What Is Cancer Definition;Causes,Symptoms And Treatment

Cancer Definition is defined as uncontrolled growth of cell the billions upon billions of microscopic units that make up all the organs of our body. Cells are easily distinguished from each other: lung cells are very different in appearance and function from colon cells, which are very different from blood cells, and so forth. To understand what cancer is, you must first understand some of the properties of normal cells.

Normal cells “do their own thing.” For example, red blood cells carry oxygen throughout the body, stomach cells absorb nutrients, and white blood cells fight infections. Normal cells also stop growing and dividing when they get too old. In addition, normal cells often “self destruct* (undergo apoptosis) and die if they arc injured.

Cancer cells differ from normal cells in a number of important ways. First, they are often unable to stop growing and dividing (“unregulated growth”). Second, cancer cells often stop “doing their thing.” In fact, they often stop doing anything useful at all. For example, cancerous white blood cells often stop fighting infection, stomach cancer cells stop absorbing nutrients, and lung cancer cells arc unable to absorb oxygen. Another property of cancer cells is that they do not die like normal cells do when they grow old; they are  like normal cells do when they grow old; they are literally immortal.

In addition, cancer cells often spread to other organs, a process called metastasis. They can metastasize either by invading a nearby organ or by entering into the bloodstream or lymphatic system and traveling through the body to invade distant organs. Sometimes the only thing that stops cancer cells from growing and spreading is that they run out of blood supply.

A rumor is a mass of tissue formed by a new growth of cells. If a tumor stops growing by itself, and docs not invade other tissues, it is considered benign. Examples include lipomas, which are soft, spongy, fatty tumors that form on the skin. Most tumors are malignant, which means they exhibit all the properties of cancer cells we’ve just mentioned.

In Accordance With Cancer Definition;What Are The Causes of Cancer?

Cancer is caused by mutations of DNA within cells .

Genetic mutations can drive a healthy cell so that:

  • It multiplies abnormally, thus creating a greater number of diseased cells.
  • Do not contrast abnormal cell growth: normal cells contain genes called oncosuppressors, which recognize abnormal cell growth and act to stop it. When there is an error in these genes, this function can be weakened or even stopped. This allows the mutated cells to continue to grow and divide.
  • It makes mistakes in DNA repair: genes are able to identify and repair errors that may be present in the DNA itself. A mutation can lead to some errors not being detected, allowing the accumulation of different mutations and, ultimately, the appearance of cancer.

Genetic mutations may be present from birth, or in other cases they may be caused by viruses, chronic inflammation or by the same hormones produced by the body. However, they can also be caused by factors outside the body, such as ultraviolet (UV) rays, carcinogenic chemicals or radiation.

The mutation that transforms normal cells into neoplastic cells is caused by several factors, which we will then identify as “risk factors” for cancer.
The most common are:
  • atomic radiation
  • ultraviolet radiation
  • the tars contained in cigarettes
  • different chemicals ranging from industrial substances such as benzene and asbestos to food substances such as aspartame, a common sweetener.
  • Some viruses called oncogenes such as the Ebstein Barr virus that can induce nasopharyngeal cancer and the papilloma virus (HPV) that can cause cervical cancer or tumors in the oral cavity and tonsillitis region.

What are the symptoms of cancer?

Each type of tumor obviously has its own specific symptomatically.

  • Persistent fatigue
  • Nodules or thickenings under the skin
  • Weight changes without apparent motivation
  • Changes in the skin as a yellow, dark or reddened complexion, persistent inflammation, evolution in the appearance of existing ones
  • Variations in bowel and bladder functioning
  • Persistent cough
  • Difficulty swallowing
  • Hoarseness
  • Persistent digestive difficulties, state of occlusion
  • Persistent and unexplained muscle or joint pain
  • Persistent and inexplicable fever  or night sweats.

Treatment of Cancer

The tumors can be fought in many ways, but the type of treatment depends on several factors such as size, location, type and stage / extent of the disease, as well as the patient’s overall health. The situation varies from person to person, therefore an effective treatment for an individual, may not be appropriate for the other.

Surgery is often the first treatment against cancer, and aims to:

  • Completely remove the tumor (definitive, potentially curative surgery)
  • Remove as much tumor as possible. It is also used to collect samples of the tumor-affected tissue .

When surgery is performed to attempt treatment, one of the following methods is used:

  • The entire tumor is removed but no other tissue ( excisional biopsy )
  • The entire tumor is removed plus a margin of tissue around it to minimize the risk related to invasion of surrounding healthy tissues by tumor cells (local surgery)
  • If the disease has spread to the lymph nodes they must also be removed (radical surgery).

Approximately 50% of all patients treated for cancer receive radiotherapy (1):

  • It has an effect localized to the irradiated area and is therefore mainly used as an adjutant therapy, ie to destroy all tumor cells that may have remained near the margins of the tumor after surgical removal.
  • It can be used as a neoadjuvant treatment to reduce the size of the primary tumor before surgery and therefore make it more easily operable, for example in carcinoma of the rectum (2)
  • It can be used to reduce the size of the tumor for palliative purposes, for example in the case of bone metastases (1), because it relieves painful symptoms
  • On some occasions it is used with curative intent, for example in some head and neck cancers or rectal cancer.

Radiation therapy can replace surgery when the latter:

  • It could cause serious problems (for example, in head and neck tumors, loss of ability to speak, deviation of intestinal transit in rectal tumors) (2)
  • It is likely that it is not effective (for example, some rectal tumors are very difficult to completely remove) (2).
  • When the tumor is small, the use of radiotherapy as primary treatment may have the same probability of success as surgery (2). Furthermore, in case of failure, it can be followed by rescue surgery (1).

by Abdullah Sam
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