Cancer is a disease that causes irregular, abnormal cells that enter other tissues to divide uncontrollably. There are more than one hundred different types of these diseases. Most are named based on the place in the body that they begin. Since there are many different types of cancer, it is broken down into five general categories. Carcinoma is a branch of cancer that begins in the skin or in tissues that line or cover internal organs. Sarcoma is another type of cancer. It begins in bone, cartilage, fat, muscle, blood vessels, or other connective or supportive tissue.
Leukemia is type of cancer that starts in blood-forming tissue such as the bone marrow and causes large numbers of abnormal blood cells to be produced and enter the blood. Lymphoma and myeloma begin in the immune system’s cells. Lastly, are central nervous system cancers, which start in the tissue of the brain and spinal cord. Cancer cells continue to grow and form new, abnormal cells and can also become other tissues, which normal cells can not do. Growing out of control and invading other tissues are what makes a cell a cancer cell. Cells become cancer cells because of DNA.
DNA is in every cell and it directs all the cell’s actions. In a normal cell, the cell either repairs the damage or the cell dies when DNA gets damaged. In cancer cells, the damaged DNA is not repaired, and the cell does not die like it should. Vaccarella 2 Rather than dying, the cell makes new cells that the body doesn’t need. These new cells all have the same abnormal DNA as the first cell does. People can inherit abnormal DNA, but most DNA damage is caused by mutations. It is uncommon to know exactly what causes any one person’s cancer. In most cases, the cancer cells form a tumor, but others do not.
Cancer cells that do not form a tumor involve the blood and blood-forming organs and circulate through other tissues where they grow. Cancer is very dangerous to the health and wellness of humans. Symptoms of the disease depend on the type and location of the cancer. Cancer patients suffer from various types of symptoms that include coughing, shortness of breath, diarrhea, constipation, and blood in the stool. Chills, fatigue, fever, loss of appetite, and weight loss are other effects of cancerous diseases. Cancer can be detected early using different tests like an MRI.
The earlier cancer is detected, the chance of a cure for it increases, and lowers amount of symptoms that the patient experiences. Other symptoms include changes in skin (itching, redness, yellowish skin/ eyes, etc. ), indigestion, sores that do not heal, and white patches or spots on the mouth and tongue. There are many other symptoms that cancer patients go through as well as symptoms that may be caused by cancer cells. Cancer is the third largest cause of death in the world and about 7. 5 million people die from it each year. This epidemic is increasing in numbers in the United States, as well as in Canada and Europe.
The amount of deaths due to cancer in these three locations is about 5. 6 million. What this means for the present is that one out of three people die from cancer each year. People can change their lifestyle to decrease the chances of getting cancer. The main ways to do so include staying away from tobacco, Vaccarella 3 limiting time in the sun, being physically active, and healthy eating. There are also different screenings and tests that can be done to detect cancer early. Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers. It is often attributed to use of tobacco or smoking, but this is not always the case.
There usually are no signs or early symptoms of lung cancer. As lung cancer stages advance, symptoms may include coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, and bloody mucus. When symptoms start to appear, they are usually caused by blocked breathing passages or the spread of cancer further into the lung, surrounding structures, or other parts of the body. Exams of mucus or lung fluid may reveal fully developed cancer cells, diagnosis of lung cancer is usually confirmed through a lung biopsy, which is a sample of tissue from the body that is taken to be observed.
A doctor may also do tests to see if the cancer has spread to a distant location of the body, but the cancer will still be considered lung cancer if there is evidence that it began in the lungs. Patients who have been diagnosed early have more of an option to get surgery, but many are unable to do so. For patients who can, up to one lung may be removed, depending on the size and location of the tumor, and how far it has spread. Chemotherapy uses powerful medicines to kill cancer cells and is used for this cancer. Radiation therapy is the use of high-energy X-rays to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors.
This form of treatment is often used in conjunction with chemotherapy, surgery, or both. Non-small cell lung cancers are split into four stages. In stage one, the cancer limited to only a lung, but may move to the lymph nodes in stages two and three. By stage four, the cancer has moved to other parts of the body. Small cell lung cancers are Vaccarella 4 either in the limited stage, where the cancer is only in the lung or lymph nodes, or the extensive stage, where the cancer is similar has spread to another part of the body. Non-small cell lung cancers are more life threatening than small cell lung cancers are.
Like lung cancer, breast cancer is also very common in today’s society. Men can get breast cancer, but the probability of this is not very high. Breast cancer can begin in the cells of the lobules, which are the milk-producing glands, or the ducts, the passages that drain milk from the lobules to the nipple. Less commonly, breast cancer can begin in the stromal tissues, which include the fatty and fibrous connective tissues of the breast. In reality, around one in 8 women in the United States or about 12 out of every 100 can expect to develop breast cancer over the course of an entire lifetime.
In the U. S. , an average lifetime is about 80 years. Statistics show that it is more accurate to say that 1 in 8 women in the U. S. who reach the age of 80 can expect to develop breast cancer. In each decade of a woman’s life, the risk of getting breast cancer is actually lower than 12% for most people. Breast cancer has a range of various symptoms. They include lumps, swelling, and skin changes. Many breast cancers have no obvious symptoms at all. Symptoms that are similar to those of breast cancer may be the result of non-cancerous conditions like infection or a cyst.
Women should complete self-exams monthly and visit their doctor if breast changes are experienced. Women over 40 are at a high risk for the disease. Like with all cancers, the earlier breast cancer is found and diagnosed, the higher the chances are for a cure. Determining breast cancer can take weeks and involve many different kinds of tests. Once a diagnosis is reached, doctors work out a plan that will help the patient. Vaccarella 5 There are many other cancers that cause many deaths other than breast and lung cancer.
In 2012, lung and breast cancer were the two cancers with the most deaths. Lung cancer resulted in 159, 480 deaths. From breast cancer, 39,620 women died and 410 men died. This shows that although less common, men may still get breast cancer, and possibly lose their life due to the disease. Colon, rectal, pancreatic, and prostate cancer are among the list of deadly cancers as well. The cases of leukemia in 2012 were 48, 610. Thyroid cancer had 60,220 patients, and out of these patients, 1,850 died. Decades ago, the future for people facing cancer was not nearly as favorable as it is today.
During the 1970s, about 1 of 2 people diagnosed with cancer survived at least 5 years. Now, more than 2 of 3 survive and today there are more than 11 million cancer survivors in the United States. Now that more people are surviving cancer, attention focuses “on the quality of life and long-term outcomes of cancer survivors. ” Behavioral researchers are working to learn more about the problems survivors face. Some of these problems are medical, such as permanent side effects of treatment, the possibility of second cancers caused by treatment, and the need for long-term treatment and medical follow-up.
Other problems are emotional or social challenges, like getting health insurance, discrimination by employers, relationship changes, or learning to live with the possibility of cancer coming back. Many celebrities and national leaders very openly discuss and share their cancer experiences. They have explained what they have gone through and how they’ve coped with cancer. Many famous industries have sponsored support, specifically for breast cancer. “The view that cancer cannot be cured and the fears that have historically been attached to the disease are slowly changing. ”