Many cancer-causing chemicals can be found in the work place such as asbestos, uranium, arsenic, and petroleum. If you are exposed to these carcinogens for long periods of time, just like smoking or radon, you will develop lung cancer. .
In the early stages of lung cancer it is hard to detect the cancer. The cancer is silent and can grow and develop for years undetected. When the few symptoms of lung cancer occur, the cancer is usually very developed and often very deadly. Some symptoms are minor while others are very apparent. Some symptoms of lung cancer are chronic cough, chest pain, hoarseness, wheezing, swelling in the face and neck, weight loss, fever, loss of appetite, and shortness of breath.
A doctor can diagnose lung cancer through many tests. The doctor can have x-rays and CAT scans done to see what the inside of the lungs look like. By doing this that doctor is able to see what stage the cancer is in. A doctor may also do a test called a bronchoscope. This test allows the doctor to look inside the bronchial tubes and biopsy the tumor. The doctor then can take a small amount of the cells to study them to determine if the unusual cells are cancerous. If the cells turn out to be cancerous then the patient is in for many months even years of harsh treatment. .
Surgery is the most common method used to treat lung cancer followed by chemotherapy or radiation. Surgery can be used if the cancer is benign. Surgery removes the cancer inside the patient. Although surgery is the most popular method, the chance of the doctor being able to remove all of the cancer is highly unlikely. Since the cells are so small and there are thousands of them it is very difficult to remove every one. When a patient uses surgery to treat the cancer, the cancer has a good chance it can come back, because it only takes a few bad cells to spread and create a tumor. .
One other treatment for lung cancer is radiation.