WHAT CAUSES LUNG CANCER.

Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers and affects the lungs, leading to life-threatening situations. The lungs are one of the most important organs of our body, and they consist of two parts that are spongy in texture; the lungs’ main function is to inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide from the body. Lung cancer is a life-threatening disease, and if one doesn’t get proper treatment and prevention on time, it will lead to complications one after another, which is draining physically, mentally, and financially.

Lung cancer comes with a lot of complications that can affect our day-to-day life activities:

Pain – pain in that particular area where the lung is located and bones and surrounding muscles that will create problems for the body’s daily functioning.

Metastasis – in this condition, cancer in a particular area will spread to other regions or parts of the body, such as bones, blood, and the brain. Once cancer starts spreading, it will result in other symptoms like nausea, headaches, pain in the body, and fever. It will start spreading into other regions, and once it affects other parts, it becomes really difficult to get a cure.

Blood in cough – cough is persistent throughout the life of a patient with lung cancer, and most of the time, they can see blood when they cough, which is because there is bleeding in the airways, which is also known as hemostasis. In severe cases of lung cancer, patients have to bleed longer.

Breathlessness – when cancer cells increase in the lungs, they block the airways. In major cases, water gets into the lungs and makes it hard for the lungs to expand when inhaled.

Fluid in the pleural cavity – in this case, the fluid gets stuck in the space surrounding the lungs, which is called pleural space, which blocks the airways, resulting in shortness of breath. There is no such treatment for this, but removing water from the pleural cavity is one way to eliminate a condition called pleural effusion.

The following are the causes and risk factors of lung cancer :

Family history – if any of your family members have a history of lung cancer or any other disease associated with the lungs, then you may have a chance of having lung cancer but prevention and taking good care of yourself will result in a low chance of developing cancer.

Smoking – is the most common and the leading reason for lung cancer. Smoking and taking chemicals like tobacco harm the human body and damage the human DNA and cells in the lungs. Quitting smoking can reduce the risk of lung cancer; however, some people don’t usually smoke but have lung cancer.

Lifestyle factors include unhealthy lifestyle, obese body, junk food, smoking, drinking alcohol, lack of nutrition, persistent cough and fever, poor diet, abnormalities, and weak immune system. Sometimes previously untreated lung diseases and treatment will lead to the beginning of lung cancer.

Radon exposure: uranium is found in rock, sand, and water and, when decayed, accumulates a radioactive substance, radon. It is so strong that when inhaled, it can lead to lung cancer. So using ventilation can reduce radon exposure.

Environmental exposures – metro cities like Delhi and Mumbai are very prone to extreme pollution, industrial emissions, and hard fumes; mines directly expose the environment and increase the risk of lung cancer or other lung diseases.

As prevention is better than cure lung cancer can be prevented at the very initial age of someone’s life by not doing any smoke, not even secondhand smoke, which is, in fact more dangerous and can lead to severe conditions. Taking precautions from exposure to toxic chemicals and harsh chemicals. Labourers working in mines and chemical industries exposed to toxic chemicals should be aware of the harm and take necessary precautions.

Lung cancer cells are differentiated according to their shape and appearance that the doctor examines under the microscope and are also defined into two types; one is small cell lung cancer which occurs in people who does excessive smoking and is very rare in all conditions; another one is non small cell lung cancer which consists of all the types of lung cancer and is very common among people.

So lung cancer is curable if detected in the early stage. Still, if it is extended to further stages, then it is difficult to be in the whole process of radiotherapy, chemotherapy, surgery, medications, and many more. The most common causes of lung cancer are smoking, which is very common, and most people do and are unaware of how dangerous it can be. Family history also plays a major role in any cancer or other diseases associated with the lungs. Working in factories having hazardous chemicals like carcinogens and radon exposure also conducts lung cancer.