Cancer is a disease that can affect any area of the body. This name refers to more than a hundred ailments.
As medical practice shows, about forty percent of cases of cancer are smokers' disease. Moreover, according to statistics, one of three people has this lesion in a certain period of his life.
In the human body there are various types of cells that form these or other organs. Normal, healthy cells multiply by division when the body needs them. In case of uselessness, they die.
Cancer is a disease resulting from cellular disorders. It is characterized by the presence of only the process of rapid cell division.
Tumors that do not penetrate into other tissues and do not extend to other parts of the body are benign formations. As a rule, their growth occurs rather slowly. They include cells that are very similar to healthy ones.
Tumors that invade nearby tissues and spread to other areas of the body are malignant. This is cancer. The disease is characterized by greater aggressiveness, faster growth. A malignant tumor can spread through the lymphatic and circulatory system to other areas of the body. This process is called metastasis.
Symptoms of a malignant neoplasm are manifested depending on its location and type. So, lung cancer provokes a cough, soreness in the chest, shortness of breath. With the development of a malignant tumor in the colon, diarrhea, blood impurities in the stool, or constipation are noted.
In some cases, the cancer does not manifest itself. So, with tumors in the gallbladder, the absence of symptoms is observed until the advanced stage occurs.
However, with most cancers, the following symptoms appear:
- fatigue;
- chills;
- appetite disorder;
fever;
- increased sweating (especially at night);
- malaise;
- weight loss.
Specialists classify about two hundred different types of cancer. Diseases can affect various organs and tissues of a person. Malignant neoplasms differ in the type of cells from which they develop.
The cause of the development of cancerous tumors is in most cases a combination of risk factors. One of the most significant is age. As medical practice shows, about two-thirds of newly diagnosed cases of malignant tumors occur in patients aged sixty-five years or older.
Specialists determine the primary cancer (the area on which the tumor begins to grow) and secondary. Cells can spread and metastasize to other areas of the body. This condition refers to a secondary malignant neoplasm.
When diagnosing a disease, blood tests, MRI, ultrasound, CT, endoscopy and cystoscopy are used. Research activities are carried out depending on the manifestations and the lesion site.
Cancer. Treatment.
It should be noted that a malignant tumor is not an infection. Therefore, infection can not occur.
An oncologist decides how to treat cancer. The choice of the therapeutic method mainly depends on the type and stage of the malignant neoplasm. The most common treatments for the disease are radiation therapy, surgery, and chemotherapy.
As a result of using the methods of influencing the disease, it is possible to eliminate the disease, alleviate the symptoms, increase the likelihood of recovery, prevent the further development of cancer, thus prolonging the patient’s life.