Causes, Symptoms and Treatment of Lung, Neck and Testicular Cancer

Cancer is a deadly disease in which some of the body’s cells start dividing themselves abnormally in an uncontrollable manner, leading to severe health complications, and can even destroy the normal tissues of the body. It can very quickly spread to the entire body and, if not treated earlier, can even result in death.

There are various types of cancers, including lung cancer, mouth cancer, neck cancer, testicular cancer, breast cancer, blood cancer, etc.

Causes of cancer

Lung cancer, in particular, is the most common form of cancer detected in humans. Smoking remains the major cause of lung cancer worldwide. Even if you do not smoke or are in an environment where others smoke for a long period, you are at a major risk of developing lung cancer. A cigarette is made up of carcinogens (carcinogens are those substances capable of causing cancer), and when such smokes are inhaled, some changes occur to lung tissues and cells. Smoking for a prolonged period may cause cells to divide abnormally, leading to lung cancer.

Similarly, neck cancers are caused due to the consumption of alcohol and tobacco. These products contain several cancer-causing substances, which, when consumed, can cause oral cancer, cancer in the pharynx, larynx, or any other organs surrounding the neck or head region. Researches have shown that people consuming paan (betel nuts) are also at risk of developing neck cancer.

When testicular cancer is concerned, it is somewhat unclear even for the medical professionals to conclude what exactly causes it. One thing that is proven for sure is that testicular cancer develops because of abnormal growth of cells, and particularly, in most cases, testicular cancer begins from the germ cells.

Symptoms of cancer

Common symptoms of lung cancer include excessive and long coughing, difficulty in breathing, blood in cough, chest pain, and headaches.

In the case of neck cancer, common symptoms include pain in the ear, hoarseness, ulcers in the mouth, abnormal voice changes, having difficulty in swallowing, enlarged lymph nodes, and/or sore throat.

Some of the symptoms of testicular cancer include certain uneasiness in the scrotum, testicles feeling heavy, feeling of fluid collection in the scrotum, formation of lumps in the scrotum, uncertain pain in the testicles.

Treatment of cancer

When lung cancer is concerned, most treatments involve first diagnosing at what stage the lung cancer has reached — is it confined to the lungs, or has it moved to other parts of the body too. When the cancer is confined to the lungs, surgery is performed to remove the affected part in most cases. When cancer reaches other parts of the body, radiation and chemotherapy are often performed wherein the radiation is directed to certain parts of the body to kill cancer cells.

With regards to testicular cancer again, surgery and chemotherapy are viable options. It is often found that cisplatin injection is used to treat testicular cancer. Belonging to the class of antineoplastics, a cisplatin injection has been used by doctors for a long time. The price of a cisplatin injection is around $16 for 50 milliliters.

For neck cancer, too, surgery is the most preferred treatment method, given that the doctor has established that the neck cancer is confined locally and has not spread to other parts of the body. There might also be a need to perform chemotherapy after surgery depending on the type and stage of cancer in some cases. In the latter case, chemotherapy kills cancer cells by radiation.