Watch for These Lung Cancer Signs in Nonsmokers
Hi, everyone. My name is Dr Chandrasekaran. Today I am here to talk to you about lung cancer.
Lung cancer is on the rise. Its incidence is increasing in people who are nonsmokers. This is contrary to what we normally have been taught and what we believe. Adenocarcinoma, more specifically, the type of lung cancer, is now increasing in diagnoses.
This is being found in patients that live in high industrial, air-polluted cities, specifically in East Asia, China, and India. This is also true in big cities here in the US, such as Los Angeles, in the Northeast, Miami, and Atlanta.
This is also being found in people who have cancers within the family,more specifically, with germline mutations or other lung cancers.
Things to watch out for in our patients who don't have a history of smoking could be abnormal lung imaging that continues on repeat scans, increased shortness of breath with no explanation, increasing dyspnea, coughing up blood, or other symptoms, such as weight loss or more fatigue with no other diagnoses.
It's important to get these patients screened earlier and follow up with a pulmonary doctor to make sure that the diagnosis is caught early.
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