Lung cancer is characterized by the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the lungs. Lung cancer can be separated into two groups: small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. The distinguishing factor between the two types is that small cell lung cancer spreads faster to other organs than non-small cell lung cancer. Non-small cell lung cancer includes three types of lung cancer, which are: squamous cell carcinoma, large cell carcinoma, and adenocarcinoma. Small cell lung cancer is the least common of the lung cancers. All of these types of lung cancers are treated differently and often have different symptoms. Through metastasis, cancer can spread throughout the body.
What are the symptoms of lung cancer?
Lung cancer develops very slowly, and usually takes many years to show signs. If a person is exposed to carcinogens, the cancer will start its development immediately by multiplying cancer cells and spreading throughout the affected area, but will take many years to develop symptoms. The symptoms of the cancer depend upon where the tumor is found along with other factors. Some symptoms of lung cancer are: chest pain, chronic cough, loss of appetite, shortness of breath, fever with an unknown origin, wheezing, and recurring infections. Sometimes the person, if they have the disease, will cough up blood.
Did you know? If You Smoke, Your Pet Smokes
Cigarettes Cause Common Cat Cancer
Are your pets at risk from breathing your secondhand smoke? Read the conclusions of this latest study about pets who have been exposed to passive smoke.
Discussion: Pet Love - Thinking about our pets in another way
Pets have ways of telling us what they need and want and they love us no matter what. But they can't tell us "Hey, I can't stand breathing this smoke of yours! Please quit!" Yet, those of us who were smokers didn't realize we might be harming our pets when we smoked. Who thinks of secondhand smoke?
Perhaps it's because we blocked it out. Perhaps the notion that our smoking was hurting them had never presented itself to our attention. Or maybe we were too addicted to care. After all, nicotine addiction is one of the strongest of all addictions. Studies on how secondhand smoke affects our pets have largely been non-existent until recently.
Cigarettes Cause Common Cat Cancer
A study, originating at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Tufts University in Boston determined that cats living with a smoker had at least double the chance of developing feline lymphoma and four times the risk when living with two people who smoke. The study was reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Elizabeth R. Bertone, ScD, lead author of the study told EurekAlert writers, "We believe that feline exposure patterns to environmental tobacco smoke may mimic those of young children living in households where adults smoke."
This and other related research may be a life-saver for many pets as well as young children. Optimally, these reports will spur pet owners and parents to quit smoking now. At least they may be encouraged to smoke outside so they don't continue to pollute indoor air.
We spend many thousands of dollars on our pets over their lifetimes. We don't think twice about getting them to the vet's office when they need their shots or help for an ailment or disease. We don't care what it costs, we just want our pets to be well and happy, just as we do for our children.
It is hoped that more of our cats, dogs, birds, ferrets, and other pets will have healthier, longer lives, along with the smokers who give up smoking to save their own health. It's the humane thing to do.
