Lung cancer symptoms can vary depending on the stage and type of lung cancer you have. In its very early stages, lung cancer often has no noticeable symptoms, or mild symptoms (such as chest discomfort or coughing) that could be conditions other than cancer which makes it difficult to detect.
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Early Signs and Symptoms
- Chest discomfort: This could be a symptom of several different problems, including a heart or lung condition. If it doesn’t go away or is sudden and severe, get medical attention immediately.
- Chest infection: Infections, like bronchitis or pneumonia, that don’t get better or recur, may be a lung cancer symptom.
- Coughing: If you develop a new cough, have a persistent cough that lasts more than two weeks or causes pain or you cough up blood (a serious symptom), tell your primary care provider (PCP).
- Loss of appetite: Many illnesses, including cancer, cause changes in appetite. Keep track of this symptom and report it to your PCP if it doesn’t go away.
- Fatigue: Excessive tiredness or weakness is common for many illnesses, including lung cancer.
- Trouble breathing: If you experience shortness of breath or wheezing, see your PCP to find out the reason.
- Weight loss: If you are losing weight for no known reason, let your PCP know.
Late Signs and Symptoms
If lung cancer has progressed, you may notice symptoms like these:
- Aching bones or joints
- Back pain
- Headaches and dizziness
- Lumps in the neck
- Neck and facial swelling
- Pain, swelling or weakness in or around the chest or in distant parts of the body, which may indicate that cancer has spread
Conditions other than cancer may cause these symptoms, so if you have any of them, you should not immediately assume you have lung cancer. If you have any symptoms that concern you or if you are at high risk for developing lung cancer, talk to your PCP.
If you are or were a smoker and suspect you might have or might develop lung cancer, you can get help. Learn more about our screening and prevention programs.
It’s important to pay attention to your symptoms, even if you don’t smoke and make an appointment with your PCP to see if you should be screened for lung cancer.
About 18% of people who develop lung cancer have never smoked in their lifetime. As with many cancers, the cause is unknown. Secondhand smoke is thought to be responsible for about a quarter of cases of lung cancer in people who have never smoked.
Lung cancer can go unnoticed for months or sometimes years. That’s because small tumors often do not produce any changes until they grow larger or spread to other parts of the body. In some cases, lung cancer is found unexpectedly when a physician is reviewing imaging tests performed for a reason other than lung cancer.
A physician will begin by going over your medical history, risk factors that are unique to you, and ask you more about the symptoms you are having. Next, you’ll have a physical exam, where your physician will look for signs of lung abnormalities, such as if you have swollen lymph nodes or abnormal breathing sounds. Your physician may also recommend you be screened for lung cancer.
When diagnosing lung cancer, there is a risk of false positives as well as false negatives. A false positive is when imaging tests or other tests suggest cancer is present when it is not. On the other hand, false negatives can occur when early-stage cancer is not detected, which can mean treatment is delayed.
Screening using advanced diagnostic tools like low-dose CT scans can help reduce the risk of a false positive or false negative, but no test is 100% accurate. That’s why follow-up tests and monitoring are critical if symptoms of lung cancer are ongoing.
Lung cancer symptoms are most commonly seen when a person reaches age 65 or older, and the average age of diagnosis is around 70. While lung cancer is less common in younger people, certain risk factors, like a person’s environmental exposures (such as ongoing exposure to secondhand smoke), can increase the risks of developing lung cancer when a person is younger.
Lung cancer can cause other problems as a result of how the disease interacts with the body. Syndromes include:
- Superior vena cava syndrome: When a tumor presses on the large vein that carries blood from the upper body to the heart (vena cava), it can result in superior vena cava syndrome, which involves swelling in the face, neck or arms.
- Horner syndrome: When tumors press on certain nerves, it can lead to Horner syndrome where a patient experiences problems on just one side of their face such as drooping eyelids, smaller pupils and reduced sweating on the affected side of the face.
- Paraneoplastic syndromes: This is a combination of syndromes caused by substances that are secreted by lung cancer cells, which can lead to problems like muscle weakness, hormonal imbalances or confusion.