Lung Cancer Diagnosis - Lung Cancer Diagnosis

Diagnosing Lung Cancer
Diagnosing lung cancer is the first step toward determining which type of treatment will be most beneficial for a patient. Early diagnosis is the key to catching the disease when it is at its most treatable and when it will respond most effectively to treatment. There are a few steps your doctor will take in making the diagnosis for lung cancer after you set up your initial appointment; these include an evaluation and testing procedures.

Steps to a Diagnosis

When you set up your initial appointment, your doctor will evaluate your symptoms and take a complete medical history about you, including whether you smoke or use tobacco products and to what kind of environmental chemicals you may have had exposure. The doctor will also analyze whether you have had a family history of the disease. After this, the doctor will perform a thorough medical evaluation, including taking a chest X-ray to determine if any abnormalities are present such as pneumonia or another lung mass of some sort.

If the doctor determines further tests are needed and other problems are ruled out, he may order a computed tomography scan of the lungs. This is sometimes accompanied with a transthoracic needle aspiration biopsy, in which the lung nodule is biopsed to determine if cancerous cells are present. Performing an ultrasound can also sometimes be of help and can help to make the image more clear to the physician.

Your doctor may also choose to perform a sputum cytology test, which tests for abnormal cells in the mucous. If you are coughing up blood, your doctor may want to perform this test. There is also a test called thoracentesis, in which a small sample of lung fluid is examined. Or, your doctor may wish to perform a bronchoscopy, in which a small biopsy is taken of cells from the airway. There are other forms of biopsies, of course, from a lung biopsy to a lymph node biopsy, otherwise known as a mediastinoscopy.

While these tests sound complicated, they are the best measure for determining if you have lung cancer. If one test is positive, your doctor may wish to perform another. Each test can reveal if you have developed the disease and how advanced it is.