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Lung Cancer
Reviewed by Medicinsk Expert•Last updated: 2026-10-22•Lungs Breathing

Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women, primarily driven by smoking, though it can affect anyone based on various risk factors.

Overview

Lung cancer is cancer that forms in tissues of the lung, usually in the cells that line the air passages. There are two main types: small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. These two types grow differently and are treated differently, with non-small cell lung cancer being the more common type.

Causes & Risk Factors

Anyone can develop lung cancer, but certain factors raise your risk of getting it:

  • Smoking: This is the most important risk factor. Tobacco smoking causes about 9 out of 10 cases of lung cancer in men and about 8 out of 10 cases in women. Risk increases with the number of years smoked and the number of cigarettes smoked per day. Risk is also greater if you smoke heavily and drink alcohol daily or take beta-carotene supplements. Quitting smoking lowers your risk compared to continuing, though it remains higher than for those who never smoked.
  • Secondhand smoke: Breathing in the combination of smoke from a cigarette and smoke exhaled by a smoker exposes you to the same cancer-causing agents as smokers, albeit in smaller amounts.
  • Family history: A family history of lung cancer increases risk.
  • Workplace exposure: Exposure to asbestos, arsenic, chromium, beryllium, nickel, soot, or tar.
  • Radiation exposure: This can result from radiation therapy to the breast or chest, radon in the home or workplace, or certain imaging tests such as CT scans.
  • HIV infection: Risk is higher in people with HIV, though it is unclear if this is due to the infection itself or higher smoking rates in this population.
  • Air pollution: Living in areas with higher levels of air pollution increases risk.

Symptoms

Lung cancer may not cause any signs or symptoms until the cancer is advanced. Sometimes the cancer is found during a chest x-ray done for another condition. When symptoms do appear, they may include:

  • Chest pain or discomfort
  • A cough that doesn't go away or gets worse over time
  • Coughing up blood
  • Trouble breathing
  • Wheezing
  • Hoarseness
  • Loss of appetite
  • Weight loss for no known reason
  • Feeling very tired
  • Trouble swallowing
  • Swelling in the face and/or veins in the neck

Diagnosis

To determine if you have lung cancer, your health care provider will typically:

  • Take your medical history, including a discussion of your symptoms
  • Ask about your family history
  • Perform a physical exam
  • Order imaging tests, such as a chest x-ray or chest CT scan
  • Order lab tests, including tests of your blood and sputum
  • Perform a procedure to take a biopsy of the lung

If lung cancer is present, your provider will conduct other tests to determine if it has spread through the lungs, lymph nodes, and the rest of the body. This process is called staging. Knowing the type and stage of lung cancer helps your provider decide what kind of treatment you need.

If you have small-cell lung cancer, your provider may also perform genetic testing to look for certain gene changes (variants) in your cancer cells. The results of this testing may help guide treatment.

Treatment & Management

For most patients with lung cancer, current treatments do not cure the cancer. Your treatment plan will depend on which type of lung cancer you have, how far it has spread, your overall health, and other factors. You may receive more than one type of treatment.

Treatments for Small Cell Lung Cancer

  • Surgery
  • Chemotherapy
  • Radiation therapy
  • Immunotherapy
  • Laser therapy: Uses a laser beam to kill cancer cells.
  • Endoscopic stent placement: An endoscope (a thin, tube-like instrument) is used to insert a device called a stent to help open an airway blocked by abnormal tissue.

Treatments for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

  • Surgery
  • Radiation therapy
  • Chemotherapy
  • Targeted therapy: Uses drugs or other substances that attack specific cancer cells with less harm to normal cells.
  • Immunotherapy
  • Laser therapy
  • Photodynamic therapy (PDT): Uses a medicine and a certain type of laser light to kill cancer cells.
  • Cryosurgery: Uses an instrument to freeze and destroy abnormal tissue.
  • Electrocautery: Uses a probe or needle heated by an electric current to destroy abnormal tissue.

Prevention

Avoiding risk factors may help prevent lung cancer. Steps you can take include:

  • Quit smoking. If you don't smoke, don't start.
  • Lower your exposure to hazardous substances at work.
  • Lower your exposure to radon. Radon tests can show whether your home has high levels of radon; you can buy a test kit yourself or hire a professional to perform the test.

Frequently Asked Questions

Early lung cancer often presents with symptoms that mimic chronic bronchitis or asthma, such as a persistent cough that does not go away, coughing up blood or rust-colored sputum, and shortness of breath. Other specific warning signs include chest pain that worsens with deep breathing, coughing, or laughing, and unexplained weight loss or fatigue. Because these symptoms are non-specific, it is critical to seek medical evaluation if a cough persists for more than three weeks or if you experience any new respiratory changes, especially if you are a smoker or have a history of smoking.
Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking and is a significant risk factor, particularly for those who also smoke. It is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that can accumulate in homes, especially in basements and lower levels. You can test for radon using inexpensive short-term or long-term test kits available at hardware stores or online. If levels are 4.0 picocuries per liter (pCi/L) or higher, mitigation measures such as sub-slab depressurization systems are recommended to reduce exposure.
Your risk begins to drop immediately after you stop smoking, but significant reductions in lung cancer risk are typically observed after 10 to 15 years of abstinence. While your risk will never fully return to that of a person who never smoked, it decreases substantially over time. It is important to note that quitting at any age provides health benefits, and former smokers still benefit from regular low-dose CT screening if they meet the age and pack-year criteria.
first-degree family history of lung cancer (parent, sibling, or child) increases your risk, potentially doubling it compared to someone with no family history. This genetic predisposition may be linked to shared environmental exposures or inherited susceptibility to carcinogens. If you have a family history, you should discuss your individual risk profile with your doctor. Screening with low-dose CT scans is generally recommended for adults aged 50 to 80 who have a 20 pack-year smoking history and currently smoke or quit within the last 15 years, regardless of family history, but your doctor may consider additional factors in your specific case.
Source: MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine

MedlinePlus brings together authoritative health information from the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other government agencies and health-related organizations.

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