How Smoking Causes Lung Cancer?

by Manya Verma Health care and lifestyle

Lung cancer happens to be one of the leading causes of fatality because of cancer contraction. According to an oncologist at a cancer hospital in India, people heavily into smoking are most at risk to come down with lung cancer. But, at the same time, lung cancer may also happen in people who have hardly ever smoked.

• The risk to get afflicted by lung cancer amplifies with an increase in the number of cigarettes you have smoked and the length of time over which you have smoked.

• Even after smoking for several years, if you kick the habit, you can reduce your odds of developing lung cancer to a significant extent.

• The majority of lung cancers are caused due to smoking.

• This is applicable to both smokers and people who are exposed to secondhand smoke.

• However, it's quite surprising to find out that lung cancer even occurs in people who have never smoked or barely had any long-term exposure to secondhand smoke.

• In such scenarios, the exact cause of lung cancer can't be clearly identified.

Symptoms

• By and large, lung cancer, in its earliest stages, hardly causes any signs and symptoms.

• Only when the disease reaches an advanced stage that signs and symptoms of lung cancer typically come into being.

• According to a lung cancer specialist from a top hospital in Gurgaon, the potential warning signs and symptoms of lung cancer include the following.

o A new cough that fails to recede

o Coughing up small amounts of blood

o Shortness of breath

o Chest pain

o Hoarseness

o Unexplained weight loss

o Bone pain

o Headache

Why is smoking responsible for causing lung cancer?

• Doctors across cancer hospitals in India have strong belief that a chronic smoking habit leads to lung cancer by causing damage to the cells that comprise the lining of your lungs.

• With constant inhalation of cigarette smoke replete with carcinogens or cancer-causing toxic substances, the lung tissue starts undergoing changes almost always immediately.

• As a matter of fact, initially, your body has the capacity of repairing this damage.

• However, with frequent exposure to carcinogens, the normal cells that form the lining in your lungs get damaged more and more.

• With the passage of time, the damage results in cells acting abnormally and eventually developing cancer.

What are the commonly found types of lung cancer?

• Doctors at a cancer hospital in Gurgaon classify lung cancer into two principal types depending on how the cancer cells look when scrutinized under a microscope.

• Your doctor will make a decision of the treatment choices depending on which principal type of lung cancer you have developed.

• The two principal lung cancer types, according to an oncologist in Gurgaon, include the following.

1. Small cell lung cancer

• Small cell lung cancer has its occurrence almost solely in heavy, chain smokers and is less commonly found comparatively non-small cell lung cancer.

2. Non-small cell lung cancer

• It's an over-arching term used for denoting different types of lung cancer that conduct themselves in a comparable way.

• Non-small cell lung cancers consist of squamous cell carcinoma, large cell carcinoma, and adenocarcinoma.

At Paras, the best hospital in Gurgaon, lung cancer specialists come up with compassionate, comprehensive care to people affected by lung cancer. At Paras, you'll be taken care of by a team of experts from the following domains of expertise to determine the best treatment option for curing your lung cancer.

• Medical oncologists

• Pathologists

• Pulmonologists

• Radiation oncologists

• Radiologists

• Thoracic surgeons