Best Lung Cancer Treatment in Kelambakkam | Chennai

Lungs & its functions:

Human lungs are two spongy organs in our chest that take in oxygen when you inhale and release carbon dioxide when you exhale. Every cell of the human body requires oxygen to stay alive and healthy. Our body also needs to get rid of carbon dioxide gas, and this gas is the final waste product made by our cells during their everyday functions. Lungs are specially designed in such a way to exchange these gases every time you breathe in and out. So lungs are considered the centre of the respiratory (breathing) system.

But beyond respiration, they carry out some other essential functions also. They are as follows

• pH balance: Excess carbon dioxide content can cause our body to become more acidic. So, if the lungs detect a rise in acidity, they increase the ventilation rate to expel more unwanted gas.
• Protective: The lungs can even act as a shock absorber for the heart in certain types of collision.
• Mucociliary Clearance: It removes deposited particles and gases dissolved in the mucus from the respiratory tract. Smaller hair-like projections, called cilia, helps in moving the particles upwards, where they can be coughed out or swallowed in and destroyed later through the digestive system.
• Blood Reservoir: The lungs can vary how much blood they contain at any moment. This function can be helpful, for example, during exercise. The amount of blood the lungs can hold varies from 500 to 1,000 millilitres (ml). The lungs interact with the heart and help the heart function more efficiently.

How Does it Work?

While breathing, our body uses various muscles such as the diaphragm, the intercostal muscles (between the ribs), abdominal muscles, and even muscles in the neck. The diaphragm is a large, dome-shaped muscle located just below the lungs, and it offers the primary power for respiration. The diaphragm gets contracted during inhalation, and the chest cavity enlarges, which pulls air into our lungs, and upon exhalation, the diaphragm returns to its standard shape. The air gets forced out of the lungs.

Lung Cancer & its Types:

Lung cancer is considered one of the primary causes of cancer-related mortalities worldwide. People who has smoking habit have a higher risk of getting affected by lung cancer, but lung cancer can even occur in people who have never smoked. Lung Cancer forms in tissues of the lungs, usually in the cells that line the air passages

Types of Lung Cancer:

Doctors classify lung cancer into two important types based upon lung cancer cells appearance under the microscope. So,doctor makes treatment decisions based upon which major type of lung cancer you possess.

The Two Types of Lung Cancer Are:

• Small cell lung cancer: SCLC occurs majorily with heavy smokers and it is less common than non-small cell lung cancer.
• Non-small cell lung cancer: The most common types of NSCLC are squamous cell carcinoma, large cell carcinoma, and adenocarcinoma, but there are several other types that occur less frequently, and all types can occur in unusual histologic variants.

What are all the symptoms shown while having lung cancer?

Sometimes lung cancer does not exhibit any signs or symptoms, and the person would find it out only during a chest x-ray done for any other condition.

If you do have any symptoms, they may include:

• Chest Pain
• Consistent Cough Over a Long Period
• Bloody sputum (mucus getting coughed up from the lungs)
• Dysphonia
• Loss of Appetite
• Weight Loss
• Fatigue
• Swelling in the face/veins in the Neck

When to see a Doctor:

Book an appointment with the doctor & consult regarding the persistent signs or symptoms that worries you.

What Are The Treatments for Lung Cancer?

The Treatments for Small Cell Lung Cancer Includes:

• Chemotherapy
• Surgery
• Immunotherapy
• Radiation Therapy
• Laser therapy,uses a laser beam to kill the affected cancer cells
• Endoscopic stent placement-An endoscope is a thin, tube-like instrument used to look at tissues inside our body. It will be used to put in a device called as stent and this helps in opening an airway that has been blocked by abnormal tissue.

The Treatments for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Includes:

• Radiation Therapy
• Surgery
• Immunotherapy
• Laser therapy
• Chemotherapy
• Targeted therapy, which uses drugs that attacks specific cancer cells with less harm to normal cells
• Photodynamic therapy (PDT), which uses medicine and a certain type of laser light to kill cancer affected cells
• Cryosurgery, which uses an instrument to freeze and destroy the abnormal tissues
• Electrocautery, a treatment that uses a probe or needle heated by an electric current to destroy abnormal tissue

How Can We Prevent from Getting Lung Cancer?

• Quitting smoking. If you don't smoke, don't start.
• Reduce your exposure to hazardous substances at work
• Lower your exposure to radon.