What tests happen to suspect the existence of lung cancer?
The studies that are done, his aim to establish whether there is real of lung cancer, the type of lung cancer, to determine whether there is metastasis of the tumor and whether or not the person has other restrictions, making certain treatments are not possible.
The studies that are done, his aim to establish whether there is real of lung cancer, the type of lung cancer, to determine whether there is metastasis of the tumor and whether or not the person has other restrictions, making certain treatments are not possible.
When these complaints on lung pointing to the doctor, it will have a number of questions to determine the cause of the symptoms to come. Also, the doctor will want to know how the overall health of the patient. In particular, the prevention of heart disease and any existing lung problems should be mapped. The doctor will examine the patient and hereby specifically check whether enlarged lymph nodes and an enlarged liver can be found. Blood tests are not directly help to establish a tumor but can say or in certain organs such as liver metastases and the skeleton.
Important studies are: a lung picture, which shows a possible tumor, a CT scan of the chest and upper abdomen, in which the exact location of the tumor can be determined and the relationship of the tumor to the surrounding tissues. Also possibly enlarged lymph nodes and any metastases to the liver and adrenal glands are seeing this. A bronchoscopy (the airway in the look with a flexible viewer) is also part of the investigation, whereby it is possible to obtain tissue for examination. Depending on the symptoms and the results of previous studies (physical examination and blood tests) may be done to further investigate the extent of the tumor and any metastases to detect.
Usual addition to the CT scan of the chest and upper abdomen an investigation into the condition of the skeleton to do through a skeletal scan (a study using a radioactive substance) or MRI scan of pelvis and spine and research or it has spread in the central nervous system by means of a CT scan of the brains. Through laboratory research any metastases detected and whether there are abnormalities in terms of the salt (sodium) content and lime (calcium) content. It is also important to measure the number of white blood cells (leukocytes) and platelets (thrombocytes) because of the possibility of treatment with cytostatics.
Which role plays the PET scan in the diagnosis of small cell lung cancer is currently unclear.
