Lung cancer can be diagnosed based on examination of sputum, or tissue examination with biopsy using bronchoscopy, needle through the chest wall, or surgical excision. The treatment of lung cancer depends on the type of cancer, its location and size as well as the age and health of the patient. Lung cancer kills more men and women than any other form of cancer. It is estimated that by the year 2000, over three hundred thousand people will die from lung cancer in the United States alone. The economic loss is calculated to be over two billion dollars a year.
Most lung cancers begin to grow silently, without any symptoms.
Patients with lung cancer often do not develop symptoms until the cancer is in an advanced stage. The actual time from when one cell becomes cancerous until it is large enough to be diagnosed or produce symptoms may take as long as 10 to 40 years. Eighty percent of lung cancers are due to tobacco smoke. There are over 2,000 known cancer-causing chemicals in tobacco smoke. Other well established carcinogens of the lung include radon, asbestos, bischolomethylether, nickel, chromates, coal tar, copper radioactive materials and arsenic.