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Lung cancer is one of the most lethal and common forms of cancer worldwide. Pollution, smoking (active and passive), radiation (in the form of x-rays or gamma rays) [1] and asbestos are risk factors for lung cancer. Symptoms may include persistent cough, chest pain, coughing up blood, fatigue, and swelling of the neck and face.
Not all cancer biomarkers have to be specific to types of cancer. Some biomarkers found in the circulatory system can be used to determine an abnormal growth of cells present in the body. All these types of biomarkers can be identified through diagnostic blood tests, which is one of the main reasons to get regularly health tested.
The objective of cancer screening is to detect cancer before symptoms appear, involving various methods such as blood tests, urine tests, DNA tests, and medical imaging. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The purpose of screening is early cancer detection, to make the cancer easier to treat and extending life expectancy. [ 3 ]
Close family members of those with lung cancer have around twice the risk of developing lung cancer as an average person, even after controlling for occupational exposure and smoking habits. [78] Genome-wide association studies have identified many gene variants associated with lung cancer risk, each of which contributes a small risk increase. [79]
The best studies for assessing whether a screening test will increase a population's health are rigorous randomized controlled trials.When studying a screening program using case-control or, more usually, cohort studies, various factors can cause the screening test to appear more successful than it really is. A number of different biases ...
The 2021 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force guidelines recommend annual screening for lung cancer with low-dose computed tomography in adults aged 50 to 80 years who have a 20 pack-year smoking history and currently smoke or have quit within the past 15 years. [6]
Similarly, sun or especially UV exposure is an important risk factor for both actinic keratosis which can progress into melanomas [10] as well as skin cancer. Smoking is a risk factor for premalignant (as well as malignant) lung lesions. Hereditary conditions that are risk factors to cancer can also be risk factors to premalignant lesions.
Lung cancer is responsible for 1.3 million deaths worldwide annually and is the most common cause of cancer-related death in men and the second most common in women. According to the World Health Organization, lung cancer was responsible for approximately 10 million deaths in 2020. [2]