Lung Cancer : In Depth - Understanding Your Diag...
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If you're having lung-cancer-like symptoms, your doctor will want to know why. Your doctor is likely to ask you questions about your:
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Your doctor may suggest that you have one or more of the following procedures to help make the diagnosis of lung cancer. After any kind of biopsy, a specialized doctor, called a pathologist, looks at the tissue samples under a microscope to check for cancer cells. It usually takes several days for the results of your biopsy to come back. A biopsy is the only sure way to tell if you have cancer and what kind of cancer it is.
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Treatment for lung cancer usually begins a few weeks after diagnosis. This gives patients time to talk with their doctor about treatment choices, to get a second opinion, to decide about treatment, and to prepare themselves and their loved ones.
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Call your doctor if you have shortness of breath, a temperature above 101.0° F for more than 24 hours, or bleeding from your nose or throat. If you have chest pain or severe shortness of breath, call right away.
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Computed tomography (CT) is a test that combines x-rays and computer scans. The result is a detailed picture that can show problems with soft tissues (such as the lining of your sinuses), organs (such as your kidneys or lungs), and bones.
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There are two main types of lung cancer. They are non-small cell lung cancer and small- cell lung cancer. A doctor called a pathologist uses a microscope to look at the cancer cells collected during your biopsy to tell which type of cancer you have. These two types of lung cancer grow and spread in different ways. Therefore, they are treated differently. Non-small cell lung cancer usually grows and spreads more slowly than small cell lung cancer.
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Lung cancer acts differently in each person. The way a cancer grows is called its pathophysiology. The first place cancer is found in the body is called the primary site or primary tumor. When a cancer spreads, it is said to have metastasized. The stage of your cancer is based on the size of a tumor and where and how much it has spread. There are different stages for non-small cell lung cancer and small cell lung cancer.
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Doctors need to know which stage your lung cancer is in to help decide what treatment to recommend. The stage is based on these things.
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Small cell lung cancer is staged differently. These are the two stages of small cell lung cancer: limited and extensive.
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Cancer that has developed in one place can spread and invade other parts of the body. This process of spreading is called metastasizing. If a tumor spreads to the bone, it is called bone metastasis.
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A prognosis is a statement about the prospect of surviving and recovering from a disease. It may sound harsh to ask the question, "Can I survive this?” But it's a question on most people's minds when they are facing a diagnosis of lung cancer. And the answer can be just as hard as asking the question. The decision to ask about your prognosis is a personal one. It is up to you to decide how much you want to know.
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