Cancer
Cancer is when abnormal cells in a part of the body begin to grow out of control. There are many different types of cancer and when untreated can cause serious illness and eventually death. Normal body cells grow, divide, and die in an orderly fashion. Cancer cells keep growing and dividing. Instead of dying, they outlive normal cells and continue to grow and make new abnormal cells. Wait, what makes a cancer cell abnormal? A cancer cell is abnormal because the DNA in the cell is damaged. Damage to the DNA can ve caused by things in the environment such as chemicals, viruses, tobacco smoke or too much sunlight. When the abnormal cells multiply, they can sometimes travel to other parts of the body (a process called metastasis) where they begin to grow and replace normal tissue.
There are several methods of treating cancer. Here are a few:
There are many different types of cancer in the United States. Here are the top ten:
Here are some common cancers and their causes or risk factors.
There are several methods of treating cancer. Here are a few:
- Through surgery, all or part of an area with malignant cancer cells can be removed.
- Though it destroys cancer cells, radiation therapy also burns, scars, and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.
- The poisoning of rapidly-growing cancer cells through chemotherapy also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract, etc. It can also cause organ damage in organs such as the liver, kidneys, heart, and lungs.
- Immunotherapy is when the immune system is used to fight cancer or is given immune system components, such as man-made immune system proteins.
There are many different types of cancer in the United States. Here are the top ten:
- Skin Cancer
- Lung Cancer
- Breast Cancer
- Prostate Cancer
- Colorectal Cancer
- Kidney (renal) Cancer
- Bladder Cancer
- Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
- Thyroid Cancer
- Endometrial Cancer
Here are some common cancers and their causes or risk factors.
- Lung cancer: This cancer is caused by smoking and is the second most common cancer in men and woman in the United States. It is responsible for about 161, 000 deaths each year.
- Non-melanoma skin cancer: This cancer is the most common cancer in the United States with about 1 million new cases each year. The cancer usually starts out as a mole and is caused by too much sunlight. Only 1,000 cases result in death.
- Prostate cancer: For men, this is the most common type of cancer. Increased levels of certain hormones can be risk factors which lead to faster cell growth and division. When cells grow and divide faster, there's a greater chance for mutations which can lead to cancer.
- Breast cancer: For woman, this is the most common type of cancer. There is no known cause for breast cancer but certain risk factors are known. The cancer can run in families and certain DNA changes can be inherited, increasing the risk for developing breast cancer.
- Pancreatic cancer: This cancer has the highest death rate of any cancer. Risk factors are use of tobacco in any form, regular use of alcohol, heredity, and diet.
- Colon cancer: If you are over 50 years old, have type 2 diabetes, a family history of the cancer, or have yourself had the cancer before, you have a higher chance of developing this cancer.
- Leukemia: This cancer is the most common cancer among children and of the 47,000 new cases each year, 23,000 result in death. There are genetic risk factors such as having a genetic condition or syndrome and environmental risk factors such as being exposed to radiation or certain chemicals, that can lead to an increased chance of developing this cancer.