Between 1999 and 2020, the worldwide number of people with cancer will double. This forecast is provided by the World Health Organization. At the same time, the mortality rate due to this disease in developed countries has significantly decreased over the past decade. This was due to the promotion of a healthy lifestyle (smoking cessation, healthy eating) and due to the early diagnosis of the disease. The print media and television all over the world pay a lot of attention to the problem: how to detect cancer and recover from it.
Cancer or cancer is a disease that develops from a cell with altered DNA. The mutated gene material controls the behavior of the cell, makes it uncontrollably share and grow abnormally fast. These pathological changes at the cellular level lead to the onset of the disease.
For decades, scientists and oncologists around the world have been trying to find the reason for the transformation of a healthy cell into a malignant one. But so far they have not come to a consensus. In many cases, the cause of the disease remains unknown. Doctors suggest that cancer may begin due to:
- genetic predisposition (women - breast cancer, men - cancer of the prostate and pancreas);
- carcinogens - agents contained in the surrounding atmosphere and environment that can cause gene mutations;
- viruses that interact with the genes of cells that provoke their mutation.
How to detect cancer at the beginning of the process, when it is successfully treated? Resolving this issue puzzled scientists and doctors around the world. Indeed, the insidiousness of this disease lies in the fact that in the initial stages this dangerous illness almost does not manifest itself. For example, heart cancer. Symptoms of this disease become noticeable only when it is almost impossible to help. Because for a long time, a malignant tumor has successfully masked as aortic stenosis (a tumor in the left ventricle) or as a mitral valve pathology (a tumor in the left atrium) and is not diagnosed in a timely manner.
How to detect cancer on your own? No one knows the characteristics of his body better than man himself. Therefore, having an idea of the general symptoms that are characteristic of all oncological diseases, you can yourself identify a dangerous disease at the very beginning of its development, which means that you can successfully recover from it.
Cancer, signs of the disease
Based on medical practice and diagnostic experience, oncologists have deduced a number of general (non-specific) signs characteristic of cancer. If in your state of health you notice the following changes, you must consult a doctor.
- Abrupt weight loss (on average from 4 to 6 kg.), Which is not due to explainable reasons.
- Change in skin, they become pale to transparency. May darken (hyperpigmentation), turn yellow (jaundice), blush (erythema). On the surface of the skin there is a sudden excessive hair growth, peeling, itching and dryness unusual for it before.
- Unreasonable fever, a common symptom in all types of cancer. But more often this symptom is manifested in the late stages of tumor growth. At an early stage of the malignant process, an increase in temperature gives Hodgkin's disease - lymphogranulomatosis.
- Constant fatigue, which increases day by day and does not go away after rest. This symptom manifests itself more often when the disease has already developed enough and progresses. However, at an early stage, weakness and fatigue occurs in chronic blood loss, which is characteristic of cancer of the stomach and colon.
- Pain is a rare occurrence in the early stages of cancer. Its manifestation in the initial process is characteristic of only a few varieties of tumors - this is testicular and bone cancer .
- Change in blood count. If you feel relatively healthy, and your ESR and white blood cell count are elevated - look for the cause of this, conduct an examination.
- Swollen lymph nodes may also indicate an oncological process.
This is a series of nonspecific symptoms characteristic of all types of malignant tumors, which will tell you how to detect cancer at the very beginning of the development of the disease. If you notice them at home, do not neglect your own health, go to the doctor. Remember that with timely diagnosis, cancer is treatable.