The existence of these symptoms for a long time indicates that lung cancer has been developed, and it may be too late to check in time.
I don't know when cancer began to quietly infiltrate our life, and the cancer rate gradually increased.
When they heard that someone around had cancer, everyone's first reaction was shock and disbelief, and then they began to feel sympathy and regret for the patient.
In the hearts of most people, cancer is the incarnation of the god of death, and it never shows mercy when it takes away people's lives!
Cancer may appear in human internal organs, skin, and even blood, so there are many types of clinical cancers.
Among them, the most common cancer in China is "lung cancer", with nearly 700,000 new lung cancer patients every year, and nearly 40% of lung cancer patients have already reached the advanced stage when they are examined and diagnosed in outpatient clinics. The 2-year survival rate for lung cancer is less than 20%.
However, if lung cancer can be detected at an early stage, the prognosis of the patient will be very different, and it may even be completely free from the entanglement of lung cancer.
This is not only for regular physical examinations, but also to observe abnormal physical changes at all times, especially for people who smoke for a long time and are exposed to harmful substances. If the following symptoms exist for a long time, it may be too late to check in time:
- Long-term cough
Strictly speaking, cough is not a disease, but a self-protective response of the body. When a foreign body invades the respiratory tract, it can be removed by coughing.
After the occurrence of respiratory diseases, affected by the increase of pathogens and secretions, patients will have cough symptoms, such as bronchitis, pneumonia, tonsillitis, etc.;
However, after the common respiratory tract infection is treated, not only the disease will be cured, but the cough symptoms will gradually ease and disappear.
Lung cancer is different, because the cancer will persist and cause irritation, so patients will have long-term cough performance, and irritating cough and dry cough are the most common in the early stage. In the later stage, sputum and direct hemoptysis may appear.
- Shortness of breath
Many lung cancer patients have different degrees of chest tightness and shortness of breath in the early stage or in the development stage of the disease, especially after activities.
With the development of the disease, after the lung function is destroyed and the large airway is blocked by the cancer, the patient will gradually develop symptoms of dyspnea, especially in patients with lung cancer accompanied by pleural effusion, the symptoms of chest tightness will persist.
- Inexplicable shoulder pain
In most cases, shoulder pain is related to neck and shoulder diseases, such as cervical spondylosis, shoulder strain, frozen shoulder, etc. However, if you have abnormal shoulder pain recently and there is no joint disease, you should be alert to the signal from lung cancer.
Although there is no nerve distribution in the lungs, there are pleura, peritoneum, and nerve plexuses around it.
When the cancer invades and compresses the brachial plexus, this pain will radiate to the patient's shoulder, especially the left shoulder pain is particularly common clinically.
- Hoarse voice
Nearly 30% of lung cancer patients have hoarseness symptoms at different stages of disease development, or even in the early stage. Central lung cancer is more likely to appear, accounting for 40% of all hoarse lung cancer patients!
This is not because the cancer invades the vocal cords, but because the cancer compresses or stimulates the recurrent laryngeal nerve, resulting in abnormal pronunciation, but this abnormality is not accompanied by other respiratory symptoms, such as fever and sore throat.
If you have the above symptoms recently, you should seek medical attention in time for a comprehensive examination of the lungs. Even high-risk groups without any symptoms should have regular lung examinations, so that lung lesions can be detected as soon as possible, and timely treatment and treatment, especially long-term smoking, special work (asbestos, petroleum, chemical exposure) more people should pay more attention.