Cancer is one of the most stigmatised words in the English language. It encompasses a wide variety of illnesses and yet, as knowledge of its existence has steadily grown, knowledge of exactly what it consists of has dwindled, confined to the realms of myth and rumour that are so damaging to the actual facts.
Cancers, put simply, are malignant tumours that are unregulated in the growth and spread of their cells and the invasion of neighbouring tissues. The word "malignant" is important here. Not all tumours are cancerous; it is only the ones that multiply and spread rapidly that are considered as such.
Cancer is usually detected by certain signs and symptoms depending on the type and location of the cancer, as well as various screening tests that are becoming ever more prevalent as the threat of cancer increases.
Though there are many known causes of cancer - including smoking, infections, diet and lack of exercise - cancers can also be hereditary. It is therefore extremely important to be aware of your family's medical past to be hyper-aware for any signs and symptoms that you may have developed similar issues.
Symptoms
There are no symptoms of cancer which are universally true for all types, nor can identified symptoms be specifically allocated to cancer as most can be attributed to other illnesses. It is, therefore, not uncommon for someone to be diagnosed with cancer after being treated for something else to which the symptoms were first wrongly attributed.
Symptoms tend to show in areas where the cancer is present. For example, the presence of lung cancer could be denoted by a severe cough, difficulty in swallowing and pneumonia, whilst cancer of the colon can produce anal bleeding. Other symptoms include lumps and bumps, especially easily felt in the breasts and the testes, and localised and prolonged pain.
Causes
Causes for the various forms of cancer are widely debated. This is due to the fact that any one cancer in any one individual could have a multitude of possible causes, stemming from several different events or habits in a person's life.
For example, smoking and the use of other tobacco products has long been known to be a large contributor to the risk of developing lung cancer. Though the longer you smoke for, the more likely you are to develop cancer, smoking at any stage in your life increases the risk of developing it at some point later in life. The same applies to passive smoking - smoke inhalation from another person's cigarette, for example - though the risks are less than smoking first hand.
Other identified factors include alcohol, though to a lesser extent than smoking, obesity and exercise, where avoiding the former and getting plenty of the latter is preferable, and radiation, where cells mutate after being exposed to it and then go on to multiply and invade nearby tissues in a cancerous fashion. Overexposure to the sun is one way of getting cancer by radiation, where the ultraviolet rays cause a form of cancer known as melanoma, as well as other skin-malignancies.
As mentioned above, cancers can also be hereditary, though the statistics for inherited cancers are low, ranging from three to ten percent of all cancer.
Treatment
Most types of cancer are primarily treated by means of surgery. This will usually be all that is required as the full mass of the tumour as well as, in some circumstances, the lymph nodes in the area, are removed to prevent it spreading. Surgery is also used in biopsies to determine the stage at which the cancer has progressed to.
Chemotherapy has also proven to be an effective method of tackling cancers and works by the patient being subjected to a treatment regimen of drugs that target cells that rapidly divide and destroy them. Whilst cancer is one such type of cell, there are others that occur naturally in the body that are also targeted, resulting in various side effects, the most widely known of which is alopecia, more commonly known as hair loss.
Radiation therapy is often used in conjunction with either or both of the above and involves the use of ionising radiation in order to kill malignant cells. Whilst often used alongside surgery or chemotherapy, in some case, specifically with spinal or brain tumours, it is more practical to be used alone in order to treat patients.
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Cancers, put simply, are malignant tumours that are unregulated in the growth and spread of their cells and the invasion of neighbouring tissues. The word "malignant" is important here. Not all tumours are cancerous; it is only the ones that multiply and spread rapidly that are considered as such.
Cancer is usually detected by certain signs and symptoms depending on the type and location of the cancer, as well as various screening tests that are becoming ever more prevalent as the threat of cancer increases.
Though there are many known causes of cancer - including smoking, infections, diet and lack of exercise - cancers can also be hereditary. It is therefore extremely important to be aware of your family's medical past to be hyper-aware for any signs and symptoms that you may have developed similar issues.
Symptoms
There are no symptoms of cancer which are universally true for all types, nor can identified symptoms be specifically allocated to cancer as most can be attributed to other illnesses. It is, therefore, not uncommon for someone to be diagnosed with cancer after being treated for something else to which the symptoms were first wrongly attributed.
Symptoms tend to show in areas where the cancer is present. For example, the presence of lung cancer could be denoted by a severe cough, difficulty in swallowing and pneumonia, whilst cancer of the colon can produce anal bleeding. Other symptoms include lumps and bumps, especially easily felt in the breasts and the testes, and localised and prolonged pain.
Causes
Causes for the various forms of cancer are widely debated. This is due to the fact that any one cancer in any one individual could have a multitude of possible causes, stemming from several different events or habits in a person's life.
For example, smoking and the use of other tobacco products has long been known to be a large contributor to the risk of developing lung cancer. Though the longer you smoke for, the more likely you are to develop cancer, smoking at any stage in your life increases the risk of developing it at some point later in life. The same applies to passive smoking - smoke inhalation from another person's cigarette, for example - though the risks are less than smoking first hand.
Other identified factors include alcohol, though to a lesser extent than smoking, obesity and exercise, where avoiding the former and getting plenty of the latter is preferable, and radiation, where cells mutate after being exposed to it and then go on to multiply and invade nearby tissues in a cancerous fashion. Overexposure to the sun is one way of getting cancer by radiation, where the ultraviolet rays cause a form of cancer known as melanoma, as well as other skin-malignancies.
As mentioned above, cancers can also be hereditary, though the statistics for inherited cancers are low, ranging from three to ten percent of all cancer.
Treatment
Most types of cancer are primarily treated by means of surgery. This will usually be all that is required as the full mass of the tumour as well as, in some circumstances, the lymph nodes in the area, are removed to prevent it spreading. Surgery is also used in biopsies to determine the stage at which the cancer has progressed to.
Chemotherapy has also proven to be an effective method of tackling cancers and works by the patient being subjected to a treatment regimen of drugs that target cells that rapidly divide and destroy them. Whilst cancer is one such type of cell, there are others that occur naturally in the body that are also targeted, resulting in various side effects, the most widely known of which is alopecia, more commonly known as hair loss.
Radiation therapy is often used in conjunction with either or both of the above and involves the use of ionising radiation in order to kill malignant cells. Whilst often used alongside surgery or chemotherapy, in some case, specifically with spinal or brain tumours, it is more practical to be used alone in order to treat patients.
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