cancer of smoke , Lung cancer

 Lung cancer is one of the most common and serious types of cancer.

Smoking cigarettes is the single biggest risk factor and is responsible for about 90% of all cases. If you smoke more than 25 cigarettes a day, you are 25 times more likely to get lung cancer than a non-smoker.

Cancer that begins in the lungs is called 'primary lung cancer'. There are two main types of primary lung cancer which are classified by the type of cells in which the cancer starts. They are:

• non-small cell lung cancer (of which there are three different types: squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma and large cell carcinoma)
• small cell lung cancer.

Symptoms of lung cancer include:

• coughing
• unexplained weight loss
• shortness of breath
• chest pain.

Lung cancer is usually treated with a combination of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery.

Survival rates can vary depending on how far the cancer has spread (the stage of the cancer) at the time of the diagnosis. Early diagnosis can make a big difference.

Facts & figures

• Lung cancer causes more deaths than any other cancer and is the fifth most common cancer in Australia.
• About 9,200 people (65% males, 35% females) are diagnosed with lung cancer in Australia each year
• Lung cancer ranked second for males and fourth for females when considering all causes of death.
• A total of 4,715 males and 2,911 females died from lung cancer in 2007. This makes it the leading cause of cancer deaths for both sexes, accounting for 21% of all cancer deaths in males and 17% in females. 
• Lung cancer is most commonly diagnosed in people 65 to 79 years old.
• The age-standardised mortality rate from lung cancer for males decreased by 41% between 1982 and 2007, while the mortality rate for females increased by 56%.
• The prognosis for those diagnosed with lung cancer is poor and has improved only a little over the previous 26 years. The five year relative survival was 11% for males and 15% for females in 2000–07, which compares with 8% for males and 10% for females in 1982–87.