Selenium And Lung Cancer

Despite there being some evidence connecting selenium to a reduction in lung cancer risk, a new long-term study has shown that there is no such link. In fact, researchers have discovered that among heavy smokers, those having higher selenium levels have a greater risk of dying from lung cancer than those having low selenium content. Researchers have found that somehow heavy smoking and high selenium work together to promote the dreaded lung cancer.

The best advice so far regarding avoiding lung cancer is to kick the butt, meaning to stop smoking altogether. In a study, reported in the European Respiratory Journal, more than 3,300 older Danish men were followed for 16 years. At the start they all had their blood selenium levels measured. Over the duration of the study, 5 percent of the men died of lung cancer, and there was no difference in rate among men with low selenium levels versus those with high. Of the heavy smokers, 11 percent dies of lung cancer. Selenium is a mineral, needed in trace amounts for good health.

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Questions to Ask About Your Lung Cancer

These are must-dos when someone has been diagnosed with the critical illness of lung cancer. They must have the courage, patience, calm and desire to know more about what they are going through. These question are best answered only by the doctor. Here are what a lung cancer patient needs to ask:
1. Do I have a small cell or non-small cell lung cancer?
2. How far has the lung cancer spread? What stage is my cancer?
3. What are my chances for recovery?
4. Can you surgically remove my lung cancer?
5. How will the surgery affect my breathing or quality of life?
6. Will I need chemotherapy or radiotherapy?
7. What are the goals of these lung cancer treatments?
8. What are the potential complications?
9. Is there a way to minimize any side effects of these treatments?
10. Would any clinical trials be appropriate for me?
These are more important than they sound. Knowing this information is certain to help in the long run in ways least expected.

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Prevention of Lung Cancer

The first step in preventing lung cancer if you are a smoker is obvious. You kick the butt, for good! Quitting smoking is harder than people realize. Once it has become an addiction, it gets on your nerves, quite literally, when you try to quit. Your hands start shaking, headaches frequent your day, discomfort follows and a ‘scratch you cannot itch’ feeling crops up sometimes. Joining a support group does not mean the quitter is a wimp. In fact people have associated smoking with confidence and power, but that is so not true when that ‘confident and powerful’ person is diagnosed with lung cancer.

As for passive smokers, the only known way to be safe from acquiring lung cancer is to keep away from smokers, if you cannot change them. Then there is the workplace, where cancer-causing chemicals are strewn in places least expected. Knowledge is indeed power and knowing these chemicals, staying away from them to prevent accidental inhalation, is key to avoiding the dreaded disease.

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Pleural Mesothelioma

Pleural Mesothelioma is one type of cancer that affects the pleura, which is the membrane lining the lungs. Prolonged exposure to asbestos causes pleural mesothelioma, as it also does peritoneal mesothelioma which affects the heart. Symptoms of pleural mesothelioma often do not surface until the cancer is very advanced. Hence the importance of undergoing a screening if exposed to asbestos for a long period of time. This cancer type is not exactly malignant mesothelioma. It is a rare form of cancer that develops from the protective lining that covers many an internal organ in the body, called the mesothelium.

Unlike lung cancer, there is no association between mesothelioma and smoking, but smoking does indeed up the risk of asbestos-induced cancers. Symptoms include shortness of breath, pleural effusion (leaking of the fluid between the lung and the chest wall), and general symptoms such as weight loss. Even though treatment such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery exist, pleural mesothelioma has a poor prognosis.

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Pathogenesis

Pathogenesis means the manner of development of a disease. Like many other cancers, lung cancers first begin by the activation of oncogenes, or the inactivation of tumor suppressor genes. Oncogenes basically act to make people more susceptible to cancers, or so it is believed, and proto-oncogenes are thought to turn into oncogenes on exposure to certain carcinogens. The epidermal growth factor receptor manages cell proliferation and tumor invasion. Mutations and changes in this level are responsible for the start of non small cell lung cancer. Chromosomal damage can cause instability in tumor suppressor genes, opening room for cancerous cells to metastasize.

Several genetic polymorphisms—the occurrence of something in different forms—is connected to lung cancer. People with polymorphisms in genes coding for interleukin-1, cytochrome P450, apoptosis promoters such as caspase-8 and DNA repair molecules such as XRCC1 are more likely to get lung cancer after exposure to carcinogens. Here, as in many other things, prevention is better than cure. Caution never hurt anybody, and being prepared, knowing the stuff being fought—namely, cancers—helps out in the long run.

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