Month: April 2023

Cancer is a disease in which cells grow uncontrollably and form tumors. These tumors may invade nearby tissues, interfere with organs and release hormones that affect the body’s normal functions. There are a number of things that can cause cancer, including genetic problems. However, cancer is usually caused by a combination of factors. The key is to catch it early and treat it before it spreads or becomes worse. Normally, every cell in your body follows an orderly process that allows it to grow and divide to make new cells when necessary and die when it’s no longer needed. This process is called the cell cycle. A healthy person has around 37.2 trillion cells in their body. The body produces about 242 billion new cells each day. These new cells replace the old ones that die. The cell cycle keeps the cells that live in your body in balance and works with the immune system to keep the other cells in your body healthy. This balance is maintained by a complex system of proteins and enzymes. When these proteins are broken down, they create chemical signals that tell the cell to replicate or divide. The cell can only replicate when it receives the right signal from its environment. Cancer starts when your body’s normal cell cycle gets disrupted by an inherited mutation or other unusual event. The abnormal gene changes the instructions to the cell to start replicating without control, and this leads to cancer. Almost all types of cancer begin in one part of the body and move to other parts by traveling through blood vessels or lymph nodes (the body’s network of tubes that carry lymph and other fluids). When they do, they change into a type of abnormal cell that doesn’t have the same instructions as other cells. This cell can then travel to other parts of the body and take up residence in that area, where it grows and starts to destroy tissue. In some cases, cancer cells can spread to other parts of the body through blood or lymph channels and form large tumors in those locations. If you’re diagnosed with cancer, there are several treatment options that your doctor will use to try to kill or slow the growth of your tumor. These treatments include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and stem cell transplants. When chemotherapy or radiation therapy is given, it targets the cancer cells and kills them. This is sometimes done by putting special medicines directly into your bloodstream or by using high-energy rays, similar to X-rays, to kill the cancer cells. Besides chemotherapy and radiation therapy, your doctor may also recommend other kinds of cancer treatment. Some of these therapies, such as hormone therapy and immunotherapy, work with your body’s own immune system to help it fight cancer or to control side effects from other cancer treatments. Another way to fight cancer is through surgery. This is often used to remove the tumors and other parts of the cancer or to find out how serious the disease is.