Major Warning Signs of Lung Cancer

Wheezing

A common symptom that occurs in lung cancer patients is wheezing, which is a high-pitched whistling noise made while an individual is breathing. Wheezing is often accompanied by difficulty breathing or breathlessness in those who have lung cancer. Wheezing can happen when an individual inhales, exhales, or both. The high-pitched sound is the result of narrowing and inflammation of any location within the airway from the lower throat to the tiny air sacs in the lungs. Because lung cancer is a mass of rapidly multiplying cells in a location where they do not belong, they compress healthy tissues of the lungs. Compression and obstruction of the small branches deep in the lungs can cause an individual to make wheezing sounds, as well as compression or obstruction of the larger branches of the lungs. Often times, patients will initially be treated with bronchodilators, which are medications to expand the airways in the lungs. However, the wheezing that occurs in patients with a physical obstruction due to lung cancer will not respond well to this type of medication because the wheezing is not caused by inflammation alone.