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Lung cancer most commonly begins in the cells that line your lungs. Smoking causes the majority of lung cancers — both in smokers and in people exposed to secondhand smoke. But lung cancer also occurs in people who never smoked. In these cases, there may be no clear cause of lung cancer. Doctors have identified factors that may increase the risk.

How smoking causes lung cancer
Doctors believe smoking causes lung cancer by damaging the cells that line the lungs. When you inhale cigarette smoke, which is full of cancer-causing substances (carcinogens), changes in the lung tissue begin almost immediately. At first your body may be able to repair this damage. But with each repeated exposure, normal cells that line your lungs are increasingly damaged. Over time, the damage causes cells to act abnormally and eventually cancer may develop. Quitting at any age can significantly lower your risk of developing lung cancer.

Other Cause of lung cancer :

• Your sex. Current or former women smokers have a greater risk of lung cancer than do men who have smoked an equal amount. Though it isn’t known why, some experts speculate that women have a greater susceptibility to the cancer-causing substances found in tobacco. Others believe that estrogen may play a role. Women also are known to inhale more than men do, and they are less likely to quit.
• Exposure to secondhand smoke. Even if you don’t smoke, your risk of lung cancer increases if you’re exposed to secondhand smoke.
• Exposure to radon gas. Radon is produced by the natural breakdown of uranium in soil, rock and water that eventually becomes part of the air you breathe. Although unsafe levels of radon can accumulate in any building, the greatest exposure risk most people face is at home. Radon testing can determine whether levels are safe.
• Exposure to asbestos and other chemicals. Workplace exposure to asbestos and other substances known to cause cancer — such as arsenic, chromium, nickel and tar soot — also can increase your risk of developing lung cancer, especially if you’re a smoker.
• Family history of lung cancer. People with a parent, sibling or other first-degree relative with lung cancer have an increased risk of the disease.
• Excessive alcohol use. Drinking more than a moderate amount of alcohol — no more than one drink a day for women or two drinks a day for men — may increase your risk of lung cancer.
• Diet. Scientists are studying many different foods to see how they may change the risk of getting lung cancer. However, any effect diet may have on lung cancer risk is small compared with the risk from smoking. Eating a lot of fat and cholesterol might increase risk of lung cancer.

Your lungs are full of blood vessels and lymph vessels, giving lung cancer cells easy access to travel to other parts of your body. For this reason, lung cancer may spread to other parts of your body before you experience any signs or symptoms. In many cases, lung cancer may spread before it can even be detected in the lungs.

Signs and symptoms of lung cancer may include:

• A new cough that doesn’t go away
• Changes in a chronic cough or “smoker’s cough”
• Coughing up blood, even a small amount
• Shortness of breath usually results from a blockage to the flow of air in part of the lung, collection of fluid around the lung (pleural effusion), or the spread of tumor throughout the lungs.
• Chest pain. The pain is dull, aching, and persistent and may involve other structures surrounding the lung.
• Wheezing
• Hoarseness
• Metastasis to the bones is most common with small cell type cancers but also occurs with other lung cancer types. Lung cancer that has metastasized to the bone causes bone pain, usually in the backbone (vertebrae), the thighbones, and the ribs.

Types of lung cancer
Doctors divide lung cancer into two major types based on the appearance of lung cancer cells under the microscope. Your doctor makes treatment decisions based on which major type of lung cancer you have. The two general types of lung cancer include:

• Small cell lung cancer. Small cell lung cancer, sometimes called oat cell carcinoma, occurs almost exclusively in heavy smokers and is less common than non-small cell lung cancer.
• Non-small cell lung cancer. Non-small cell lung cancer is an umbrella term for several types of lung cancers that behave in a similar way. Non-small cell lung cancers include squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma and large cell carcinoma.

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