“I obviously don’t smoke, how can I get lung cancer?” Ms. Liu was shocked when she took the hospital’s examination report.
Ms. Liu is 55 years old. Some time ago, she always felt a little pain in her chest and back. She thought it was just a muscle strain due to exercise. After treatment, I took all anti-inflammatory, anti-asthmatic, and cough-relieving medicines, but there was no improvement.
In the end, I went to a large hospital for an examination, and the result was beyond the family’s expectations. It was lung cancer, and it was already in an advanced stage. Unexpectedly, a small chest pain can be lung cancer, and it occurs in women who do not smoke. This is too unacceptable.
Lung cancer is the largest cancer in China, and it is very cunning. It is difficult to show symptoms in the early stage. Chest symptoms are one of the typical symptoms. Not smokers, need to pay attention.
I. What symptoms may appear on the chest and back when lung cancer arrives?
Many people think that chest tightness and chest and back pain are just symptoms of physical fatigue, lack of rest, and elevated blood pressure, but in fact, chest and back may also indicate the arrival of lung cancer.
1. Chest and back pain
The lung itself is located in the chest cavity, and pain is the most typical symptom of cancer. Therefore, in different stages of lung cancer, patients may have chest pain symptoms. According to clinical statistics, about 1/4 of patients may have chest pain as the first episode. This pain is mostly irregular, irregular dull pain, dull pain. And as cancer cells begin to invade the pleura, chest wall, etc., back pain may also be involved.
2. Chest tightness
The main function of the lung is to breathe, so after the lung becomes cancerous , the ability to breathe is reduced. For example, the development of cancer causes the reduction of respiratory area, and the patient may have symptoms such as chest tightness and shortness of breath.
Of course, chest abnormalities are only one of the common symptoms of lung cancer. In addition to chest tightness and chest pain, lung cancer patients may also see blood in sputum, long-term cough, unexplained fever, and severe short-term weight loss. Therefore, when there is unexplained physical discomfort and there is no recovery for a period of time, you should be vigilant, and it is best to go to a specialist hospital for examination.
Second, more and more non-smoking women get lung cancer, why?
The number of non-smoking women with lung cancer has indeed increased in recent years. Data show that lung cancer occupies the second place in the incidence of female malignant tumors, after breast cancer, and the mortality rate ranks first. It is worth noting that about 80% of female lung cancer patients in China have never smoked. Why does lung cancer increasingly like to attack women?
1. Kitchen fumes
Many people think that PM2.5 is the “culprit” of lung cancer, but in fact kitchen fumes are the pollution of women’s lungs” Heavy”. There are some carcinogenic substances in cooking fumes and soot, and Chinese dishes are mostly fried, boiled, boiled, fried, fried, etc., which may produce a lot of oil fumes during cooking.
If you stay in an environment with high concentration of oil fumes for a long time, it will be highly irritating to the mucous membranes of the nose, eyes, and throat, which may cause inflammation and affect the lungs to a certain extent.
2. Secondhand smoke
Secondhand smoke exposure may also be one of the risk factors for lung cancer. In non-smoking Chinese women, exposure to second-hand smoke is as high as 70%, and non-smoking (including passive second-hand and third-hand smoke) lung cancer patients exceed 40%. Although women do not actively smoke, the phenomenon of passive smoking is very serious. Passive inhalation of tobacco also inhales harmful substances in tobacco, which may be harmful to health in the long run.
At present, there is sufficient evidence that exposure to secondhand smoke can affect the development of infants and young children, the growth of adolescents, aggravate the condition of patients with respiratory diseases, and even lead to an increase in the incidence of lung adenocarcinoma.
3. Indoor decoration air pollution
In fact, in addition to outdoor air pollution, there are also some indoor pollutants that are easy to ignore. The actual pollution level is far much larger than outside. For example, paints, wardrobe adhesives, etc., may contain aromatic hydrocarbons, ketones, aldehydes, radon, etc., in concentrations sufficient to pose a hazard to human health.
4. Emotional depression
Bad emotions may also induce cancer, and the treatment of cancer The effect will also have a significant impact. The American Cancer Institute’s study of tumor patients who underwent early surgical treatment found that those who doubted, lost confidence, and anxiety about the treatment often relapsed; those with depression and depression tended to have treatment sequelae.
Third, is there any cure for advanced lung cancer?
Diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, the patient is most concerned about how long they can live. According to statistical data, after treatment, most patients with small cell lung cancer can survive for 6 to 12 months, and non-small cell lung cancer can be divided into four stages. The rate is only 15% to 35%.
Professor Jiang Yilan of the Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine said that data statistics cannot predict the survival period of a single patient, which is affected by the patient’s own situation.Depending on factors such as condition, tumor status, rationality of treatment, and family members’ cooperation, there are still great differences in survival among different patients.
1. Basic conditions of the patient
The physical condition of the patient, whether there is chronic bronchitis, emphysema, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and other basic diseases;< /p>
2. Specific conditions of the disease
Tumor volume, distribution, pathological type, degree of differentiation, etc.;
3. Whether the treatment plan is reasonable or not
Whether the treatment is reasonable and whether the treatment is effective largely determines the patient’s survival period;
4. Whether the family cares In place
The care, affection, and financial input of family members also affect the patient’s survival period.
Fourth, the detection rate of lung cancer in Japan is twice that of China, and early screening is very important
Early diagnosis of lung cancer is the key to the 5-year survival rate of patients,< strong>The survival rate of early stage lung cancer can reach 90%-100%. Throughout the world, the early diagnosis rate of lung cancer in Japan can reach 57%, only 21% in the United States, and less than 20% in my country.
Dean Li Weimin of West China Hospital of Sichuan University suggested that considering the situation in our country, people over 40 years old with any risk factor at the same time (including smoking, occupational exposure, family history of lung cancer, history of chronic lung disease), all belong to the high-risk group of lung cancer, and should be included in low-dose spiral CT lung cancer screening.
The biggest feature of lung cancer is that it is asymptomatic in the early stage. In view of the lack of public health knowledge about early diagnosis and screening methods, more public platforms are still needed to vigorously publicize it, so that the whole society can pay more attention.
References:
[1] “More and more non-smoking women get lung cancer, who is the culprit? “. Medical Tumor Channel. 2021-03-07
[2] “The 5 reasons for the high incidence of lung cancer in China, Professor Zhi Xiuyi has summed it up! 》. Medical Community Respiratory Channel. 2019-11-05
[3] “[Video Popularization] Jiang Yilan | How Long Can You Live With Advanced Lung Cancer? “. Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine. 2019-03-28