Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsCoughChest PainShortness of BreathWeight LossHoarsenessCoughing Up BloodLess Common SymptomsMore Advanced SymptomsWhen to See a Provider
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Cough
Chest Pain
Shortness of Breath
Weight Loss
Hoarseness
Coughing Up Blood
Less Common Symptoms
More Advanced Symptoms
When to See a Provider
In the early stages,lung cancersymptoms may include chest pain, chronic cough, breathing issues, and weight loss. However, there are often no symptoms until the cancer advances. The lack of symptoms may be because the lungs have very few nerve endings, so you do not feel always pain or other sensations in this area. Even relatively large tumors may not cause pain or discomfort.
Detecting lung cancer early can save lives, so people at high risk for developing this type of cancer should be aware of all possible early signs. Smokers especially should talk to their healthcare provider about their risk and screenings, since tobacco smoke is responsible for about 90% of lung cancers.
This article will cover the symptoms that can serve as early warning signs for lung cancer, symptoms of more advanced lung cancers, and when to see a healthcare provider.
Verywell /Ellen Lindner
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Persistent Cough
About half of people diagnosed with lung cancer have a persistent cough.A cough related to lung cancer will likely develop on its own (not after an illness) and continue to worsen.
A persistent, chronic cough is one that does not go away and lasts at least eight weeks. It can be a dry cough or it can bring up phlegm. It may keep you up at night, interfering with sleep. It may even be painful.
Lung cancer is not the most common reason someone will develop a cough, even apersistent cough. Coughing is the body’s natural reaction to irritating particles in the throat or lungs.
Smoker’s coughis a chronic cough related to smoking cigarettes. Smoking can lead to lung cancer, but a smoker’s cough isn’t always a sign of lung cancer. Smoker’s cough happens when the tobacco smoke kills the hairs (cilia) lining your airways that usually remove mucus.
Smoking also causes cough and breathing issues in a group of conditions calledchronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includeschronic bronchitisandemphysema. COPD will keep getting worse and can ultimately be fatal on its own.
Causes of Coughs
While a persistent cough that appears out of nowhere is important to get checked out, there are a lot of things other than lung cancer that might be causing it.
Is Your Cough a Lung Cancer Cough?
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Unexplained chest pain can be an earlysign of lung cancer.This pain won’t have a specific cause, such as an easily identifiable injury preceding the pain. If you can’t remember how or why it started and it’s progressing and getting worse, you should probably get it checked out.
Pain may increase when laughing, coughing, or breathing deeply—a condition calledpleurisy. While the lungs themselves don’t have nerves, this pain can have other causes, including:
This pain can be in the chest but also might be felt as shoulder pain or back pain. Chest pain can be a symptom of many other conditions, including GERD, but you should still get it checked out.
Suddenshortness of breathcan occur in the early stages of lung cancer.Shortness of breath occurs when you start breathing heavier or quicker in an attempt to get enough air into your lungs. You may breathe heavily even though you haven’t been exerting yourself. Your chest may also feel tight.
This loss of breath can come on suddenly, during everyday activities, or be more persistent during times when you’re exerting yourself. Shortness of breath can develop naturally based on old age or a loss of fitness, or it can be due to a panic attack or hyperventilation.
In about two-thirds of cases, shortness of breath is a sign of something more worrisome with the heart or lungs.Especially in smokers, it may signal COPD or lung cancer. It may also be a sign of heart disease, so get it checked out even if you’re not at high risk of lung cancer.
Shortness of breath is often one of the first signs of non-small cell lung cancers like adenocarcinomas, the most common type of lung cancer.
Unintentional Weight Loss
The early stages of cancer may lead to a loss of appetite andunexplained weight loss. If you haven’t changed your diet or exercise routine and are losing weight, you may want to talk to a medical professional.
Advanced cancer is associated with inflammation and the release ofcytokines(proteins that regulate inflammation) that may produce a loss of appetite and weight loss. Tumors high in the chest can also push on the esophagus (food pipe), making it hard to swallow and difficult to eat.
Hoarseness or Wheezing
Lung cancer can also causewheezing, making it feel like you’re breathing through a straw, with an audible sound.
As lung cancer starts to impact the lung tissues, you may cough up blood. The technical term for coughing up blood ishemoptysis. The blood can look rust-colored, might be clotted, or may look like pink or red streaks in the mucus.
Call your healthcare provider immediately if you cough up more than a few teaspoons of blood or if you also have dizziness or severe shortness of breath.
Other than the early warning signs and symptoms of lung cancer listed above, there are a few other less common symptoms that might appear during the early stages of lung cancer, including:
Superior Vena Cava Syndrome
Tumors in the upper right part of the lung can press on the blood vessels around the heart and cause symptoms. This is calledsuperiorvena cavasyndromebecause blood backs up in the superior vena cava, the large vein leading to the heart.
When this happens, blood gets trapped in the upper body, including the face, neck, arms, and upper chest. Symptoms include:
Paraneoplastic Syndromes
Another possible early sign of lung cancer is the development of a suite of symptoms due toparaneoplasticsyndromes. These conditions arise when the tumor produces compounds that harm other parts of the body.
Paraneoplastic syndromesare more often associated withsmall-cell lung cancerbut can happen with either type.There are several different forms based on how the tumor impacts the body and what organs are involved, so symptoms can vary.
As lung cancer advances, symptoms will become more prominent. You’ll likely develop these symptoms after the signs above have developed.
Advanced lung cancer symptoms include:
Shoulder pain that radiates down to the pinky finger may be a sign of cancer in the upper lungs. Tumors in this part of the lung are more likely to benon-small celland are sometimes called Pancoast tumors. These cancers have unique effects on the nerves of the face, causing a set of strange symptoms called Horner syndrome.
Horner syndromesymptoms include:
When to See a Healthcare Provider
High-risk patients, especially current smokers or those who have smoked more than 30 pack-years, are potential candidates for regular lung cancer screenings. Thirty pack years is equivalent to smoking two packs a day for 15 years, one pack a day for 30 years, or similar multiples.Lung cancer screenings include imaging techniques like computed tomography (CT) scans that can help determine if your lungs show signs of cancer.
You may want to talk to a health professional about this option if you have exposure to toxins like cigarette smoke that are associated with lung cancer, have an inherited disease that is linked to increased risk of lung cancer, or if people in your family have developed lung cancer.
Studies suggest that getting these screenings yearly may help lower the risk of death from lung cancer in high-risk individuals. They also can detect other problems that are not cancer but require tests and surgeries.
A health professional can determine if you’re a good candidate for screening and walk you through the pros and cons of getting it done.
Summary
Lung cancer doesn’t always cause symptoms in the early stages. When it does, symptoms can include a persistent cough, chest pain, shortness of breath, unintentional weight loss, and hoarseness or wheezing. Some people may also cough up blood.
16 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
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