Don't smoke to ward off lung cancer, doctor advises
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, December 29 2023: Stop smoking and stay away from second hand smoke to minimise lung cancer risk, said Dr Yumnam Bidyalakshmee, Assistant Professor of Respiratory Medicine at SHIJA Hospitals.

She continued that smoking is by far the leading risk factor for lung cancer.

Speaking to The Sangai Express, Dr Bidyalakshmee said that cigarettes contain several carcinogens which are known to cause cancer.

Saying that there are other factors which cause lung cancer such as genetically inherited, exposure to harmful chemicals and air pollution apart from smoking, she said that second hand smoke is also very harmful.

She maintained that lung cancer mostly occurs in older people but that necessarily doesn't mean those in the younger age group won't get lung cancer.

Don't smoke to ward off lung cancer, doctor advises

Some of the common symptoms of lung cancer are dry cough, coughing up blood, chest pain, shortness of breath, losing appetite, hoarseness, wheezing, Dr Bidyalakshmee said and appealed to all to consult experts if they show any of these symptoms.

Dr Bidyalakshmee maintained that men, especially smokers have a higher chance of developing lung cancer as compared to women.

Saying that people with lung cancer consult doctors mostly in the advanced stage and as such the mortality rate is high, she said that the survival rate of people with lung cancer will be higher if treated in the early stage.

Lung cancer can be cured if treated in the early stage, she added.

In advanced stages, cancer can spread to the kidney, liver, brain and other organs and it cannot be removed surgically so they have to undergo chemotherapy and radiotherapy, she informed.

Dr Bidyalakshmee continued that people who refuse diagnosis even after detecting lumps in their chests often die within five years.

Saying that the survival rate of lung cancer depends on the stage of treatment, she added that lung cancer can be cured if treated in the early stage.

Reiterating that the best way to prevent lung cancer is to stop smoking, she appealed to the people to go for health check ups regularly.

She further said that low dose CT scan is used for screening lung cancer and it can detect a lump, if any, in the chest.

Continuing that small cell carcinoma and non-small cell carcinoma are the two main types of lung cancer, she added that carcinoma is further divided into two major subtypes viz adenocarcinoma and squamous cells.

Small cell carcinoma mostly originates from breathing tubes (bronchi) and it spreads and grows faster, Dr Bidyalakshmee said and added that the small cell carcinoma spreads to other parts of the body when the tumour grows larger.

She said that non-small cell carcinoma is also a cancer cell formed in the lung tissue but less aggressive than small cell carcinoma.

Saying that adenocarcinoma, on the other hand, develops in organs or glands while squamous cell carcinoma occurs mostly in the central part of lungs or main airways, she added that there is another common tumour called carcinoid tumour but it may or may not be cancerous.

Non cancerous carcinoid tumours are smaller and can be removed and it doesn't spread to other cells, she said.