Lung Cancer: Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatments

What is Lung Cancer?
Lung cancer is a condition that consists of uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in one or both of an individual’s lungs. Abnormal cells found in lung cancer reproduce rapidly and never develop into normal tissue. Lumps of cancer cells eventually occur (tumors) and begin to disrupt the normal function of the lungs.

More than 87 percent of lung cancers are related to smoking. Some smokers will never develop lung cancer and if a person quits smoking, it will significantly reduce their risk of this disease. Exposure to other carcinogens such as asbestos and radon gas also increase the risk of lung cancer, especially when combined with cigarette or cigar smoking.

Leukemia: Risk Factors and Symptoms

Leukemia is a type of cancer that begins in the blood cells. Blood cells grow and marrow in the bone marrow before they are pushed out into circulation. When someone has leukemia, the bone marrow produces abnormal white blood cells that are pushed out into circulation. The abnormal cells are leukemia cells.

At first, leukemia cells function almost normally. Overtime, they may crowd out other cells in the circulation, making it hard for the normal cell to do their job.

 There are different types of leukemia. Sometimes it is a chronic, or slow growing disease, and other times it is acute, or fast growing. It can also affect different types of white blood cells such as lymphoid cells or myeloid cells.

Risk factors related to leukemia:

• High-levels of radiation exposure
• Exposure to certain chemicals such as benzene and formaldehyde
• Chemotherapy used to treat other cancers can sometimes result in leukemia
• Down’s syndrome
• Human T-cell leukemia virus 1(HTLV1)
• Myelodysplastic syndrome

Symptoms:

• Feeling tired or weak
• Fever or night sweats
• Frequent infections
• Headache
• Bleeding and bruising easily
• Pain in bone or joints
• Pain or discomfort in abdomen
• Swollen lymph nodes
• Weight loss