Small nodules in the lungs may be early stage of lung cancer: when talking about lung cancer, many people will think of symptoms such as cough, blood in sputum and chest pain. However, if you wait until these discomforts occur before you think of seeking medical treatment, if it is really lung cancer, you have often missed the best time for treatment – early stage of lung cancer. How to detect “lung cancer” as early as possible? According to the latest figures released by Guangzhou CDC, lung cancer ranks first in the incidence and mortality rate of malignant tumors in Guangzhou, which shows that lung cancer is very harmful to the residents. Some of the early stages of lung cancer manifest as nodules (nodules may also be benign lesions, with malignant nodules accounting for 30%-40%), when patients often do not have any discomfort. If they are detected at this time, and the smaller the nodules are, the more treatment means are available and the better the treatment effect is. Therefore, regular medical checkups are necessary, and a significant proportion of early lung cancer patients are detected during medical checkups. X-ray screening is not as effective as low-dose CT: It is understood that most units currently use chest X-ray as the diagnosis of lung cancer screening, but the sensitivity of X-ray is far from enough. Chen Zhenguang said that chest nodules generally have to be as large as 1.5 cm to 2 cm before they may show up in X-rays. And some special nodules only appear as patchy or frosted glass shadow on the image, which cannot be detected by X-ray examination at all. Therefore, clinicians recommend regular screening for lung cancer through low-dose CT for people with high risk of lung cancer. Low-dose CT can “detect” nodules as large as 0.5 cm, and some CT with high sensitivity can even detect nodules as large as 0.3-0.4 cm, which is the earliest stage of lung cancer. According to a study, low-dose CT screening of 50,000 people for early detection of lung cancer can reduce the mortality rate by 20%, that is, 1 out of 5 people can reduce their death! Chen Zhenguang explained that the smaller the nodule, the more treatment tools are available and the better the outcome. Once the nodule exceeds two centimeters, it is often accompanied by local lymphatic invasion, and chemotherapy must be administered after surgery, which adds a lot to the physical and economic burden, and the 5-year survival rate decreases significantly. Here why to emphasize is low-dose CT, Chen Zhenguang explained, low-dose CT radiation is very small, only 10 times the amount of ordinary chest X-ray, the harm to the human body is very small, or even negligible, more suitable for use as a general population health screening. The First Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University East Hospital is also preparing to carry out low-dose CT health screening of the chest for the general population in the near future. Cooks are also at high risk of lung cancer: People over 40 years old should have annual low-dose CT examination of the chest, which costs about 500 RMB and is affordable for most families. Screening for lung cancer should be started earlier for those who are at high risk of lung cancer. Who is at high risk for lung cancer? Studies have proven that long-term heavy smokers are 10 to 20 times more likely to develop lung cancer than non-smokers, and the younger the age of starting to smoke, the higher the probability of developing lung cancer. In addition, smoking not only directly affects one’s own health, but also has a negative impact on the health of the people around you, leading to a significant increase in the prevalence of lung cancer in passive smokers. Therefore, if you are surrounded by “smokers” and you are often forced to inhale second-hand smoke, then you are also at high risk of lung cancer. Third-hand smoke can also be harmful to human health (especially to the health of infants and children). Third-hand smoke” means that wherever you smoke, the harmful particles in the smoke will be trapped in your hair, skin, clothes, carpets, sofas and car seat covers, and when you come into contact with your children after smoking, they will still be exposed to the harmful substances produced by burning cigarettes in the environment. arsenic, lead, carbon monoxide, polonium and more than 10 other highly carcinogenic compounds. Here is a reminder that if you are the spoon in the family, you should also be screened regularly for lung cancer. Chinese food culture emphasizes frying, stir-frying, cooking and deep-frying, but frying and deep-frying can cause high levels of benzpyrene in the air. Especially in those kitchens with poor fume extraction, people who often fry, stir-fry, cook and deep-fry and feel the stimulation of fumes in their eyes have a significantly increased risk of lung cancer. Experiments have proven that fumes at temperatures between 270°C and 280°C have mutagenic effects. Since women cook more, cooking fumes increase their risk of lung cancer. In addition, people who have a family history of lung cancer, work in a confined environment for a long time or work in an environment with a lot of dust particles for a long time, and have underlying diseases such as diabetes are also at high risk of lung cancer due to low immunity.