Lung cancer is a common cancer. And one of the most dangerous, because it often goes away with serious complications, leads to death. We traditionally believe that fluorography, which is carried out as part of annual medical examinations, will help to suspect signs of this pathology. But at the same time, a lot of alarming messages can be found on the Web that a few months after fluorography, a person was diagnosed with lung cancer in an advanced stage.
Can lung cancer be seen on fluorography? In the article, we will provide a complete answer to this question.
About the disease
It's not for nothing that so many people are concerned about whether lung cancer can be seen on fluorography. This common cancer has a poor prognosis. Great risk of death. Therefore, it is so important to identify this oncopathology at an early stage. It is dangerous because it is almost asymptomatic. Signs of the disease often begin to manifest themselves only at the stage of tumor metastasis.
The disease occurs in both sexes. However, men are more likely to suffer from it. There are a number of factors that trigger lung cancer:
- Smoking.
- Alcohol abuse.
- Drug addiction.
- Unfavorable environmental situation.
- Working in an environment with potential carcinogens.
- Genetic predisposition.
- Eating foods containing carcinogens.
- Radiation exposure.
According to localization, lung cancer is divided into central, peripheral and massive. The latter is quite rare. And the most common is the central one.
Can lung cancer be seen on fluorography? This procedure is not included in oncodiagnosis. The latter is as follows:
- Examining a patient.
- Collecting an anamnesis and his complaints.
- Laboratory tests of the patient's blood.
- Instrumental diagnostics. In particular, an x-ray of the lungs.
Danger Signs
Will fluorography show lung cancer at an early stage? As we will see below, not always. But the patient's life sometimes depends on the slightest delay.
The insidiousness of lung cancer is that even their first symptoms do not cause serious concern in a person. That's why so many peopleseek help from specialists only with obvious signs of oncology.
The first alarming symptoms in this case are the following:
- Chronic causeless weakness, loss of strength.
- Cough of unknown origin.
- Shortness of breath.
Can lung cancer be seen on fluorography? Doctors advise for the preventive diagnosis of this disease to still refer to the X-ray of the lungs.
Fluorography - what is it?
It is possible to detect lung cancer on fluorography. But, unfortunately, not in all cases. And especially in the early stages. So why is this technique so common, included in the standard medical examination?
Fluorography is a fast and budgetary way to examine the lungs. You can already get results in just a day. Using this technique, specialists can detect tumors and dysfunctions not only in the lungs, but also in other organs and systems: heart, diaphragm, bone tissues, adjacent vessels, etc.
The method is also valued for being painless and harmless. The dose of radiation that a person receives during the procedure is negligible. Therefore, there is nothing harmful in having this preventive diagnosis every year.
What can be seen on the fluorogram?
If the fluorogram is taken correctly, then an experienced specialist can detect the following from this picture:
- Pleural inflammation.
- Deposition of calcium in the heart muscle.
- Expansion of the roots of the bronchi and lungs, as well asfibrous tissues.
- Enhanced vascular pattern.
- Focal shadows of oncological tumors.
Fluorography is valued for the fact that it can be used to notice pathological changes not only in the structure of the lungs, but also in all organs involved in the respiratory process in one way or another: the heart, veins, arteries, etc.
When is lung cancer not visible on a fluorogram?
Does Fluorography Detect Lung Cancer? Yes, but unfortunately not in all cases. This is due to a serious drawback of the technique - the procedure is carried out only in direct projection. Therefore, there are a number of factors when fluorography fails to recognize a tumor in the lungs:
- The neoplasm is located in the basal segments of the lower right lobe of the organ. Since they are blocked by the liver, it is not possible for a specialist to examine the tumor.
- Too small oncological foci.
- The tumor is located too deep in the tissues of the organ.
Fluorography shows lung cancer in the early stages? Yes, but as you can see, not in all cases.
What does a neoplasm look like on a fluorogram?
What does lung cancer look like on x-ray? Of course, the tumor in the picture is difficult to recognize by a non-specialist. A qualified doctor may suspect her by the following signs:
- The presence of a seal. Most often it is one-sided, casts a shadow. It can be attached to strands. At the same time, it is noticeable that the roots of the lung will be somewhat dilated.
