Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is one of the most common types of cancer, but advancements in screening, diagnosis and treatment are changing the outlook for many people with the disease.

At Capital Health Cancer Center, we want to ensure everyone has a deeper understanding of lung cancer, its symptoms, screenings that can identify it early and how to navigate a diagnosis. If you’ve been recently diagnosed, we offer the latest minimally invasive, lung-sparing options to remove tumors while preserving your lung function.

What Is Lung Cancer?

Lung cancer is a kind of cancer, or uncontrolled cell growth, that begins in your lungs. Lung cancer often starts in cells that line the airways or surface of your lungs.

Types of Lung Cancer

Most lung cancer falls into two types:

Non-small cell lung cancer. This is the most common form of lung cancer. It is generally found sooner than small-cell lung cancer.
Small-cell lung cancer. Though more rare, small-cell lung cancer grows especially quickly. It is generally discovered when it has metastasized (spread) beyond your lungs.

What Causes Lung Cancer?

By far, smoking is the No. 1 cause of lung cancer. If you smoke now or have smoked in the past, your chances of developing lung cancer are between double and 10 times that of people who have never smoked, depending on how much you’ve smoked over your lifetime.

Lung cancer can also arise from genetic changes you inherit or that occur spontaneously (for no known cause) or in response to other environmental factors.

What Are Risk Factors for Lung Cancer?

A long history of smoking puts you at high risk for lung cancer. Other risk factors include:

Exposure to inhaled substances, including asbestos, diesel smoke and radon (a radioactive gas that exists naturally in soil and water)
Exposure to water polluted with arsenic or radon, often from private wells
Family history of lung cancer or having had lung cancer before
History of radiation therapy to your chest

What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Lung Cancer?

At first, lung cancer may not have any symptoms, or you may experience symptoms similar to those of pneumonia or bronchitis.

The signs and symptoms of lung cancer include:

A cough that won’t go away
A hoarse voice
A rattling or wheezing sound when you breathe
Chest pain with breathing or shortness of breath
Finding blood when you cough or spit
Frequent bronchitis or pneumonia
Loss of appetite
Unexplained weight loss

A Simple Screening for Lung Cancer

You can have lung cancer for a long time before you notice any signs. If you smoke now or did in the past, talk to your doctor about a low-dose CT lung cancer screening, which can find cancer when it’s smaller and easier to treat.
To qualify for lung cancer screening, you typically need to:

Be 50 to 80 years old
Currently smoke or have quit within the last 15 years
Have a 20-pack-year smoking history (you smoked the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes a day for 20 years)

Lung cancer found before it has a chance to spread has a five-year survival rate of 67%.

How Is Lung Cancer Diagnosed?

Doctors use a medical exam, imaging tests and biopsies to diagnose lung cancer. After a lung cancer diagnosis, you will likely have other tests to help your doctors know more about your type of cancer, its genetic characteristics and how it is affecting your lung function.

Special tests to help doctors learn more about lung cancer include:

Bronchoscopy: Doctors thread a narrow tube down your throat to look at your airways. Instruments may be inserted to collect samples (biopsies). Capital Health uses the Ion bronchoscopy system for more precise biopsies and greater accuracy in diagnosis.
Driver mutation testing: Recommended for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, these tests help doctors select targeted therapies.
Lung function tests: These tests check your lung capacity, or how much air you can breathe in and out.
Mediastinoscopy: Doctors thread a tube with a camera and small instruments through an incision above your breastbone to look at the area between your lungs and collect tissue samples.
Sputum cytology: Doctors check mucus from your lungs for signs of cancer.
Thoracentesis: Doctors take a sample of fluid that may have collected in your chest cavity around your lungs.
Thoracoscopy: Doctors pass a tube with a camera and small instruments through an incision on your back to look at the areas near your lungs and collect tissue samples.

What Are Treatment Options for Lung Cancer?

Receiving a lung cancer diagnosis can be frightening. Luckily, depending on the stage and location, your care team may be able to recommend effective, less-invasive lung cancer treatment options.

Systemic therapy: Chemotherapy and immunotherapy fight cancer cells anywhere in your body.
Surgery: A surgeon removes a section of your lung or all of your lung. Depending on the size of your cancer, you may have minimally invasive options, such as robotic surgery.
Radiation therapy: Doctors use energy rays to target cancer cells.
Interventional radiology procedures: Using tiny incisions and small tubes, doctors insert treatments to destroy tumors from inside your body.
CyberKnife: This type of radiosurgery, or highly precise radiation therapy, automatically tracks and corrects for your breathing during treatments.
Targeted therapy: You may receive medications attuned to your cancer’s exact makeup.

You may also receive treatments to drain fluid from around your lungs, open lung blockages or deal with other symptoms of lung cancer.

Lung Cancer Expertise at Capital Health

To meet the challenges of lung cancer, you need expert care in a specialized center. At Capital Health Cancer Center’s Lung Center of Excellence, our team uses the latest medical breakthroughs to treat complex lung cancers and other forms of lung disease. Our specialists work together to share insights and develop personalized care plans for the best possible results.

Capital Health is also one of the few healthcare systems in the region with dedicated interventional pulmonology services. This means you can receive many minimally invasive diagnostic tests and cancer therapies at an outpatient center close to home.

Request a consultation with a lung specialist at Capital Health Cancer Center.