Detecting Lung Cancer Blog

Three women in metro St. Louis, Missouri, started a cancer support group.

You might ask, “What’s so interesting about that? There are so many cancer support groups already.”

But this one was different. It was for people with lung cancer.

Why was this significant?

A diagnosis of lung cancer brings with it at least two more important pieces of information: the type of lung cancer and its stage. There are basically two types of lung cancer: small cell and non-small cell. Non-small cell lung cancer also breaks down into four categories: squamous cell (epidermoid) carcinoma, large-cell undifferentiated carcinoma, adenocarcinoma and bronchioalveolar carcinoma.

Most lung cancer diagnosis is based on symptomatic detection. In other words, the appearance of a symptom that concerns the patient and the physician. Since there is no widely-recognized early detection for lung cancer, what are the common risk factors that might shed some light on those individuals most at risk?

The primary method currently of detecting lung cancer is through symptoms exhibited by the patient.

Lung cancer is the #1 cancer killer in the US. It doesn’t discriminate: it is #1 for men, women and all ethnic groups, resulting in over 157,000 deaths projected in 2010 according to the American Cancer Society.