- The shadow cast by the sealdifferent shape. But most often it is spherical. As a rule, it has fuzzy edges, there may be some "radiance" around it.
Indirect signs
It is not always possible to see a neoplasm in the picture while the cancer is already starting to develop. A qualified doctor is able to suspect this disease by a number of indirect signs:
- Hypoventilation (insufficient ventilation) of the lungs.
- Pulmonary atelectasis.
- Compensatory increase in the airiness of adjacent departments.
- Distal convergence of vessels (it can occur due to compression by the tumor).
- Thickening of the walls of the bronchi.
Fluorography and X-ray - is there a difference?
As we have seen, fluorography shows lung cancer, but not in all cases. A more accurate way of instrumental diagnosis of this pathology is x-ray.
X-rays are taken faster than fluorography is done. Moreover, if you are being diagnosed in a private medical clinic, the cost of x-rays is lower.
Another plus of radiography: the radiation exposure to the patient here may be lower than with fluorography. By the way, the highest dose of radiation is with computed tomography. But the advantage of fluorography is high throughput. Due to the speed of obtaining the results of the procedure, it is included in the annual medical examinations.
The principle of obtaining an X-ray image is simple: a beam of rays comes from the beam tube of the device. Through the human body, respectively, they will passto varying degrees. The result is displayed on the film. Due to the properties of our organs to pass X-rays through themselves in different ways, a picture resembling a photo is obtained: soft tissues are gray, air cavities are black, and bones are white.
Another two alternative fluorography methods are magnetic resonance and computed tomography. CT is a more accurate method, since the patient's body is translucent with x-rays from several angles. But it is much more expensive than fluorography and radiography. The radiation dose from CT is much higher.
MRI is harmless as it is exposure to magnetic fields. But the procedure, again, is distinguished by a high cost. In addition, there are a large number of contraindications for MRI.
Digital Fluorography
In some Russian medical clinics, modern units have already been installed that allow digital fluorography. Using the latest technology, you can get not only a standard picture, but also study the digital image of the lungs, which is displayed on the monitor.
The advantage of the new method is obvious. If with standard fluorography only a frontal image of the organs was available, then with digital fluorography it is possible to view the lungs from all sides and angles. This greatly improves the quality of diagnostics. In addition, individual parts of the image that disturbed the doctor can be enlarged and zoomed in.
Does fluorography show lung cancer when carried out on such equipment? The answer will, of course, be positive. It is important to note that the digital methodology involves extremelysensitive sensors. For the patient, this is good because the level of irradiation of his body decreases tenfold.
As for specialists, they appreciate the new technique additionally for the fact that you can move the lung image to an offline medium or print its paper versions in the required quantity.
Alternative diagnostic methods
In addition to fluorography, there are a number of diagnostic procedures that can detect lung cancer in its early stages:
- Sputum cytology. Masses either coughed up or removed during bronchoscopy are examined. Cytological analysis reveals atypical squamous fractions that are characteristic of oncological pathologies.
- Pleural puncture. Allows you to refute or confirm the presence of cancer cells.
- Thoracotomy. A surgical procedure that aims to "pinch off" a piece of a tumor for further analysis for its benign quality.
- Mediastinoscopy. Laboratory examination of a sample of either tumor or lymphatic tissue.
- Puncture biopsy. The material necessary for the study is collected using a syringe and the thinnest needle. The latter is injected into the tumor site. The procedure is carried out under local anesthesia. It is valued for its 100% accuracy of test results.
- Positron emission tomography. During the procedure, tissue activity, metabolic productivity in the suspected area is assessed.oncological neoplasm. However, it should be borne in mind that the patient's radiation dose here is approximately twice as much as that received during fluorography.
Summarize. Habitual fluorography is an outdated research method. But common because of its cheapness. The picture is fuzzy, from one angle. Why is it not always possible to recognize lung cancer in the first stage on it. Alternative - digital fluorography, X-ray, CT, MRI.
