Is coughing up blood lung cancer?

Written by Han Shun Li

Pulmonology

Updated on November 10, 2024

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Everyone knows that lung cancer can cause coughing up blood, but does coughing up blood necessarily mean one has lung cancer? It should not be interpreted this way. Although lung cancer can cause coughing up blood, there are many reasons for coughing up blood, and it is not only caused by lung cancer. Reasons for coughing up blood can also include bronchitis, pneumonia, bronchiectasis, tuberculosis, lung abscess, and many others. Therefore, if coughing up blood occurs, it doesn't necessarily mean one has lung cancer, and there is no need for excessive worry. If coughing up blood occurs, it is important to visit a hospital in a timely manner, where a doctor can conduct checks like chest X-rays to further investigate the cause.

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Written by Gong Chun

Oncology

1min 21sec

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How is lung cancer detected?

For lung cancer detection, it is recommended for individuals over forty, especially smokers, to undergo a low-dose spiral CT for screening. Secondly, if someone has been a long-term heavy smoker and has undergone chest X-rays and low-dose spiral CT and a lung mass is found, it is suggested that the patient undergo a contrast-enhanced CT or a PET-CT to determine the condition and location of the lung mass. After establishing the condition and location, a sputum cytology test can be conducted. Thirdly, to confirm whether it is lung cancer, one should undergo bronchoscopy to obtain a biopsy, or a transthoracic lung puncture biopsy, or examine live tissue or metastatic lesions, or perform a pleural fluid examination to detect the cancer cells and determine the specific type of lung cancer to guide treatment. However, if the nature of the lesion cannot be clearly determined through mediastinoscopy, bronchoscopy, chest wall puncture biopsy, or other methods, a thoracotomy exploration is recommended. Additionally, the examination of tumor markers cannot be ignored.

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Written by Yan Chun

Oncology

1min 28sec

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Does early-stage lung cancer cause facial swelling?

Patients with early-stage lung cancer generally do not experience facial swelling. This is because early-stage lung cancers mainly include carcinoma in situ and stage I lung cancer. At this stage, the cancer tissue is confined to the mucosa, without invasion of the surrounding tissues or distant metastasis. Therefore, the clinical symptoms of patients with early-stage lung cancer primarily involve the respiratory system. Clinical symptoms mainly include coughing, often a dry cough without phlegm, or coughing up phlegm with blood, hemoptysis, and massive hemoptysis. Some patients may experience chest pain, or have a barking cough, or a metallic-sounding cough. Some patients may have shortness of breath after physical activity, and severe cases can experience breathing difficulties. In most cases, patients do not exhibit other clinical changes. However, as the disease progresses, and there is invasion into surrounding tissues, or distant metastases occur, symptoms of invasion into surrounding tissues or distant metastatic sites may appear. For example, metastasis to the cervical lymph nodes can cause enlarged lymph nodes, or compression of the superior vena cava by the patient, resulting in swelling of the face and neck.

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Written by Gong Chun

Oncology

42sec

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Does lung cancer cause coughing?

The most common symptoms of lung cancer patients include coughing, followed by coughing up blood, difficulty breathing, and chest pain. When the tumor grows in larger bronchi, it often causes an irritable cough, which can easily be mistaken for a cold. As the tumor continues to grow and affects the drainage of the bronchi, secondary lung infections can occur, possibly producing purulent sputum and an increased amount of coughed-up sputum. At this time, coughing becomes quite severe. Another symptom that may appear is blood in the sputum, which could be blood-streaked sputum, or sporadic, small amounts of coughed-up blood.

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Written by Yang Feng

Pulmonology

47sec

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Symptoms of malignant transformation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Firstly, cancer transformation is not the main complication of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but both COPD and lung cancer share a common cause, which is smoking. Therefore, COPD and lung cancer are generally considered two different diseases, and the symptoms of COPD combined with lung cancer are mainly those of lung cancer, typically including irritating dry cough, blood-streaked sputum, weight loss, etc. Thus, lung imaging studies can be used to preliminarily determine the possibility of cancer in patients, and further diagnostic steps can be chosen based on the patient’s imaging and related symptoms, including biopsy, bronchoscopy, etc.

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Written by Xia Bao Jun

Pulmonology

39sec

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Small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer differences

Small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer are both types of primary bronchogenic carcinoma, differing only in their cellular morphology. They also differ in clinical symptoms and characteristics of metastasis. Small cell lung cancer is more prone to metastasis clinically, including strenuous and distant spread, such as to the brain and liver. The medications used for each are also different; small cell lung cancer typically involves chemotherapy drugs like etoposide and cisplatin, whereas non-small cell lung cancer commonly uses drugs like paclitaxel and platinum-based drugs.