OREANDA-NEWS. The main symptoms of lung cancer are cough, shortness of breath and hoarseness of voice, said Mikhail Davydov, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, chief physician of the Lapino-2 oncological center in intrewiev with Russian media Gazeta. To exclude the diagnosis, he advised to do a computed tomography scan of the lungs for those who were sick with coronavirus, and for people over 55 years old – every year, regardless of the symptoms.

«Hoarseness of voice for no reason is the most characteristic sign of lung cancer. It appears due to the germination of a cancerous tumor into the recurrent laryngeal nerve. But this symptom appears already when the disease is seriously started. At earlier stages, the symptom may be cough and periodic shortness of breath. Not everyone pays attention to them, especially now, during the COVID-19 pandemic», Davydov said.

He added that more than 1.5 million people die from lung cancer every year, while in 90% of cases it manifests itself already in the late stages. Davydov named smoking, interaction with asbestos, beryllium, uranium or radon, chronic lung diseases and genetics among the main factors causing the disease. It is important whether there are malignant neoplasms in the lungs, bronchi and trachea of relatives.