About Lung Cancer
With lung cancer — the leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. — education is key to safeguarding your health. Lung cancer is classified as non-small cell lung cancer (the most common type) or small cell lung cancer, and each grows and spreads differently.
While smoking is the number-one cause of the disease, it's possible to develop it even if you’ve never smoked. Because of a lack of early symptoms, many lung cancers are diagnosed at a late stage. Surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and clinical trials are the core lung cancer treatments, but nothing replaces smart prevention and screenings. Learn more about lung cancer below to be informed and empowered to take charge of your lung health early.
Types, Symptoms and Risk Factors for Lung Cancer
Non-Small Cell:
Each type of non-small cell lung cancer has different kinds of cancer cells. The cancer cells of each type grow and spread in different ways. The types of non-small cell lung cancer are named for the kinds of cells found in the cancer and how the cells look under a microscope:
- Adenocarcinoma: Cancer that begins in the cells that line the alveoli and make substances such as mucus.
- Large cell carcinoma: Cancer that may begin in several types of large cells.
- Squamous cell carcinoma: Cancer that begins in squamous cells, which are thin, flat cells that look like fish scales. This is also called epidermoid carcinoma.
Other less common types of non-small cell lung cancer are: pleomorphic, carcinoid tumor, salivary gland carcinoma and unclassified carcinoma.
Small Cell:
There are two main types of small cell lung cancer. These two types include many different types of cells. The cancer cells of each type grow and spread in different ways. The types of small cell lung cancer are named for the kinds of cells found in the cancer and how the cells look when viewed under a microscope:
- Combined small cell carcinoma
- Small cell carcinoma (oat cell cancer)
Lung cancer symptoms may not show up early, which is why many people are diagnosed later in life, or when their cancer is more advanced. When symptoms are present, though, common ones include:
- A cough that doesn’t go away or gets worse over time
- Blood in sputum (mucus coughed up from the lungs)
- Chest discomfort or pain
- Feeling very tired
- Hoarseness
- Loss of appetite
- Swelling in the face and/or veins in the neck
- Trouble breathing
- Trouble swallowing
- Weight loss for no known reason
- Wheezing
Older age is the main risk factor for most cancers. The chance of getting cancer increases as you get older. When smoking is combined with other risk factors, the risk of lung cancer is increased. The earlier in life a person starts smoking, the more often a person smokes, and the more years a person smokes, the greater the risk of lung cancer.
Other risk factors include:
- Being exposed to asbestos, chromium, nickel, beryllium, arsenic, soot, or tar in the workplace
- Being exposed to radiation from any of the following:
- Radiation therapy to the breast or chest
- Radon in the home or workplace
- Imaging tests such as CT scans
- Atomic bomb radiation
- Being exposed to secondhand smoke
- Being infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
- Having a family history of lung cancer
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