allaboutlungcancer.net

Signs and Symptoms of Lung Cancer (Part 1)

From href=”http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lung/detailed/signs-and-symptoms-of-lung-cancer.html”>MedicineWorld.org, here are some signs and symptoms to watch out for:

Cough
Cough is an important symptom of lung cancer, but it is difficult to distinguish cough associated with lung cancer from cough associated smoking or cough associated with chronic lung conditions like COPD that has resulted from smoking. If a patient who had chronic cough, shows changes in the pattern of cough, possibility of lung cancer should be considered. ?

Shortness of breath
Again, shortness of breath associated with lung cancer is difficult to differentiate from the one that is associated with COPD. As mentioned above a change in pattern of respiratory difficulty should cause concern for the development of lung cancer. ?Hemoptysis (spitting blood) ?If Hemoptysis occurs in a patient with history of smoking, lung cancer should be suspected and appropriate work up is to be done to confirm or exclude this possibility.

Pneumonia
Many times lung cancer makes its initial presentation in the form of a newly developed pneumonia. The growing tumor may cause obstruction of the airways, and cause what is called “Post obstructive pneumonia “. Patients who develop pneumonia may be advised to get repeat chest X-rays to make sure that all the pneumonia is resolved completely and no residual opacities are visible.