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On an ordinary workday in Hangzhou, Xu Wei, 37, sits in a stuffy office working on documents.
It was a beautiful spring weather outside, but his mood was particularly heavy, because that constant cough had been bothering him for months. His colleagues advised him to go to the hospital for a check-up, after all, this constant cough was not as simple as a common cold.
Xu Wei is a business manager at a bank, and his work is very stressful every day, often working overtime until late at night. Although he has been coughing for a long time, he has been delaying medical treatment on the grounds that he is busy with work.
But over time, instead of abating, the cough is accompanied by chest pain and fatigue. Finally, on an overwhelmed afternoon, he decided to go to the hospital for a check-up.
After the test results came back, the doctor told him that he had pneumonia. The doctor prescribed him some antibiotics and medicines, told him to rest well, and to take the medicine as prescribed.
Xu Wei breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that this was only a temporary trouble, and he could recover his health after taking the medicine. However, he ignored another doctor's advice: regular check-ups.
Two years later, Xu Wei's cough symptoms did not disappear completely, and were accompanied by more severe symptoms such as weight loss and persistent chest pain. After a complex series of tests, including CT scans and tissue biopsies, the results were heartbreaking – advanced lung cancer.
After the diagnosis, the doctor told him, "If you had been able to go through all the treatments and have regular follow-ups, it might have been completely different." ”
This sentence was like a hammer that smashed into the hearts of Xu Wei and his family. The doctor explained that although pneumonia itself is curable, the lack of complete cure and the lack of monitoring provide opportunities for lung cancer to latent and develop.
This case leads to a little-known but extremely important medical idea: chronic inflammation may be an important contributing factor to lung cancer.
Long-term lung inflammation, especially if not properly treated and managed, can significantly increase the risk of lung cancer. For example, long-term lung inflammation can lead to changes in the cellular environment, promoting the formation and spread of cancer cells.
The average person may only see pneumonia as a temporary health problem without realizing its potential long-term effects. But in fact, the status quorainus of chronic inflammation creates the conditions for abnormal changes in lung tissue, which increases the risk of malignancy.
In addition, chronic inflammation can cause long-term activation of the immune system, which may also affect the immune system function of the lungs, which in some cases, can contribute to the development of lung cancer. Well, just like if the house is always wet, not only will the wall skin become moldy, but over time, the wall may also collapse.
So, how can we avoid this kind of tragedy? The key is not to be careless in the treatment of pneumonia, and we must not have the mentality of "forgetting the pain after the scar is healed." After the pneumonia is cured, regular follow-up examinations are also carried out to ensure that the inflammation is completely eliminated and that the cancer cells are not allowed to take advantage of it.
The case of Xu Wei reminds us that the success of a single treatment does not mean that you can rest easy. A follow-up after pneumonia has been cured is just as important as regularly checking if the car needs to be repaired. After all, if the car runs out of gas or the tires are seriously worn, if you don't deal with it in time, you will have an accident sooner or later.
Xu Wei's mistakes in the treatment process are not uncommon. Many people ignore the doctor's advice for follow-up after their symptoms have been relieved, which seems to save time and money, but is actually gambling with their health.
As we often say, "small holes are not filled, big holes suffer", early intervention of the disease is always more economical and wiser than the treatment of late complications.
In Xu Wei's treatment, if the inflammation had been fully controlled and monitored regularly, he might not have gotten where he is today. It can be seen that for pneumonia patients, regular re-examination is not only a medical step, but also a life guarantee.
Shortly after Xu Wei's condition was diagnosed with lung cancer, he asked the attending doctor a question: "Doctor, my previous pneumonia was cured, why did it become lung cancer?"
The doctor patiently explained: "Although your pneumonia seems to be cured at the time, if the inflammation is not completely eliminated, it will form a long-term chronic inflammatory environment in the lungs.
This environment is ideal for the growth of cancer cells. In addition, there was no follow-up examination, so even if there were signs of cancer, they were not detected and treated in time.
Therefore, even seemingly inconspicuous pneumonia requires us to pay enough attention to ensure that any possible serious consequences are prevented through complete treatment and regular follow-up. ”
What do you think about lung cancer?