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Lung cancer

Lung cancer is a serious life-threatening disease. It’s difficult to treat and the cancer can spread to other parts of your body. Smoking is the main cause - watch our demo below and find out what cigarettes really do to you.

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Non-smokers can get lung cancer, but the risk is about ten times greater for smokers.

Who gets it?

One person every 15 minutes is diagnosed with lung cancer. It is more common in men than women, but as the number of women smoking is growing, the number of women developing lung cancer has increased too. About 40,000 people in the UK die every year from lung cancer.

Cartoon character coughing

What is it?

Lung cancer is a life-threatening disease because it often spreads to other parts of the body. Many lung cancers start in the cells lining the bronchi and often take many years to develop. It is mostly associated with smoking.

Most lung tumours are malignant. This means they invade and destroy the healthy tissues around them.

There are two main types of primary lung cancer: small cell and non-small cell.

Small cell lung cancer is sometimes called 'oat-cell' cancer because its cells are a distinctive oat shape.

There are three types of non-small cell lung cancer:

Squamous cell cancer develops in the cells that line the airways and is the most common.

Adenocarcinoma develops from the cells that produce mucus in the lining of the airways.

Large cell carcinoma gets its name from the large, rounded cells that are seen when they are examined under the microscope.

What does smoking do to you? Check out our Flash movie to find out.

What causes it? What are my risks?

Smoking is the main cause of lung cancer. Many of the cancer-causing substances in tobacco are also found in marijuana (weed). Around 90% of all lung cancers are caused by smoking, either directly or through indirect exposure.

The factors that increase your risk of developing lung cancer are:

how much you smoke
if you started smoking at a young age
how long you have smoked (or had smoked before quitting)

These may also cause lung cancer:

'passive' smoking (breathing in other people's smoke)
air pollution from cars, factories, and other sources
working with asbestos
having other lung diseases

Symptoms

The very early signs of lung cancer can't be seen on an X-ray and don't cause symptoms, but can be found by special testing of cells in the lining of the airways.

One of the most significant early warning signs of lung cancer is coughing up blood. Any person who coughs up blood should see their doctor for advice immediately.

The main symptoms of lung cancer are:

a chronic cough
worsening breathlessness
loss of weight and appetite
excessive fatigue
persistent pain in the chest or elsewhere, (possibly from the cancer spreading to a bone).

Many of the symptoms of lung cancer are similar to those of smoker’s lung. The earlier it can be diagnosed, the sooner you can be treated.

Treatment

Lung cancer is difficult to treat and survival rates are still very low. Lung cancer is still the most common cause of cancer death, causing around 33,600 deaths in 2002 in the UK.

Surgery

Surgery is not usually used to treat lung cancer, but this depends on the type and stage of the cancer. Surgery may be used to remove the tumour and some of the lung tissue around it.

Chemotherapy

This is the main treatment for small cell lung cancer and enables the person to control their symptoms better and live longer.

Radiotherapy

Radiation is sometimes used if the person is not well enough to have surgery. Otherwise it's used after surgery to kill small areas of cancer that can't be seen or removed during surgery, or to prevent the spread of cancer to the brain.