Question: What are then symptoms of lung cancer and is there any way to prevent it?

Alex Haragan answered on 18 Jun 2018:

Lung cancer symptoms, like all cancers, can be thought of as coming in two categories. Local symptoms particular to the organ affected, and systemic symptoms that are more generalised and happen because the cancer has spread.
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Lung cancer is a problematic cancer in that it often “presents late” – by that I mean by the time someone feels unwell with it and sees their doctor, it is often quite advanced. This means people often have both local and systemic symptoms when they are diagnosed.
Saying that – we are getting better and detecting it earlier, and much work is going into a screening programme for lung cancer.
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So local symptoms are related to the fact a tumour mass is growing within a lung – shortness of breath, persistent cough, coughing up blood, pain on breathing. These are quite non-specific though – and might also be seen with a bad chest infection or clot on the lungs – either way you’d need to see a doctor but it isn’t always straight forward!
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Systemic symptoms are when the cancer has spread – some of these symptoms are simply because the cancer is hijacking the body and making it work poorly – like tiredness and losing weight – and others because it causes symptoms in the parts of the body it has spread to – like bone pain or nerve weakness.
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There is rarely “one thing” that diagnoses it – but a careful history and examination to build up a picture of events – that is the key to being a doctor – you are a detective!
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In terms of prevention – like all cancers we know certain things definitely do cause lung cancer, and so avoiding these is an obvious solution. Smoking is easily the biggest cause. Other things like air pollution are harder to avoid, but industrial materials that can cause types of lung cancer like asbestos, silicon, coal dust etc are now used less frequently or in much more controlled ways than in the past.
Other times it is hard to see why it is caused – and will be as a result of many things. So there is no way to absolutely prevent it – but you can improve your chances!