When it comes to diseases one of the most common and prevalent of all diseases around is cancer. The scary facts are that in our lifetime almost one in every ten people will suffer from the disease which is often fatal if not caught quickly enough. One of the most common types of cancer is lung cancer and the majority of cases of this disease are caused by smoking. Non-smokers can also catch lung cancer but it is not as common.
As the most common form of cancer, lung cancer accounts for well over one million deaths every year. Lung cancer develops as a series of damaged or "bad cells" which develop within the lungs and slowly work their way throughout the body destroying all of the healthy cells until in the end there are no healthy cells left to allow the body to function. Once the cells have spread throughout the body they shut down each of the organs in turn and the patient can die.
There are ways to slow the growth of lung cancer and even to remove it, but presently there is no immediate cure for any types of cancer. The most crucial aspect of treating cancer is ensuring that it is caught on time and the earlier that cancer is diagnosed the easier it is to treat and the better the likelihood of removing the cancer altogether. The first form of treatment generally involves injecting healthy cells into the area affected by cancer and allowing them to attack the cancer cells.
If the cancer is able to be contained in this way and has not spread, then the next stage is to undergo surgery which allows for the cancer and any surrounding cells to be removed from the body. This can only be done if the cancer has not spread to the surrounding tissues.
After the cancer has been removed the patient must undergo a series of chemotherapy to ensure that the harmful cells have been destroyed and in an attempt to prevent them from returning. Although the cancer has been removed the patient must continue to undergo screening every few months for the rest of their life to ensure that it doesn't return.
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