Lung Cancer Symptoms You Should Know

File Under:Diseases & Conditions, Smoking Cessation, Lung Cancer Symptoms,Lung Cancer, Symptoms, Cancer,Smoking, Health,

Lung Cancer is the No. 1 cancer killer of women (and not just smokers). It often shows itself as a cough that won't go away. Lung cancer is the most common cancer in the United States. You may not have any symptoms, or you may have symptoms, like a cough, that you think are part of a respiratory illness.

The main cause of this disease is smoking, according to Dr. Len Horovitz, an internist and pulmonologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Only about 18 percent of patients diagnosed with lung cancer are nonsmokers, Horovitz said. Though other environmental factors, like exposure to pesticides and household chemicals, and genetic predispositions can cause lung cancer, the best way to prevent the disease is to quit smoking.

If you do smoke, regular checkups with your physician are crucial.

“The annual checkup can turn up lung cancer in patients who have no symptoms, and finding someone with stage 1 lung cancer ... without symptoms is the best [scenario] for curing it,” said Horovitz.

Horovitz advises smokers to undergo low-dose CT scans of the lungs, as these pick up more signs of lung cancer than regular chest X-rays. But people should have their doctors check any persistent symptoms, as they can distinguish between signs of a respiratory illness and lung cancer symptoms.

Some of the major lung cancer symptoms people should look out for, according to Horovitz, include:

-- Persistent cough

-- Coughing up bloody mucus

-- Shortness of breath

-- Hoarseness

-- Swollen lymph nodes

-- Unexplained weight loss

-- Pneumonia that does not clear

-- Enlargement of the lymph nodes above the clavicles

-- Extreme cases cause flushing of the face and prominent veins in the face and neck
Source: By Mallory Creveling