Lung adenocarcinoma is the most common type of lung cancer, often undiagnosed until advanced stages. Smoking, radon gas, and asbestos increase the risk. Symptoms include shortness of breath, coughing, and chest pain. Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy are treatments, but the cancer often comes back. Quitting smoking can reduce the risk.
Lung adenocarcinoma is the most frequent type of lung cancer, and lung cancer is the most common type of cancer found worldwide. Cancer arises from uncontrolled cell growth in those cells that line the airways and produce mucus. Because it typically originates in peripheral lung tissue, where it is less likely to cause obvious symptoms, lung adenocarcinoma often remains undiagnosed until it has reached an advanced stage where a cure is less likely. Cigarette smoking is thought to be the leading cause of lung cancer.
In addition to smoking, exposure to radon gas or asbestos can also increase the risk of developing lung adenocarcinoma. Symptoms of the disease may include shortness of breath, a cough that doesn’t go away, coughing up blood, and chest pain. More general symptoms of cancer, such as fatigue and weight loss, may also occur, and repeated chest infections may occur. Lung adenocarcinoma tends to progress relatively slowly in most cases, so symptoms may not appear until the cancer has spread, or metastasized, to other parts of the body.
When lung adenocarcinoma metastasizes, about half of the time it will spread to the brain, with the opposite lung, liver, and bone as other possible sites. Tests used to diagnose adenocarcinoma typically include a chest X-ray and bronchoscopy, in which a thin, flexible telescope is inserted into the lung, sending the images to the surgeon and allowing samples of lung tissue to be removed. Sometimes, if a tumor cannot be reached using a bronchoscope, a needle is passed through the chest wall to obtain a tissue sample.
If lung adenocarcinoma is discovered early, surgery may be used to remove the tumor, either along with a section or the entire lung. Most often, the cancer has already spread to other parts of the body, in which case the treatment is chemotherapy and radiation therapy rather than surgery. Sometimes, if surgery is done, chemotherapy is also given in an attempt to reduce the chance of the cancer coming back.
Unfortunately, even when adenocarcinoma of the lung is diagnosed in its early stages and thought to have been completely removed, it often comes back. This can occur when a small number of cells, too small to detect, have already spread or been left behind after surgery. People can reduce their chances of developing lung adenocarcinoma by giving up smoking.
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