My uncle has been told he has a bronchoalveolar cancer of his lung. What is this?

There are different types of lungs cancer. Bronchoalveolar cancers are one of the less common kinds of lung cancer. Less than 1 in 20 lung cancers are bronchoalveolar carcinomas.

Unlike the commoner forms of lung cancer, these tumours are not caused by smoking, in fact they occur more in non-smokers. The cause of bronchoalveolar carcinomas is not known but they are sometimes seen in people who have had TB or other lung diseases in the past.

Bronchoalveolar carcinomas are equally common in both sexes and are most often seen in people over 40 years.

Bronchoalveolar carcinomas may affect the lungs in one of three ways:

• almost half of all bronchoalveolar cancers appear as single growths in the outer part of the lungs
• sometimes there are a number of growths in one or both lungs
• sometimes the condition forms a dense web of tissue rather than single growths)

Single growths may not cause many symptoms, but when the condition is more widespread it can lead to cough (sometimes with a lot of mucus or sputum), shortness of breath and chest pain.

If tests show that there is only a single growth then treatment is usually surgery. Since bronchoalveolar cancers have less tendency to spread outside the lungs than other types of lung cancer, surgery may be successful in curing the cancer.

When the condition is more widespread surgery is not an option. Chemotherapy can be used but unfortunately bronchoalveolar cancers are not very sensitive to it and chemotherapy may only control the cancer for a short time.