Help Find A Cure

Cancer is a disease that affects cells of the body. Cells are extremely small units that build together and form all living things, which include human beings. In any given person’s body, you will find billions of cells.

Cancer occurs when unusual and abnormal cells grow and spread very quickly. Normal cells in the body divide, grow to a certain size and then stop. Over the course of time, cells will even die. Cancer cells do not follow this normal pattern of division and growth, however. They divide very quickly and just continue to grow. Normally, cancer cells do not die and they clump together in groups to form what are called tumors.

The cancer cells in a tumor can damage and destroy surrounding healthy body tissues. When these healthy tissues are damaged and destroyed, the person with the tumor can become very sick.

Cancer is capable to spreading to other parts of the body, as well. It is not unusual for part of a tumor to break off and travel to a distant area. Once that piece of the tumor comes to a stop in another area of the body, it will continue to grow and can create a new tumor. When cancer spreads like this, it is called metastasis.

When in the body, cancer can cause a person to feel very sick. Since early detection is a big factor in treatment, it is good to be aware of the signs of this disease. Some signs of cancer include:

· A lump in the breast or testicles
· A change in the skin, a wart or a mole
· Persistent sore throat that doesn’t heal
· A significant change in bladder and bowel movements
· Coughing blood or a persistent cough that won’t stop
· Indigestion and trouble swallowing
· Unusual bleeding or vaginal discharge
· Chronic fatigue

Many of these symptoms can be from other illnesses which are not as serious as cancer. However, if you are ever faced with any of the symptoms above, it might be a good idea to see your family physician right away. Although the exact cause of cancer is still somewhat of a mystery, it is known that cancer is not contagious. You cannot catch cancer like you can the common cold. Unhealthy habits like smoking and excess drinking can increase your chances of getting cancer, but doctors aren’t sure why some people get this serious disease and others do not.

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Understanding cancer is not difficult if we start looking at cancer from the inside. The cancer starts in the cells, and Cells can break off from a malignant tumour and start to grow in another part of the body, this is known as a secondary tumour. Cells in these tumors are abnormal and divide without control or order.

They can invade and damage nearby tissues and organs. Cells grow by dividing in half, such that one cell will become two, and two become four (these new cells are called daughter cells), etc . Normally, there are very strict rules as to when a cell can grow or not. Cells in benign tumors do not spread to other parts of the body. Most important, benign tumors are rarely a threat to life. Cells deprived of oxygen die and decay, which is why some cancers have an odor. The term for this new blood vessel growth is angiogenesis.

Obviously as you may know already, malignant tumors are cancerous. These tumors contain cells that divide and grow without order. Malignant tumors (cancers) can spread to other tissues or organs nearby or to other parts of the body. This is called metastasis . Malignant tumors are tumors that are capable of spreading by invasion and metastasis. By definition, the term “cancer” applies only to malignant tumors.Malignant means that the disease, if not treated, can progress and lead to death. Malignant tumors are cancer. Cancer cells can invade and damage tissues and organs near the tumor. Malignant tissues can invade and damage other tissues and organs. Cancer cells can then break away from the tumour and enter the bloodstream or lymphatic system, spreading the cancer to other parts of the body. The serious part of this is that malignant tumours metastasize to other organs of the body and continue developing unlimitedly.

In the other hand Benign tumors can often be removed by surgery, and they are not likely to return. Some tumors of the testicle are benign, but most are not. Benign tumors are not usually life threatening. Benign tumors, although they may cause some health problems depending on their size and location, are not life-threatening. Benign (noncancerous) tumors can also grow anywhere in your mouth.

Benign tumors are well-differentiated —in other words, they differ only slightly in appearance and behavior from their tissue of origin. These tumors are slow growing and noninvasive, do not spread throughout the body, and will often have a fibrous tissue capsule around them. Treatments are related to a particular cancer’s usual behavior. For a cancer that is aggressive locally (where it is first detected), local treatments such as surgery, radiation therapy, and photodynamic therapy may be used.

Treatment depends on the kind of treatment the patient had when first treated. If the patient had surgery alone, the patient may have surgery again or radiation therapy. Radiation therapy destroys or damages cancer cells by targeting high energy x-rays to the tissues. Radiation therapy is usually painless and is provided in an out patient setting. Radiation is a special kind of energy carried by waves or a stream of particles originating from radioactive substances and delivered by special machines. These radioactive x-rays or gamma rays can penetrate the cell wall and damage the nucleus of the cell which prevents growth and division of cells.