Before we go into the details or definition of lung cancer, let us briefly go over the lung structure and its functions.

The lungs are in the chest, with one lung on right side and the other on the left side of the heart. The right lung has three compartments (lobes) and the left lung has two lobes. When air is inhaled, it passes through the nose, throat, and then into the windpipe -Trachea. Trachea divides into tubes called bronchi, which get further divided into smaller branches -bronchioles. At the end of these small branches are tiny air sacs known as Alveoli. The alveolis infuse oxygen to the blood and remove the waste gases out of the blood.

Most lung cancers start in the lining of the bronchi but they can also originate in the trachea, bronchioles, or even in alveoli. Lung cancer often takes years to develop, so sometimes it is not detected before lung cancer has spread to other organs. Once the lung cancer occurs, however, cancer cells can break away and spread to other parts of the body. Spread of lung cancer cells in this manner is called metastasis. For the many, lung cancer turns out to be a life-threatening lung disease because by the time it gets detected, the lung cancer has often advanced/spread to other organs.

Lung Cancer is usualy classified into the following two types:

Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC)

The most common cause of small cell lung cancer is smoking. It is not very common for non-smokers to develop this type of lung cancer. As the name suggests, these cancer cells are small, but they often multiply quickly and form large cancerous tumors that spread to the lymph nodes and then the cancer spreads to other organs. Small cell lung cancer accounts for about 20% of all lung cancers. It is also called Oat cell cancer or Small cell Undifferentiated Carcinoma.

Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)

Non-small cell lung cancer accounts for about 80% of lung cancers.

Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer is further classified into the following sub-categories:

• Adenocarcinoma - Lung Cancer involving the outer regions of the lung.
• Squamous Cell Carcinoma - Usually caused by smoking, and commonly found near the bronchus, occurs centrally within the lungs.
• Large-cell Undifferentiated Carcinoma - may appear in any part of the lung, may grow and spread rather quickly.

Mixed Small Cell / Large Cell lung cancer.

Sometimes lung cancer exhibits features of both of the above two types. In that case, it is called Mixed Small-Cell/Large-Cell Lung Cancer.

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Visit our Lung Disease reference page for additional information on various lung related health issues. Also check out cancer news for the latest news on What Causes Lung Cancer, and Lung Cancer Articles Library for additional Information on Lung Cancer.

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