Cancer – What Is It and How Can It Be Treated?
Cancer is a group of diseases that develop when cells grow and divide uncontrollably. The disease can damage tissues and organs in the body and prevent them from working properly. Cancer cells also spread to other parts of the body, where they can continue to grow and cause symptoms. Doctors use a variety of treatments to treat cancer and help patients feel better. These include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and biological therapies.
Until recently, scientists knew very little about how cancer happens. They knew that cells that have mutated in some way can become cancerous and that these mutations can be caused by a number of things, including exposure to sunlight, chemicals, certain viruses, and some drugs. However, they could not explain how one mutation led to another or how certain characteristics-called risk factors-can increase a person’s chance of developing cancer.
The earliest known reference to cancer dates back 2,300 years to Hippocrates, who described the long, distended veins that appear in some breast tumors and resemble the limbs of a crab. However, until the 1600s and 1800s, when Hooke and Virchow discovered that living tissue consists of cells, doctors could not explain how tumors form or how they are caused.
Scientists now know that mutations in genes can cause cancer. These mutations usually affect three types of genes-proto-oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes, and DNA repair genes. When these genes are mutated, they allow cells to grow and divide when they shouldn’t or fail to stop growing and dividing when they should. The resulting abnormal cells can become tumors, which can then break apart and spread to other tissues and organs.
In some cases, the cancer cells cannot be stopped and may kill the patient. Other times, the cells are able to stop growing and can be removed with surgery. But in many cases, the cancer will return and recur. This is why it’s important for everyone to learn the warning signs of cancer. They can help people seek treatment early, when the cancer is smaller and less likely to spread.
Although the number of new cases of cancer is slowly decreasing, the disease still kills many people every year. It is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Experts are working hard to understand how to prevent and treat cancer.
The most common treatment for cancer is surgery, which removes the tumor or the part of the body where it grew. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy are used to kill cancer cells or keep them from spreading. They are often given together in a combination, but they can also be given separately. Some types of cancer need hormone treatment, which blocks the body’s natural hormones or uses drugs that mimic them. Some kinds of cancer are treated with targeted therapy, immunotherapy, and lasers. Each type of cancer treatment has its own benefits and side effects. Your doctor will recommend the best treatment for your case.
Cancer is a group of diseases that develop when cells grow and divide uncontrollably. The disease can damage tissues and organs in the body and prevent them from working properly. Cancer cells also spread to other parts of the body, where they can continue to grow and cause symptoms. Doctors use a variety of treatments to treat cancer and help patients feel better. These include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and biological therapies. Until recently, scientists knew very little about how cancer happens. They knew that cells that have mutated in some way can become cancerous and that these mutations can be caused by a number of things, including exposure to sunlight, chemicals, certain viruses, and some drugs. However, they could not explain how one mutation led to another or how certain characteristics-called risk factors-can increase a person’s chance of developing cancer. The earliest known reference to cancer dates back 2,300 years to Hippocrates, who described the long, distended veins that appear in some breast tumors and resemble the limbs of a crab. However, until the 1600s and 1800s, when Hooke and Virchow discovered that living tissue consists of cells, doctors could not explain how tumors form or how they are caused. Scientists now know that mutations in genes can cause cancer. These mutations usually affect three types of genes-proto-oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes, and DNA repair genes. When these genes are mutated, they allow cells to grow and divide when they shouldn’t or fail to stop growing and dividing when they should. The resulting abnormal cells can become tumors, which can then break apart and spread to other tissues and organs. In some cases, the cancer cells cannot be stopped and may kill the patient. Other times, the cells are able to stop growing and can be removed with surgery. But in many cases, the cancer will return and recur. This is why it’s important for everyone to learn the warning signs of cancer. They can help people seek treatment early, when the cancer is smaller and less likely to spread. Although the number of new cases of cancer is slowly decreasing, the disease still kills many people every year. It is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Experts are working hard to understand how to prevent and treat cancer. The most common treatment for cancer is surgery, which removes the tumor or the part of the body where it grew. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy are used to kill cancer cells or keep them from spreading. They are often given together in a combination, but they can also be given separately. Some types of cancer need hormone treatment, which blocks the body’s natural hormones or uses drugs that mimic them. Some kinds of cancer are treated with targeted therapy, immunotherapy, and lasers. Each type of cancer treatment has its own benefits and side effects. Your doctor will recommend the best treatment for your case.