• Many of the symptoms of pneumonia overlap with those of lung cancer, such as chest pain, difficulty breathing, coughing, and coughing up pus or blood. However, pneumonia will also cause symptoms like fever, chills, headache, and confusion. It may be caused due to a weakened immune system, a complication of chest surgery, or a result of the tumor taking up space in the diseased lung.

Treatment options:

Depending on the severity, pneumonia may be treated with antibiotics at home or at a hospital.

• Lung cancer can cause bleeding in the airway, which can cause you to cough up blood

Treatment options:

• When coughing up blood, the doctor’s first goal will be to stop the bleeding. Subsequent treatments include.⁵
• Bronchial artery embolization: The doctor runs a catheter through the leg, into an artery supplying blood to the lungs. A dye is put into it and the arteries is observed on a video screen to identify the source of the bleeding. The source can then be blocked using metal coils or another substance. Bleeding usually stops, and other arteries compensate for the newly blocked artery.
• Bronchoscopy: Tools, such as a balloon inflated inside the airway on the end of an endoscope, can treat some causes and stop the bleeding.

• Advanced lung cancer that spreads to the lining of a lung or to another area of the body, such as a bone, can cause pain.⁶

Treatment options:

There are various pain management medications that can help.