Symptoms of Lung Cancer
Ongoing cough. Shortness of breath or trouble breathing. Spitting up blood. Pain in your chest or rib cage.
Other symptoms that may develop as a result of the lung cancer metastasizing to other parts of the body include: Headaches, weakness or numbness in a limb, dizziness, balance issues or seizures (if the cancer has spread to the brain) Jaundice (if the cancer has spread to the liver) Pain in the bones of the back or hips.
Symptoms of Lung Cancer That Has Spread to Bones
Bone metastases can cause chronic pain in the affected bone, while also making the bone more prone to fracturing.
Lung cancer can spread to almost any part of the body, but the most common locations for metastasis include the: Liver. Bones. Brain.
Endobronchial metastasis is not directly visualized in a radiograph, but it should be in the differential list when a patient presents with postobstructive pneumonitis/atelectasis. Pleural metastatic disease is seen as pleural nodularities or thickening with or without pleural effusion.
Chest pain: When a lung tumor causes tightness in the chest or presses on nerves, you may feel pain in your chest, especially when breathing deeply, coughing or laughing.
While it's possible for lung cancer to spread virtually anywhere, it most commonly metastasizes in the liver, brain, bones or adrenal glands.
Diagnosing Metastatic Lung Cancer
CT scan. Cell tests of your mucus. PET scan. Blood tests.
Lung cancer cough often starts off dry (without mucus) and comes in spasms. It may feel like you constantly need to clear your throat. Later on, you may start to cough up blood or rust-colored mucus (sputum). That's called a wet cough or a productive cough.
Metastatic cancer does not always cause symptoms. When symptoms do occur, what they are like and how often you have them will depend on the size and location of the metastatic tumors. Some common signs of metastatic cancer include: pain and fractures, when cancer has spread to the bone.
A 2018 study found that the median doubling time varies by type of NSCLC: Adenocarcinomas had a median doubling time of 261 days. Squamous cell carcinomas had a median doubling time of 70 days. Other lung cancers, which included large cell carcinomas and SCLC, also had a median doubling time of 70 days.
Life expectancy for people with metastatic lung cancer is low. The overall 5-year survival rate for small cell lung cancer is 3%, and 8% for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). 25-30% of people with metastatic NSCLC have a life expectancy of under 3 months.
Lung metastases or metastatic cancer to the lung occurs when a cancer that originates in another area of the body, such as the breast or bladder, spreads to the lungs. Most people with lung metastases do not have symptoms, but they may experience a cough, chest pain, or hemoptysis.
How do I know if my cancer has progressed? You may notice some changes, such as a new lump or new symptoms. You should talk to your oncologist (cancer doctor) if this happens. A blood test or imaging (such as an MRI or CT scan) will show your oncologist if your cancer has progressed.
If lung cancer grows and spreads, it can put pressure on the bones that make up the spine and the spinal cord or the nerves as they exit the spinal cord. This can lead to pain in your neck or upper, middle, or lower back. The pain may also spread to your arms, buttocks, or legs.
In its early stages, lung cancer doesn't typically have symptoms you can see or feel. Later, it often causes coughing, wheezing, and chest pain. But there are other, lesser-known effects that can show up, too -- in places you may not expect. (Of course, lung cancer isn't the only thing that can cause these symptoms.)
Lung cancer-related back pain may feel dull like a muscle ache, or it may seem sharp like a pinched nerve.
There is very little growth or change, if there's any at all. Cancerous pulmonary nodules, however, are known to grow relatively quickly—usually doubling in size every four months but sometimes as fast as every 25 days.
Due to its greater sensitivity compared to other modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (2-4) and positron emission tomography (PET) (5-7), computed tomography (CT) is the most widely used modality for detecting lung metastases (8).
The most common sites for cancers to metastasize include the lungs, liver, bones and brain. Other places include the adrenal gland, lymph nodes, skin and other organs. Sometimes, a metastasis will be found without a known primary cancer (point of origin).
Primary lung tumors are mainly localized in upper lobes as singular nodules, metastases in lower lobes as multiple lesions. For the distinction of endobronchial primary or secondary squamous cell carcinomas findings of severe dysplasia and CIS of the bronchial epithelium are important.