapy is increasingly being used both pre-operatively and post-operatively, the prognosis for NSCLC is still unsatisfactory for the generated multidrug resistance, nonselectively distributions and the accompanying serious side effects (Jiang et al., 2015). Therefore, there is an urgent need for developing a new chemotherapy strategy using a novel drug delivery system (DDS) to overcome these limitations.
A perianal subcutaneous metastasis as the presenting sign for lung cancer
Published in Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings, 2021
Aaminah Azhar, Elizabeth Wilder
Furthermore, this case is unique due to the patient’s presentation with a skin complaint as his primary symptom for a metastatic lung cancer. The most common presenting symptoms of lung cancer are cough (50%–75%), dyspnea (25%–40%), and hemoptysis (20%–50%).4 Only an estimated 2.8% of NSCLC patients showed cutaneous metastasis on initial presentation.5 Patients with cutaneous metastasis of NSCLC had a poorer prognosis than those who did not, with a survival time of 3.9 vs. 10.0 months.5 Additionally, patients with cutaneous metastasis from a lung malignancy fare worse than those with cutaneous metastasis from other cancer types. In a retrospective study of 2310 patients in China, the median survival time after cutaneous metastasis of a lung carcinoma was 2.9 months.6 This was lower than the survival time for both breast carcinoma and melanoma cutaneous metastasis, 13.8 months and 13.5 months, respectively.6
Related Knowledge Centers
- Cough
- DNA
- Metastasis
- Mutation
- Shortness of Breath
- Lung
- Neoplasm
- Cell
- Tobacco Smoking
- Medical Imaging
- Shortness of Breath