I am a thoracic surgeon and the surgical treatment of lung cancer is one of the focuses of my work. Over the years of work, I have treated countless lung cancer patients, and there is one thing that I still remember vividly.
Ten years ago I had a colleague, who was also a surgeon, and I was preparing for surgery that day, and he suddenly ran to my operating room and said, "Oh old Joe, my chest hurts so much, you'll help me see what's going on."
I wondered if he had a pneumothorax attack and suggested that he hurry up and make a film! Don't shoot don't know, a beat is a shock! A large pleural effusion was found.
And a large amount of pleural effusion, there are two possibilities:
1. Tuberculosis and pneumonia infection;
2. Tumor.
Since he is only in his early 40s and is usually in good health, none of us considered the possibility of tumors.
But because of the large amount of pleural effusion, coupled with chest tightness and shortness of breath, the effusion drawn out was bloody, and as soon as we saw this color, we became very nervous.
Blood type of the chest cavity these are basically malignant, but also immediately sent pathological examination, confirmed to be lung cancer, then drain the water after the whole body CT examination found that the lungs near the pleura, there is a 1.5 cm solid nodule.
His tumor had no metastasis all over the body, it was a subpleural nodule that grew, swelling and penetrated the pleura, causing pleural metastasis and pleural effusion.
In the end, because of the pleural space metastases, this colleague underwent chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and surgery, and could only survive for more than 5 years and nearly 6 years.
This is also an example that makes me sad all my life, because before the health awareness was not strong, the physical examination was only a chest X-ray, the small nodules in the lungs could not be seen, and ct was never done, so I believe that he had this nodule for many years. If you can do a CT as early as possible, it will not lead to early to late.
Lung cancer is difficult to detect in the early stage because of the "peculiarity" of the lungs
The symptoms of lung cancer are mainly caused by the compression and invasion of the tumor. Early lung cancer has basically no obvious symptoms, because the volume of the lungs is large, so the compression symptoms are not obvious.
When the tumor grows to a certain extent, that is, it will show obvious symptoms when it has entered the middle and advanced stages, at this time, the tumor compresses the lungs, trachea and other organs, and the patient will have cough, sputum, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and even dyspnea and other clinical reactions.
This is why lung cancer is found to be in the middle and advanced stages, according to my experience, 70-80% of patients have discomfort when they come to the hospital for examination, they are already in the middle or advanced stage of lung cancer.
Although lung cancer is difficult to detect early, it is not untraceable, and if the patient has the following conditions, it should be vigilant at this time.
The body appears in these 4 situations, be careful! May be a "sign" of lung cancer
1. Recently, I have suffered from pneumonia
If the patient has a previous cord on the lungs, but after regular physical examination, it is found to be an increase and enlargement. Patients should begin to pay attention to it, and timely visit the doctor and receive professional treatment, at this time, their diseases generally do not occur to delay.
If left untreated, ground glass images with clear lung boundaries with pleural traction should be alerted to the possibility of early lung adenocarcinoma.
2. Fever, cough and other symptoms
When a tumor invades the blood vessels of the lungs and trachea, it can cause sputum coughing, hemoptysis, and blood in the sputum.
The cough caused by lung cancer is a long cough, no sputum, and frequent choking cough, and it is difficult to find out the cause in the short term and it is difficult to cure, which is likely to be caused by lung cancer.
3. Chest and back pain
When the tumor grows relatively large, compresses blood vessels, nerves, and invades the pleura, pain occurs, and it is worth noting that the location of pain is uncertain but will show persistence.
4. Edema occurs in the area above the lungs
After the tumor compresses the superior vena cava, it is called superior vena cava syndrome. Superior vena cava syndrome is characterized by edema of the face, head and neck, and edema of both upper extremities.
The "2000-2014 Global Cancer Survival Rate Change Trend Monitoring Research Report" published by The Lancet magazine shows that the overall cure rate of lung cancer is not very high, and the 5-year survival rate after lung cancer treatment with the highest incidence in China is only 19.8%, so for the treatment of lung cancer, early detection is the top priority.
These 3 types of people should have a CT examination every year to "pull out" lung cancer in time
Lung cancer is difficult to be found at an early stage, do low-dose CT examination is the key to finding lung cancer, the following groups are the key objects that need to be prevented, so it is recommended that they do CT examination once a year to prevent problems before they occur.
1. Middle-aged and elderly people over 40 years old.
2. People over 40 years old, especially middle-aged and elderly people aged 50 to 70 years old, and have a history of smoking.
3. High-risk groups: industrial and mining workers, long-term exposure to radioactive substances and family tumor history.