Primary lung cancer

Symptoms

• Chest pain (which may be due to direct invasion by the cancerous tumor), likely to radiate towards the shoulder and sometimes even towards the abdomen.
• Cough.
• Dyspnea (difficulty breathing during or outside of exercise).
• Weight loss.
• Sputum (rejection of mucus, mucus) in significant quantities, leading to a hypoxemia also called anoxemia (decrease in the amount of oxygen in the blood).
• Difficulty expressing sounds (dysphonia).
• Asthenia (fatigue).
• Hemoptysis (coughing up blood).
• hyperthermia (dragging fever).
• Persistent or recurring lung infection, for which the antibiotics do not give good results.
• Dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) which may indicate an impairment of the esophagus or one recurrent nerve palsy (damage to the vocal cords resulting in an abnormally pitched voice).
• Pleurisy : acute or chronic inflammation of the pleura surrounding the lungs, accompanied by a effusion, and D'bleeding, which may cause pain which may be aggravated by the cough and inspiration (phase of breathing during which air enters the lungs). Generally, upon auscultation, the doctor hears a rubbing noise at the same rhythm as breathing.
• When the cancer is located at one of the two apices of the lungs, we speak of Pancoast Tobias syndrome (also called apical tumor). It is characterized by severe pain in the shoulder and arm, and is sometimes accompanied by the syndrome called Claude Bernard-HornerThis one associates a paralysis of the dilator muscle (which opens) of the pupil, that is to say that when the doctor puts his hand over the eye to hide it from the light, the pupil dilates very slowly, on the other hand, it contracts very quickly as soon as the doctor has removed his hand (that is to say as soon as the light has entered the eye). The second sign of Horner syndrome is the narrowing of the space between the two eyelids. It indicates a paralysis of a muscle used to raise the eyelid. The third sign is what is called a enophthalmos (the eye is positioned deeper in the orbit than normal).
• ganglions the level of axillary hollow (under the arm), with bone pain.
• Increased liver volume (hepatomegaly).
• Brain tumor.
• Superior vena cava syndrome due to an invasion by cancer cells of the entire region, which can result in obstruction of vessels.
• Heart rhythm disorders due to insufficient functioning of the heart.
• Obstruction of lymph vessels preventing the flow of lymph, with effusion at the level of the pulmonary pleura. Of course, the achievement of the bronchioles and alveoli causes at this level a failure of functioning
• Le paraneoplastic syndrome is a set of signs that sometimes accompanies a malignant tumor without having any direct (anatomical) relationship with it. The syndrome disappears if the cancer in question is treated, and it reappears in the presence of a recurrence of the cancer itself, or of one of its metastases. With regard to bronchopulmonary cancer, the paraneoplastic syndrome takes in particular the following forms:
  • Le Pierre Marie syndrome, which consists of an increase in the volume of the joints of the bones of the hands and feet, associated with lung disease. Usually, it is accompanied by pain, and sometimes by what is called a digital hippocratism, that is to say a hypertrophy (increase in volume) of phalanges and nails (which take the form of a watch glass). The fingers resemble drumsticks. The radio shows a bone demineralization, and hypertrophy can affect the entire hand. It can also affect the wrist, foot and extend to the thorax, clavicles and shoulder blades. Joint pain is also present, accompanied by an increase in volume of the joints but containing a non-inflammatory synovial fluidWhen these deformations reach a significant stage, they lead to major functional importance (great difficulty in movement).
  • Le Schwartz-Bartter syndrome, which occurs mainly in small cell cancers and consists of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone. It leads to water retention and hyponatremia (decrease in sodium in the blood).