Monday, May 26, 2008

An Overview of Cancer

Cancer is the second to cardiovascular disease as the leading cause of death in the Western world.
Although cancer is a disease that mainly affects people over 60% of cancer deaths occur among those over 65 years, cancer can strike even the youngest children.

Cancer appears to occur when the growth of cells in the body is out of control and cells divide too quickly. The cancer can develop in almost any organ or tissue, such as lung, colon, breast, skin, bone or nerve tissue.

The most common sites are:
  • The prostate 24%
  • Breast 13%
  • Lung 13%
  • Colon and rectum 9%
  • Bladder 3%
  • Utérus 2.5%
The cause of cancer is estimated to be a combination of genetic factors and outside carcinogens such as tobacco, viruses, infection, asbestos, vinyl chloride, a poor diet.

Cancer often has no symptoms, it is therefore important that you limit your risk factors and undergo cancer screening appropriate. The signs and symptoms depend on where the cancer is the size of cancer, and how it affects the nearby organs or structures.

If cancer spreads (metastasis), then May symptoms occur in different parts of the body. As a cancer develops, it starts growing nearby organs, blood vessels and nerves. If the cancer is in a critical area, as some parts of the brain, even the smallest tumors can cause symptoms early.

But sometimes cancers start in places where it does not cause symptoms until the cancer has grown quite large. The cancer of the pancreas, for example, are not used to grow large enough to be felt outside the body.
At the time of pancreatic cancer causes of these signs or symptoms, he generally reached an advanced stage.

A cancer May also cause symptoms common to many other problems, such as fever, fatigue and weight loss. This May be because the cancer uses lots of energy body or May cause the release of substances which affect metabolism.

Some lung cancers make hormone-like substances that affect levels of calcium in the blood, affecting the nerves and muscles and cause weakness and dizziness.

It is important to know what some of the (non-specific) signs and symptoms of cancer, but remember that having one of these does not mean you have cancer.

Most cancers can be treated and cured some, depending on the type, location and stage. The earlier the cancer is detected, the better the prognosis.

A good example of the importance of finding an early cancer is melanoma skin cancer. Skin cancer can be easily removed if it has not grown deep into the skin, and the 5-year survival rates (percentage of people living at least 5 years after diagnosis) at this stage is nearly100%.

Screening for breast cancer with mammography has been shown to reduce the average phase diagnosis of breast cancer in a population.
The colorectal cancer can be detected by fecal occult blood testing and colonoscopy, which reduces both the incidence of colon cancer and mortality, presumably through the detection and removal of pre-malignant polyps.
Similarly, cytology tests of the cervix (using the Pap test) leads to the identification and excision of precancerous lesions.
Testiculaire self-examination is recommended for men beginning at the age of 15 years to detect testicular cancer.

Signs and symptoms
  • Pain May be an early symptom of some cancers such as bone cancer or testicular cancer.
  • In the long term constipation, diarrhea, or a change in the size of stool May be a sign of colon cancer.
  • With pain urinating, blood in urine, or a change of function of the bladder (such as more frequent or less frequent urination) could be linked to the bladder or prostate cancer.
  • Cancers of the skin and bleeding May resemble wounds that do not heal.
  • A long-term pain in the mouth could be a cancer of the mouth and must be addressed immediately, especially in patients who smoke, chew tobacco, or frequently drink alcohol.
  • Wounds on the penis or vagina May, or be signs of infection or a cancer early, and must not be neglected.
  • Unusual bleeding can occur either early or advanced cancer.
  • Blood in the sputum (mucus) May be a sign of lung cancer.
  • Blood in the stool (or a dark or black stool) could be a sign of the colon or rectum cancer.
  • Blood in urine May be a sign of bladder or kidney cancer.
  • A bloody nipple discharge May be a sign of breast cancer.
  • Many cancers can be felt through the skin, mostly in the breast, testicle, lymph nodes (glands), and soft tissues of the body. A lump or thickening May be a beginning or the end signs of cancer.
  • Although they often have other causes, indigestion or swallowing problems May be a sign of cancer of the esophagus, stomach or pharynx (throat).
  • A cough that does not go far May be a sign of lung cancer.
  • Cancer May be suspected for a variety of reasons, but the definitive diagnosis of most malignant tumors must be confirmed by histological examination of cancer cells by a pathologist.
TREATMENT
Once diagnosed, the cancer is usually treated with a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Radiation May be used to treat almost all types of solid tumors, including brain cancers, breast, cervix, larynx, lung, pancreas, prostate, skin, l 'stomach, uterus, or soft tissue sarcomas.

Most forms of chemotherapy target all rapidly dividing cells and are not specific to cancer cells, although a certain degree of specificity May come from the inability of many cancer cells to repair damage to DNA, while normal cells can generally.

Contemporary methods to generate an immune response against tumors intra BCG immunotherapy for cancer of the bladder surface, and the use of interferon and other cytokines to induce an immune response to cancer cells kidney and melanoma patients.

Drugs against pain, as morphine and oxycodone, and anti-emetics, drugs to suppress nausea and vomiting, are very commonly used in patients with cancer-related symptoms. transmission and disease.

Advances in cancer research have made a vaccine to prevent cancer. The vaccine protects against four types of HPV, which causes 70% of cancers of the cervix and 90% of genital warts.

The consensus on diet and cancer is that obesity increases the risk of developing cancer. The fight against cancer components of the diet are also proving to be more numerous and varied than previously understood, if patients are increasingly advised to consume fresh, unprocessed fruits and vegetables for maximum health.

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