Early diagnosis of lung cancer helps to increase the survival rate among the patients. However, the most difficult part is identifying the disease at an early stage. Lung cancer symptoms may or may not appear in some cases. It is essential to identify it at the earliest before the lung cancer cells travel from one organ to another. When the other parts of body get affected, treatment options also become limited and less effective.
An easy at-home test could show an early sign that you have lung cancer. This test can be done by putting your fingers together. Just put your hands up in front of you and touch the tips of both your index fingers against each other. Now, make your nails touch by blending the top of fingers. Check if a small diamond shaped window form between the fingers or not. Those who do not have lung cancer have normal diamond gap.
The test reveals whether you have finger clubbing, a particular kind of softening and swelling of fingers. This can be a symptom of lung cancer and other conditions. The test is called Schamroth Window test or window gap test. It aims to identify finger clubbing. It should also be noted that finger clubbing does not necessarily imply that you have lung cancer. There can be lots of reasons why your fingers may present that way.
Not all those having lung cancer have finger clubbing as a symptom. One should not ignore the major ones such as shortness of breath, change in cough, having cough most of the time, loss of appetite, weight loss and more. As lung cancer has no such noticeable symptoms, it often gets ignored at an early stage and signs come to notice when it has already spread through lungs to other parts of the body.
It is important to get regular medical check-ups and if you have any issues, contact your health care practitioner immediately.
The information shared in this blog is for educational purposes only.