Getting a Grasp on Lung Cancer

Being diagnosed with cancer, any cancer, is the last thing anyone wants. Lung cancer is a fairly common form of cancer and not just for smokers. In this article, we take a look at the basics of this disease

Lung cancer is the result of the mutation of DNA. DNA is the code in our cells that determines our physical characteristics. When our cells split, they take an exact copy of our DNA each time. Sometimes, however, this split does not go smoothly and the DNA is compromised. This is known as a mutation. Medical research has discovered it takes multiple mutations to create lung cancer cells.

Lung cancer comes with many variations, but is always classified as primary or secondary cancer. What does this mean? Well, the primary designation is fairly easy to understand. It simply means that the cancerous cells were created in the lungs and have metastasized there. The secondary version is often called "unlucky" cancer because the problem did not start in the lungs, but has worked its way to the lungs from some other part of the body where cancer exists. Indeed, one of the biggest issues with cancer sometimes is simply trying to find the original location.

Lung cancer is the third most common form of cancer, but the biggest killer. It accounts for approximately 15 percent of all cancer diagnosis each year, but kills the highest percentage of people [29 percent] of all the cancers. If there is any good news about this cancer, it is the fact it takes a long time to manifest. This means the average age of a person being diagnosed is just under 70.

There are a variety of causes when it comes to lung cancer. Smoking is obviously the number one factor and hundreds of thousands of people die each year from smoking related problems. That being said, exposure to substances such as radon, asbestos and second hand smoke can also be problematic. Sadly, some cases are simply destined to occur as a matter of genetics.

As with most forms of cancer, the key with lung cancer is to get an early diagnosis. It will be a scary diagnosis, but all is not lost given the advancements of medicine.