Lung cancer: easy to make another mistake

Late detection, life of lung cancer is calculated only in months. However, at an early stage, non-specialist doctors also mistake this for tuberculosis, bronchitis, asthma .

Discreet symptoms

Dr. Tran Dinh Thanh (Photo: VNN)

Dr. Tran Dinh Thanh - head of oncology and lung disease department, Pham Ngoc Thach Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City - said that nearly 80% of patients (patients) detected with lung cancer (UT) were at a late stage, due to Symptoms of the disease are very quiet and discreet.

Symptoms manifested in lung cancer patients are easily confused with common lung disease symptoms such as bronchitis, tuberculosis, common flu, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma should be seen when patients go to the doctor Non-specialist doctors and unsupervised investigators often fail to detect them and patients do not pay attention.

With these symptoms, physicians should give patients a straight and inclined lung picture. After treating benign diseases after two weeks, the disease does not decrease, or when the patient has repeated episodes of pneumonia, should be sent to a specialist to be able to detect the disease at an early stage, stage surgery is possible, the prognosis is better for treating patients.

If the patient and physician are aware of these abnormal symptoms, the disease can be detected early. Unusual symptoms are: persistent cough, lasting more than two weeks, chest pain, coughing up blood, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, hoarseness, pneumonia - repeated and severe bronchitis; Patients show swelling of the neck, face swelling and physical weakness.

When going to a specialist hospital, the patient will be given a chest X-ray, a test . to evaluate the condition.

Regarding treatment, depending on the stage of the disease the doctor performs: surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Sometimes combine all three methods. In 100 patients with pulmonary cancer, only 50 were able to use effective treatment methods, prolonging the disease-free life 3-5 years or more. For cases where UT is far ahead, the survival time is only calculated in months.

Cigarette 'killer'

Dr. Tran Dinh Thanh said many scientific studies show that cases of lung cancer are related to tobacco. Smokers have 25 times more lung cancer than non-smokers.

The sooner a person smokes, the higher the number of cigarettes smoking a day increases the risk. However, many people who do not smoke but live in an environment with cigarette smoke also suffer from lung cancer. Many women do not smoke but still suffer from lung cancer because they have 'passive' smoking (smelling other people's smoke).

Some other causes can cause lung cancer: radioactive rays (people working in environments with radiation such as nuclear, doctors operating radioactive devices), contact with asbestos, people working at coal mines , ore . In addition, some lung diseases are also related to cancer, such as tuberculosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease . Particularly, environmental pollution is related to lung cancer. .

LE THANH HA recorded

According to the World Health Organization, lung cancer causes the leading mortality rate in all types of UT disease.In HCMC, statistics of TP Cancer Hospital show that men with lung cancer are second in UT diseases, with the rate of 25.6%;In women, it ranks fourth in UT diseases, with a rate of 8.7%.In Hanoi, according to Hanoi K Hospital, male with lung cancer is at the leading rate of 34.3%;female ranked third, 8.6%.