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.)
Chest pain, shortness of breath and a persistent cough can all be symptoms of lung cancer. But they can also be signs of other conditions, including heart problems, anemia and even a COVID-19 infection.
In stage 1 lung cancer, people usually do not experience symptoms. When they do, the most common symptoms include shortness of breath, a persistent cough, and coughing up blood or blood-stained phlegm. Lung cancer is one of the most common types of cancer.
Non-small cell lung cancer symptoms
Persistent coughing, particularly without any known cause. A cough that produces blood or red-colored phlegm (hemoptysis) Chest pain or painful breathing. Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath.
Pain in the back, along with shoulder and neck pain, are all symptoms of lung cancer. Many people who are living with lung cancer will experience back pain at some point during their disease.
Lung cancer-related back pain may feel dull like a muscle ache, or it may seem sharp like a pinched nerve.
When you press your fingernails together, do you see a tiny diamond-shaped window of light. If you can't see this gap, you could have finger clubbing, which when the ends of your fingers swell up - and this could be a sign of lung cancer.
Tests for lung cancer
You usually have a chest x-ray, CT scan and PET-CT scan to diagnose lung cancer. You might also have a bronchoscopy and biopsy.
Patients can (and usually do) live with lung cancer for many years before it becomes apparent. Early lung cancer is largely asymptomatic and internalisation of tumours means patients are not alerted by obvious physical changes.
Cancer can grow in your body for a long time — years — before you know it's there. Lung cancer often doesn't cause symptoms in early stages.
When listening to the chest with a stethoscope, the provider may hear fluid around the lungs. This may suggest cancer. Tests that may be done to diagnose lung cancer or see if it has spread include: Bone scan.
It's rare for cancer to go away on its own without treatment; in almost every case, treatment is required to destroy the cancer cells. That's because cancer cells do not function the way normal cells do.
Wheezing: Noisy breathing or wheezing is a sign that something unusual is blocking your lungs' airways or making them too narrow. Coughing up blood: If you are coughing up blood, it may be coming from your lungs or upper respiratory tract. Wherever it's coming from, it signals a health problem.
A chest X-ray is usually the 1st test used to diagnose lung cancer. Most lung tumours appear on X-rays as a white-grey mass.
Most people with lung cancer do not feel pain or other symptoms during the early stages. This is because there are very few nerve endings in the lungs. However, pain can occur when lung cancer invades the chest wall, ribs, vertebrae, or certain nerves.
Although most lung SCC are usually located in the main or lobar bronchus, the peripheral SCC has been increasingly observed in recent years. SCLC is usually found in the central area of the lung. However, recent studies have demonstrated that peripheral SCLC is more common.
If a biopsy is not possible, the doctor may suggest other tests that will help make a diagnosis. Lung cancer cannot be detected by routine blood testing, but blood tests may be used to identify genetic mutations in people who are already known to have lung cancer (see "Biomarker testing of the tumor" below).
Offer an urgent chest X-ray (to be performed within 2 weeks) to assess for lung cancer in people aged 40 years and over if they have two or more of the following unexplained symptoms, or if they have ever smoked and have one or more of the following unexplained symptoms: Cough. Fatigue. Shortness of breath.
Diagnostic Procedures. The first step in diagnosing lung cancer is through the use of imaging tools, including: CT scans, which use X-rays to create cross-sectional images of the chest. MRI scans, which use radio waves and strong magnets to create detailed images of soft tissue.