Lung Cancer Clinical Trials

Posts Tagged ‘Cancers’

The link between asbestos and lung cancer is well established today. However, this was not always the case. For many decades, asbestos was considered to be a miracle mineral. It is an excellent insulator and this was one of its primary uses. Asbestos was also incorporated into a wide range of products manufactured.Suspicions that asbestos exposure could cause serious health problems existed as far back as the last decade of the nineteenth century. It is thought that those interested in promoting asbestos consumption acted to discredit such reports.By 1931, the British government had concluded that asbestos was possibly harmful to the body and took steps to ensure safety of those handling asbestos. The US government undertook similar actions during the 1970s.Unfortunately, by that time, many thousands of people had their lives seriously affected by asbestos related lung cancer and other health problems. Asbestos was widely used in factories, homes and elsewhere.Asbestos causes problems like scarring in the lungs, lung cancer, asbestosis and pleural plaques. It also causes a deadly, aggressive type of cancer called mesothelioma.Unlike normal lung cancer which affects the tissues of the lung itself, mesothelioma affects the lining around the lungs called the pleura. This type of cancer ... [more..]

Skin cancer is one of the most common of all cancers. Though melanoma is the least common kind of skin cancer, it is the most serious type of the disease. Melanoma happens in melanocytes, a sort of cell in the skin that creates the pigment that provides skin its natural color. Melanoma starts when melanocytes become malignant, which could take place on any skin surface.In men, it is frequently found on the trunk or the head and neck. In women, melanoma frequently grows on the lower legs. The possibility of developing melanoma raises with age, but it has an effect on people of all age groups and is one of the most widespread cancers in young adults.Melanoma could spread rapidly and create large malignant tumors in the lung, brain, liver, or other organs. Sometimes melanoma that has extended to another organ is confused with primary cancer of that organ. Primary cancer is cancer that begun in that organ. Melanoma that has extended to other areas of the body might not be detectable until long after the original melanoma was removed from the skin.There are special tests that could be made on biopsy samples that can tell whether it is a ... [more..]

Lung cancer is classified by the type of tumor and the stage which the disease has progressed to, which is important because the classification determines the treatment regime which will be followed.There are four stages of cancer - Stage I to IV and a catch-all category, Occult (which describes those cancers which are known to be present but cannot be seen using diagnostic tools).The earliest, and least dangerous cancers are Stage I progressing to stage IV which represents very serious danger to the patient's life and the last stage of the disease.Stage I & II Treatment RegimesThe main form of treatment is surgery and the removal (or "resection") of the cancer tumor.It is common for additional treatment to be administered in the form of radiation treatment to follow up the surgery. Where a patient is unable to withstand surgical intervention due to their state of health, then radiation therapy alone may be used to destroy the tumor tissue.Stage III Treatment RegimesPhysicians usually further classify Stage III patients into three further sub-groups:1. Patients with obvious Stage III disease with abnormally large lymph nodes presenting on X-Ray or CT Scan;2. Patients with normal looking lymph nodes but still cancerous; and3. Classic Stage ... [more..]