How Does a Quick Five-second Finger Test Help You Detect Early Signs of Lung Cancer?
Dec 16, 2024
News
You can easily perform the test at home to find out if your fingers have clubbing – a condition in which the tips of your fingers become enlarged
A super-fast five-second test that analyses the patterns made by your fingers can help you discover the early signs of lung cancer. Known as the diamond finger test, doctors say it is the fastest way to determine the possibility of this life-threatening cancer, which has spiked among youngsters in recent years.
According to doctors, you can easily perform the test at home to find out if your fingers have clubbing—a condition in which the tips of your fingers become enlarged and the nails become extremely curved from front to back.
What are clubbed fingers?
Clubbed fingers are a sign of disease, often of the heart or lungs, which cause chronically low blood levels of oxygen. These appearances can happen with your toes as well. Doctors say clubbing usually affects both your hands and feet. Some people refer to clubbing of the fingers and toes as digital clubbing.
While it does not cause pain unless linked to conditions like bone and joint issues from lung disease, most people do not even realize they have it. Doctors say after recognizing the sign, which points to lung issues, you must get further investigations done.
What causes clubbing in your fingers and toes?
According to experts, it may be that your toes and fingers are naturally clubbed and there is no disease or condition linked to it. However, in most cases, your experts will check to make sure you are not suffering from lung or heart issues.
The signs and symptoms of clubbing of fingers and toes involve changes in the way your fingers and toes look.
- Your nails may look like they are not attached anymore
- The angle where your nail meets the cuticle gets wider, and the nail appears to look like a hill.
- The tips become wide and round, and they also may darken in colour or become warm to the touch.
- The tips of your nails curve downward
Can you reduce the risk of finger clubbing?
Doctors say while you cannot prevent being born with clubbed fingers or toes, you may be able to reduce your risk of developing deadly diseases like lung cancer that may lead to the condition.
Lung cancer is among the most common cancers worldwide and is the leading cause of death, especially among youngsters. Often diagnosed at later stages, it is mainly caused by:
- Being exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke
- Being exposed to harmful substances, like air pollution, radon, asbestos, uranium, diesel exhaust, silica, coal products and others
- Having previous radiation treatments to your chest—like breast cancer or lymphoma
- Having a family history of lung cancer
Damaged cells dividing uncontrollably create masses, or tumours, of tissue that eventually keep your organs from working properly.
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