Understanding lung cancer
This page gives you some basic information about lung cancer. Although medical science has made progress in understanding and treating lung cancer, the disease still causes more than 1.3 million deaths a year worldwide and is the leading cause of cancer death in men. Every year, more people die from lung cancer than from breast, colon and prostate cancers combined. While the number of new cases is stabilizing in the developed world, it is increasing in developing countries.
Lung cancer starts in cells that form the lung tissue, most often in those that line the airways. It can get into nearby tissue and spread throughout the body (the process called metastasis). Cancer that has spread to the lungs after starting in another part of the body is not the same as lung cancer.
You can get more information about lung cancer and its treatment using the menu on the left of this page.
Information and support is also available from organizations and charities dedicated to people with cancer. Go to our list of patient support organizations to find sources of help and information in your country.
Types of lung cancer
There are two main types of lung cancer: small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The “C” can also stand for “carcinoma”, which is another word for cancers that start in a common type of cell called “epithelial cells”.
The most common type of lung cancer is non-small cell lung cancer, which accounts for 80 to 85% of all lung cancer cases. There is more information about NSCLC in the rest of this section of the site.
