Lung cancer is a very common malignant tumor, and the treatment of lung cancer is also a long-term arduous task, and patients have to suffer a lot of pain in treatment.
Lung cancer not only destroys the function of internal organs of human body, but also destroys the immune function of human body, which causes the imbalance of Yin and Yang of human body and leads to the failure of internal organs, which will lead to terminal symptoms of lung cancer, thus causing death.
I. Symptoms
1.Bleeding
It is produced by the invasion of blood vessels by cancer tissue or the rupture of small blood vessels of cancer tissue. For example, lung cancer patients can hemoptysis and blood in sputum; stomach, colon and esophagus cancer can have blood in stool.
2.Lumps
They can be formed by malignant proliferation of cancer cells and can be touched by hands on the surface or deep inside the body. Cancer of thyroid, parotid gland or breast can be touched in superficial parts under the skin. Tumor metastasis to lymph nodes can lead to swelling of lymph nodes, and certain superficial lymph nodes, such as cervical lymph nodes and axillary lymph, can be easily touched.
3.Shortness of breath
Patients with advanced lung cancer in which regional spread of pleural effusion occurs almost always have varying degrees of shortness of breath. Normal tissue fluid produced by the lung and heart muscle is returned by the lymph nodes in the middle of the chest. If these lymph nodes are blocked by the tumor, this tissue fluid will accumulate in the pericardium to form a pericardial effusion or in the thorax to form a pleural effusion. Both of the above conditions can lead to shortness of breath.
4.Heartiness of voice
The recurrent laryngeal nerve, which controls the left side of the articulation function, goes down from the neck to the chest and returns up to the larynx around the large blood vessels of the heart, thus innervating the left side of the articulation organ. Therefore, if the tumor invades the left side of mediastinum, the laryngeal nerve will be compressed and hoarseness will be produced, but there is no sore throat or other symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection.
5.Pain
The appearance of pain often indicates that the cancer has entered the middle or late stage. At first, it is mostly a vague or dull pain, which is obvious at night. Later on, it gradually worsens and becomes unbearable, day and night. Severe pain is a terminal symptom of lung cancer, if it occurs, it is usually controlled by drugs. Pain is usually caused by cancer cells invading nerves. Many people will feel unbearable pain in the late stage, and even taking medicine does not work.
II. Examination
1.Chest X-ray
It is the most common means to diagnose lung cancer, and its positive detection rate can be over 90%.
2.CT examination of chest and abdomen
CT examination is the most valuable non-invasive examination means in the diagnosis and staging of lung cancer; CT can detect the location and cumulative extent of tumor and can generally distinguish its benign and malignant nature; CT can also clearly show the infiltration of lung hilum, mediastinum, chest wall and pleura, which can be used in the staging of lung cancer. CT of abdomen is very helpful to observe whether there are metastases in intra-abdominal organs such as liver, kidney and adrenal gland.
3.Magnetic resonance imaging
MRI has certain value in the diagnosis and staging of lung cancer. Its advantage is that it can show the anatomy of mediastinum in sagittal and coronal planes, and clearly show the relationship between central tumor and surrounding organs and blood vessels without imaging, so as to determine whether the tumor invades blood vessels or compresses the encircling blood vessels, if it exceeds 1/2 of the circumference, there is difficulty in resection, if it exceeds 3/4 of the circumference, there is no need for surgical examination. MRI can also show clearly when the tumor invades soft tissues, which is most valuable for the evaluation of supraglottic sulcus tumor. MRI is similar to CT in the examination of hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes, and can clearly show the enlarged lymph nodes, but the specificity is poor.
4.Bronchoscopy
The positive detection rate is 60% to 80%, and changes in the bronchi of grade 4 to 5 such as swelling, stenosis, ulceration, etc. can generally be observed, and smear cytology, bite biopsy, and local lavage are performed. This examination, which is generally safe, has also been reported to be complicated by bleeding after 9% to 29% of biopsies. Caution should be exercised when encountering tumors suspected to be carcinoid and rich in intuitive blood flow, and it is best to avoid biopsy trauma.
5.SPECT bone scan
SPECT bone scan can detect bone metastases earlier. If the lesion has reached the middle stage and the decalcification in the focal part of the bone reaches more than 30% to 50% of its content, both X-ray film and bone imaging will be positive, if the osteogenic reaction in the focal part is static and the metabolism is not active, the bone imaging will be negative and the X-ray film will be positive.
6.Mediastinoscopy or E-BUS examination
Mediastinoscopy should be performed under general anesthesia when CT reveals enlarged lymph nodes in groups 2, 4, and 7, such as anterior and paratracheal and inferior ramus. A transverse incision is made in the superior sternal recess, the anterior soft tissues of the neck are bluntly separated to reach the anterior tracheal space, the anterior tracheal passage is bluntly freed, and a viewing scope is placed to slowly pass behind the innominate artery to observe the enlarged lymph nodes in the paratracheal, tracheobronchial angles and inferior ramus, and biopsies are obtained by dissecting and peeling with special biopsy forceps. Clinical data show that the overall positive rate is 39%, the mortality rate is about 0.04%, and 1.2% have complications such as pneumothorax, laryngeal nerve paralysis, hemorrhage, fever, etc.
7.PET-CT examination
It can detect unexpected extrathoracic metastases, and can make the preoperative period more accurate. There is no false positive rate in cases of extrathoracic metastases, but false positive findings in PET-CT in mediastinal granulomas or other inflammatory lymphadenopathy need to be confirmed by cytology or biopsy.
Conclusion.
The above contents are some knowledge about advanced symptoms of lung cancer, I believe you all have some understanding, and you need to go to regular hospitals for treatment in time when you encounter the same situation in your future life.