Lung Cancer Treatment Specialist in North Carolina

Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is a disease in which cancer cells grow in the lungs. Cancer occurs when cells in the body divide without control or order. Normally, cells divide in a regulated manner. If cells keep dividing uncontrollably when new cells are not needed, a mass of tissue forms, called a growth or tumor.

There are two types of lung cancers:

• Non-small cell lung cancer—generally grows and spreads more slowly (more common form)
• Small cell lung cancer—generally grows more quickly and is more likely to spread to other parts of the body

Signs and symptoms of lung cancer

Most lung cancers do not cause any symptoms until they have spread too far to be cured, but symptoms do occur in some people with early lung cancer. If you go to your doctor when you first notice symptoms, your cancer might be diagnosed at an earlier stage, when treatment is more likely to be effective.

The most common symptoms of lung cancer are:

• A cough that does not go away or gets worse
• Chest pain that is often worse with deep breathing, coughing, or laughing
• Hoarseness
• Weight loss and loss of appetite
• Coughing up blood or rust-colored sputum (spit or phlegm)
• Shortness of breath
• Feeling tired or weak
• Infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia that don’t go away or keep coming back
• New onset of wheezing

If lung cancer spreads to distant organs, it may cause:

• Bone pain (like pain in the back or hips)
• Nervous system changes (such as headache, weakness or numbness of an arm or leg, dizziness, balance problems, or seizures), from cancer spread to the brain or spinal cord
• Yellowing of the skin and eyes (jaundice), from cancer spread to the liver
• Lumps near the surface of the body, due to cancer spreading to the skin or to lymph nodes (collections of immune system cells), such as those in the neck or above the collarbone

Most of the symptoms listed above are more likely to be caused by conditions other than lung cancer. Still, if you have any of these problems, it’s important to see your doctor right away so the cause can be found and treated, if needed.

Moore Regional Hospital offers chemotherapy, oral chemotherapy, radiation therapy, intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), image-guided radiation therapy, high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy, surgery, biologic therapy, monoclonal antibody therapy, clinical trials and support for patients with lung cancer. The FirstHealth Chest Center is a nationally recognized lung cancer treatment center with patient outcomes that surpass national averages.