Chest pain
In lung cancer, there are various types of chest pain. In most cases, people feel a pressing pain or mild discomfort. In other cases, pain is not located in a single spot but dispersed throughout the thorax. This type of pain becomes worse when patients are taking a deep breath when they laugh or cough. Since patients with lung cancer have a continuous and progressive cough, it becomes very irritating and frustrating in the long term.
Local effects of the tumour in the lung tissue play a significant role is causing chest pain (pressure upon nerve terminals and inflammation in the lungs), but sometimes chest pain is also caused by a spread of the tumour to other areas of the lung tissue, lymph nodes, and even other structures in the thorax. Thus, it can be either a mild discomfort as the disease starts or a severe problem in advanced lung cancer.
Chest pain should be differentiated from many other common sources, including severe problems like heart attacks and intercostal neuralgia, which would also cause pain upon breathing.