Lung cancer is the leading cause of death in the USA and in Israel in male and female patients

Lung cancer kills more people than breast cancer, colon cancer, ovarian cancer and prostatic cancer together. The 5-year survival of lung cancer patients is among the lowest and does not exceed 13% of all patients. Lung cancer is usually not noticed until it has reached an advanced stage, when the therapy is no longer sufficiently effective. On the other hand, treatment of lung cancer at an early stage of the disease can cure up to 70% of cases. Early detection of lung cancer by chest X-rays or sputum tests for malignant cells is disappointing. Recently, computerized tomography has been introduced as a diagnostic tool for the early detection of lung cancer.

What is lung cancer?

This kind of cancer originates in the lungs, which are two sponge-like organs located in the chest, exchanging air during the breathing process. The right lung has three lobes, and the left one only two. The left one is also smaller, since the heart lies closer to it. During breathing, oxygen containing air is inhaled into the lungs and air containing carbon dioxide, the gaseous compound formed during body metabolism, is exhaled. The lungs are surrounded by a protective membrane called the pleura. The trachea, the windpipe carrying air from the mouth to the lungs, branches into increasingly smaller branches called bronchi, ending up in tiny air spaces, called alveolar spaces. These alveoli resemble small air balloons or bubbles. It is in these alveoli that air exchange takes place. Most lung cancers are located in the bronchial walls, but the disease can also originate in the alveoli and from bronchioles, sub-branches of bronchi. The development of lung cancer usually takes many years.

next