Lung Cancer Essay

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Cancer is a broad term encompassing more than one hundred different diseases, but all cancers start in a single body cell. Cells become cancerous when the cell’s DNA becomes damaged, typically through replication errors or from environmental factors such as being exposed to radiation or ultraviolet (UV) rays. When DNA is damaged in a normal cell, the cell either repairs the DNA or dies if the DNA cannot be repaired. In a cancer cell however, the DNA is not repaired, but the cell does not die as it should. Instead of dying, the cancerous cell undergoes the cell cycle to grow and divide to form new and abnormal cells. The new abnormal cells inherit the damaged DNA from the original cell. The continued replication of the cancer cells form tumors …show more content…

Lung cancer, as the name implies, occurs when cells in the lungs, either one or both lungs, become cancerous and grow uncontrollably. The cancerous cells do not perform the functions of healthy lung cells and eventually hinders the functioning of the lungs (Lung cancer 101). There are two main types of lung cancer: non-small cell and small cell.
Non-small cell lung cancer is the most common type of lung cancer, comprising about 85% of diagnosed lung cancers. There are four stages depending on how far the cancer has spread from the lungs. Stage I is when “The cancer is located only in the lungs and has not spread to any lymph nodes.” People are typically in stage one when the cancer first appears and has not progressed yet. In stage II, the cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes and continues to spread. Stages I and II are considered early-stages of lung cancer and are often difficult to detect due to common-place symptoms such as coughing and fatigue. Most patients are diagnosed for lung cancer at stages III and IV when the cancer becomes more obvious. In stage III, the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes in the chest. Stage III is further broken down into two subgroups: IIIA and IIIB. If the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes on the same side of the chest where the cancer originated, then it is called stage IIIA. If the cancer

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