What are the early symptoms of small cell lung cancer

Small cell lung cancer often occurs in smokers, and the incidence rate is extremely high. However, like other lung cancers, small cell lung cancer presents symptoms such as cough, fever, and difficulty breathing. The symptoms vary at different stages. Next, let us learn about the early symptoms of small cell lung cancer.

The symptoms of early small cell lung cancer are not obvious. When common lung cancer symptoms appear, it often shows that small cell lung cancer is already progressing.

Experts point out that small cell lung cancer is usually divided into "limited stage" and "extensive stage". Limited stage early stage small cell lung cancer will have a very good treatment effect. When the disease progresses, the treatment effect will become worse and worse, but some people survive much longer than expected. With treatment, the average survival time of patients with limited stage small cell lung cancer is 14-30 months, of which 10%; 25% of patients diagnosed with limited stage small cell lung cancer can survive for 5 years. The average survival time of patients with extensive stage small cell lung cancer is 8-14 months, and only 1%-5% of extensive stage patients can survive for more than 5 years or longer.

Early stage small cell lung cancer occasionally presents the same symptoms as lung cancer, including cough, hemoptysis, bloody sputum, fever, chest pain, back pain, and dyspnea. About half or more of early stage small cell lung cancer presents with cough as the initial symptom, and nearly half of small cell lung cancer patients present with hemoptysis. Chest pain, chest tightness, and shortness of breath are rare. Early stage small cell lung cancer can spread and present corresponding symptoms.

Early stage small cell lung cancer is rarely found during physical examinations, and is usually discovered after symptoms appear. Early stage small cell lung cancer can be examined through chest X-rays, and suspected cases can be further examined with sputum cell examinations and lung cancer markers, and ultimately pathological examinations can be used to confirm the diagnosis of early stage small cell lung cancer.

The symptoms of small cell lung cancer are not obvious, and the disease develops rapidly and is highly malignant. Most patients are already in the late stage when diagnosed. Small cell lung cancer is sensitive to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The treatment mainly adopts chemotherapy, supplemented by anti-cancer Chinese patent medicine, which can increase efficacy and reduce toxicity. If the symptoms have appeared for a long time, it is recommended that you go to the hospital for a detailed examination as soon as possible to avoid delaying the treatment of the disease.