About Cancer :
Lung cancer, the most preventative of all human cancers, remains the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women. Several studies have shown that vitamin E supplementation is associated with a lower risk of developing lung cancer in non-smokers. Unfortunately, the same benefit was not seen in smokers. The most effective health action for smokers is still to stop smoking.
Abnormal cell growth in either one or both of the lungs is the simple answer to the question, “What is lung cancer?” In healthy individuals, the cells within the lungs go about their business duplicating at a normal rate and turning into more and more lung tissues. The lungs continue to function properly and all is well.
But in damaged lungs, this rate of cell duplication becomes uncharacteristically fast yet new lung tissue fails to develop. These damaged (cancerous) cells begin to clump together and ultimately turn into cancerous tumors. Eventually, the tumors begin to interfere with the impacted lung’s ability to function normally and that is when the full impact of the disease known as lung cancer begins to be noticed.
Several lung cancer treatments are currently available and the determination as to which one is prescribed depends on the lung cancer stage that has been diagnosed, the location of the cancer, and the patient’s health. The most common treatments for lung cancer include Surgery, Radiation, Chemotherapy, and Targeted Therapy.
Once a diagnosis of lung cancer has been made, the doctor will attempt to determine the stage the lung cancer is at. The staging system is somewhat like a measurement system, with the numbers indicating: whether the cancerous tumors are localized or whether the tumors have spread to other parts of the body; the tumor’s size; and whether or not the tumors have spread to the lymph nodes. There are four main stages of lung cancer (Stages 1 – 4) and identification of one of the stages is what helps doctors prescribe an appropriate treatment method.
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