Pulmonary Adenocarcinoma Essay

The human body, like most living organisms, needs energy to survive. Specifically, the lungs play an important role in the body’s energy production through gas exchange. Gas exchange occurs in the alveoli of the lungs when the body breathes in air. In this process, a cell’s mitochondria burns the oxygen from the air, converting it into ATP, also known as energy, and yields carbon dioxide and water that the body exhales. Because energy is vital to survival, it is necessary for the organs that aid its production to function properly. Pulmonary adenocarcinoma is a specific type of lung cancer that hinders the body’s ability to properly function and affects thousands of people each year.
To understand the meaning of pulmonary adenocarcinoma,
The body is made of trillions of cells; these cells constantly die and replicate. However, when cancer occurs, these cells become abnormal and do not die while new, mutated cells continuously produce past what the body requires. When this occurs, cancer cells can gather into tissues and potentially spread. Pulmonary adenocarcinoma is a type of non small cell lung cancer that slowly develops in the glands of the lungs. SCLC spreads more quickly than NSCLC; pulmonary adenocarcinoma is one of the three types of non small cell lung cancer and is the most common type of lung cancer.(WHAT DO I CITE). E2 Pulmonary adenocarcinoma has causational factors that one can abstain from, and factors that, in some cases, one cannot control. Although the causes for adenocarcinoma are not specifically determinable, causational factors are traceable because it is a non small cell lung cancer. Smoking is the leading cause of NSCLC; however, adenocarcinoma is the most common type of cancer in nonsmokers as well. In some cases, inherited gene changes affect a person’s risk of pulmonary adenocarcinoma through hereditary DNA mutations, and acquired
Shortness of breath and chest pain that worsens with full breaths and laughing are symptoms associated with NSCLC (Schiller 15). Shortness of breath associated with pulmonary adenocarcinoma leaves a victim with the inability to properly breathe in a sufficient amount of air. This symptom worsens the pain one feels because he or she is forced to take in deeper breaths to accommodate for the lack of oxygen in his or her system. Often, rapid, shallow breathing occurs to prevent pain and acquire more air. Pleural effusion is also a symptom that prevents effective breathing. Pleural effusion occurs when cancer cells spread to the pleura which is a layer in the lungs that creates fluid in the lungs that assist in breathing. When these cancer cells spread, they create a buildup of fluid which strains breathing (“Pleural Effusion.” 1). The liquid that the pleura creates reduces friction that prevents the lungs from rubbing against other organs when one breathes. With a buildup of fluid, the amount of pressure created causes friction that causes breathlessness. Metastasis is a complication of pulmonary adenocarcinoma, as well as other cancers, that causes pain in other areas of the body. Metastasis is described as the spread of cancer from one part of the body to another; in pulmonary adenocarcinoma, metastases are able to spread from