KNOW ABOUT CANCER

What is cancer?

Cancer is a group of more than 100 different diseases characterized by uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells. If the spread is not controlled, it can result in death.

Normally, cells divide to produce more cells only when the body needs them. If cells divide when new ones are not needed, they form a mass of excess tissue, called a tumor. Tumors can be benign (not cancer) or malignant (cancer). The cells in malignant tumors can invade and damage nearby tissues and organs. Cancer cells can also break away from a malignant tumor and travel through the bloodstream or the lymphatic system to form new tumors in other parts of the body.

What causes cancer?

Cancer is caused by both external (chemicals, radiation and viruses) and internal (hormones, immune conditions and inherited mutations) factors. Causal factors may act together or in a sequence to initiate or promote carcinogenesis. Ten or more years often pass between exposures or mutations and detectable cancer.

What are the signs and symptoms of cancer?

Cancer often causes symptoms that you can watch for. The word CAUTION can remind you of the most common warning signs of cancer:

1. Change in bowel or bladder habits
2. A sore that does not heal
3. Unusual bleeding or discharge
4. Thickening or lump in the breast or any other part of the body
5. Indigestion or difficulty swallowing
6. Obvious change in a wart or mole
7. Nagging cough or hoarseness

These symptoms are not always warning signs of cancer. They can also be caused by less serious conditions. It is important to see a doctor if you have any of these symptoms. Only a doctor can make a diagnosis. Don’t wait to feel pain because early cancer usually does not cause pain.

A biopsy is the only sure way to know whether a medical problem is cancer. In a biopsy, the doctor removes a sample of tissue. The tissue is examined under a microscope to check for cancer cells.

Can cancer be prevented?

Yes, since some external factors can be controlled. About 90 percent of the 800,000 skin cancers that were diagnosed in 1995 could have been prevented by protection from the sun’s rays. All cancers caused by cigarette smoking and heavy use of alcohol could be prevented completely.

Diets high in fruits, vegetables, and fibre may reduce the incidence of some types of cancers. Regular screening and self-exams can detect cancers of the breast, tongue, mouth, colon, rectum, cervix, prostate, testis and skin at an early stage, when treatment is more likely to be successful. These types of cancers account for more than half of all new cases.

How is a person’s cancer treated?

Cancer is treated with surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, radioactive substances or immunotherapy. The doctor may use one method or a combination of methods. The choice of treatment depends on the type and location of the cancer, whether the disease has spread, the patient’s age and general health, and other factors.

Who gets cancer?

Anyone can get cancer. Since incidence rises with age, most cases affect adults in mid-life or older. Among children ages 1 to 14, cancer causes more deaths in the United States than any other disease. In the 1980s, there were more than 4.5 million cancer deaths, almost 9 million new cancer cases, and some 12 million people under medical care for cancer.

Is Cancer Hereditary?

Certain cancers are seen to occur in families. This does not mean that the disease has been transmitted from parent to children through genetic material. The same life style usually run in families and this could as well be the reason. Scientists believe that if there is a hereditary component, its effect is indeed very little.

Do Viruses cause Cancer?

There is good evidence to suspect that viruses may cause cancer in humans - leukaemia, nasopharyngeal cancer, liver and cervix cancer are considered now as being caused by viruses.

What are the warning signals of cancer?

1. A sore or ulcer that does not heal within 3 weeks with antibiotics especially in mouth. Pearly white patches in the mouth. Inability to hold salty food in mouth.
2. Unusual bleeding or discharge from any orifice.
3. Thickening or lump in breast or elsewhere in the body.
4. Repeated abdominal cramps, indigestion. Difficulty in swallowing which lasts more than 3 weeks. Changes in bowel habits [Diarrhoea & Consumption] lasting for more than 3 weeks.
5. Hoarseness of voice, nagging cough; persisting even after treatment for 3 weeks.
6. Difficulty in urination, blood in urine, especially if you are above 45 years of age.
7. Change in wart or mole.
8. Listlessness, anaemia, intermittent fever which are not controlled by conversational medication.
9. Impairment in vision, white patches in the eye, often shining at night.
10. These signs need not always be due to Cancer. But consult a specialist doctor if you have any of the above symptoms