Thursday, February, 09, 2012

Lung cancer - non-small cell

Table of Contents

Alternative Names

Cancer - lung - non-small cell; Non-small cell lung cancer; NSCLC; Adenocarcinoma - lung; Squamous cell carcinoma - lung


Symptoms

Early lung cancer may not cause any symptoms. Symptoms you should watch for include:

  • Cough that doesn't go away
  • Coughing up blood
  • Shortness of breath
  • Wheezing
  • Chest pain
  • Loss of appetite
  • Losing weight without trying
  • Fatigue

Other symptoms that may be due to NSCLC:

  • Weakness
  • Swallowing difficulty
  • Nail problems
  • Joint pain
  • Hoarseness or changing voice
  • Swelling of the face
  • Eyelid drooping
  • Bone pain or tenderness
  • Shoulder pain or weakness

Note: These symptoms can be due to other, less serious conditions. It is important to talk to your health care provider.


Signs and tests

The health care provider will perform a physical exam and ask questions about your medical history. You will be asked if you smoke, and if so, how long you have smoked.

When listening to the chest with a stethoscope, the health care provider can sometimes hear fluid around the lungs, which could (but doesn't always) suggest cancer.

Tests that may be performed to diagnose lung cancer or see if it has spread include:

  • Chest x-ray
  • CBC
  • Sputum test to look for cancer cells
  • Bone scan
  • CT scan of the chest
  • MRI of the chest
  • Positron emission tomography (PET) scan
  • Thoracentesis

In some cases, the health care provider may need to remove a piece of tissue from your lungs for examination under a microscope. This is called a biopsy. There are several ways to do this:

  • Bronchoscopy combined with biopsy
  • Pleural biopsy
  • CT-scan-directed needle biopsy
  • Mediastinoscopy with biopsy
  • Open lung biopsy
  • Endoscopic esophageal ultrasound (EUS) with biopsy

If the biopsy reveals you do have lung cancer, more imaging tests will be done to determine the stage of the cancer. Stage means how big the tumor is and how far it has spread. Non-small cell lung cancer is divided into five stages:

  • Stage 0 - the cancer has not spread beyond the inner lining of the lung
  • Stage I - the cancer is small and hasn't spread to the lymph nodes
  • Stage II - the cancer has spread to some lymph nodes near the original tumor
  • Stage III - the cancer has spread to nearby tissue or spread to far away lymph nodes
  • Stage IV - the cancer has spread to other organs of the body such as the other lung, brain, or liver

Review Date: 09/26/2010
Reviewed By: David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc., and Yi-Bin Chen, MD, Leukemia/Bone Marrow Transplant Program, Massachusetts General Hospital.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)