Second to heart disease, cancer is the leading cause of death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The American Lung Association (ALA) reports that even though lung cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer, it is the leading cause of death of people affected by cancer. There are multiple forms of lung cancer and different ways of treating the cancer based on its type and subtype.
Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC)
The American Cancer Society (ACS) reports that 10-15 percent of all lung cancers are of a type called small-cell lung cancer or SCLC. The cancer cells in this type of lung cancer are small, thus giving rise to its name. Alternative names for SCLC are oat cell cancer and small cell undifferentiated carcinoma. CancerCare reports that surgery is rarely a viable treatment for SCLC because of its ability to rapidly divide and form large tumors throughout the body. According to ACS, the cause of SCLC is almost always smoking, and it is rare to find a patient with SCLC that has never smoked.
Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)
A second type of lung cancer, according to the ACS, is non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). NSCLC affects most of the remaining 85-90 percent of patients with lung cancer.
There are three sub-types of NSCLC, according to ACS: adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and large cell carcinoma. These types of lung cancer differ in the shape and size of the cancer cell, as well as the type of cell that becomes cancerous. CancerCare reports that squamous cell carcinoma forms in the lining of the bronchial tubes of the lung. Adenocarcinoma is derived from the cells of the lung that produce mucus. While sqaumous cell carcinoma most commonly affects men, adenocarcinoma most commonly affects women. The third subtype of NSCLC is is large-cell undifferentiated carcinoma. This is a rapidly growing type of lung cancer, according to CancerCare, and forms at the outer edges of the lung.
Lung Carcinoid Tumor
Though NSCLC and SCLC make up the bulk of lung cancer cases, there are other types of cancers that affect the lungs. According to ACS, a third type of lung cancer is called a lung carcinoid tumor. Lung carcinoid tumor is an uncommon type of lung cancer, tends to grow very slowly and can often be treated by surgery. This type of cancer is derived from specialized cells called neuroendocrine cells in the lung that behave both like nerve cells, and like endocrine cells that secrete hormones. There are two main subtypes of carcinoid tumors: typical and atypical. Typical carcinoid tumors are slow growing and only rarely spread beyond the lungs; they make up about 90 percent of carcinoid lung tumors. Atypical carcinoid tumors grow faster than the typical type, and are more likely to spread to other organs.
