Lung Cancer.

Essay by iamthejJunior High, 8th gradeA+, January 2006

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Every year, over 160 000 people in the US alone die just because of lung cancer. Just because of lung cancer, many adulthoods have been cut short; just because of lung cancer, many families have been ripped apart; just because of lung cancer, many people will now have to face treatments that will change their lives forever. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among men and second highest among women. Of the thousands that it claims annually, the majority of them are smokers.

There are six main types of lung cancer. Though they differ in characteristics and behavior, they share the same purpose: to invade nearby tissues or spread throughout the body starting from the lung. The six kinds of lung cancers are squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinomas, bronchioloal- veolar carcinoma, small-cell undifferentiated carcinoma, large-cell carcinoma, and other rare types of cancer. Squamous cell carcinoma usually starts near the bronchial tubes, and then spreads out.

Adenocarcinomasa originate on the outer edges of the lungs. Bronchioloalveolar carcinoma arises in the even more outlying areas and can occur in non-smokers. Small-cell undifferentiated carcinoma consists of small cells that are shaped like rods and spread rapidly. Large-cell carcinoma, on the other hand, is composed of large, abnormal cells that spread starting from the outer edges of the lung. Rare cancers of other types may be found though it only accounts for 5% of all lung cancer. Of all of these, squamous cell carcinoma represents the largest number of lung cancers.

Though lung cancer is an extremely deadly disease, there are ways that it can be cured. One of the ways to treat cancer is surgery. In this treatment, the abnormal cancer cells in the lung are removed. Another way is chemotherapy; drugs that are effective against the cancer cells are...