People often overlook their health. Some diseases are preventable, some are not; this article will focus on one that has an alterable risk factor: lung cancer. By staying away from tobacco products, a person maintains a much lower risk factor of developing lung cancer than that of an individual who indulges in tobacco (Mayo Clinic Staff, n.d.). I selected this disease to write about because it affects hundreds of thousands of people annually, and because my grandmother died from it. Lung cancer is a type of cancer that manifests in a person’s lungs, and can spread to other organs. It is the leading cancer killer in both men and women. Three different types of lung cancer exist: non-small cell lung cancer, small cell lung cancer, and lung carcinoid tumors. They are named based upon their appearances under a microscope, and have different risk factors associated with them. Some symptoms of lung cancer include, but are not limited to: an insistent cough, chest pain, loss of weight and appetite, phlegm with blood in it, weakness, and infections (Cancer.org Staff, n.d.). …show more content…
Often, all of these are used in collaboration to treat lung cancer, but not always (CancerResearchUK.org Staff, n.d.). Chemotherapy entails treatment of cancer through chemicals, which includes anti-cancer drugs and medications. Radiotherapy utilizes radiation to destroy cancer cells. Both of these treatments serve the purpose of shrinking cancer, and hopefully, destroying it (SERO Staff, n.d.). These are sometimes used in place of surgery for small cell cancer cases, but sometimes surgery is used for these cases as well. Both therapies are integrated into treatment for all types of cancer—non-small cell, small cell, and lung carcinoid tumors—but surgery is not always possible or necessary depending on circumstance (CancerResearchUK.org Staff,