Cancer is relatively a broad term that describes cellular changes that cause the uncontrolled or stagnated growth and division of cells.
Cancerous cells build up in the body, using oxygen and nutrients that nourish other cells.
Cancerous cells can appear in one area and then spread throughout the body via the lymph nodes, which are clusters of immune cells.
Some cancers result in visible tumors, while others, like leukemia, do not.
Causes
There are many cases of cancer annually in the U.S., some of which are preventable. In addition to smoking, risk factors include:
- Excessive Alcohol Consumption
- Excess Body Weight
- Physical Inactivity
- Bad Nutrition
Genetic predisposition can contribute to the development of cancer.
If a parent has the genes with changed proteins that cannot repair damaged cells, they may pass on the altered instructions to their children.
Some genetic changes happen after birth with factors like smoking and sun exposure increases the risk.
Other changes that take place in chemical signals that determine how the body ‘expresses’ specific genes can also result in cancer.
Types
Some of the most common types of cancer in the U.S. are breast cancer, followed by lung and prostate cancers.
Every year, more than 40,000 people in the country get diagnosed with one of the following types of cancer:
- Bladder
- Colon and Rectal
- Endometrial
- Kidney
- Leukemia
- Liver
- Melanoma
- Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
- Pancreatic
- Thyroid
Treatments
Common cancer treatments include
- Chemotherapy: This aims to kill cancerous cells with medications that specifically target rapidly dividing cells and can also shrink tumors, but with severe side effects.
- Hormone Therapy: This involves medications that change how specific hormones work or interfere with the body’s ability to produce them. This is a common approach with cancers like breast and prostate cancer.
- Immunotherapy: This uses medications and other treatments to boost and encourage the immune system to fight cancerous cells.
- Radiation Therapy: This uses a high-dose of radiation to kill cancerous cells.
- Stem Cell Transplants: These can be especially beneficial for people who have blood-related cancers like leukemia or lymphoma. Stem cell transplants involve removing cells like red or white blood cells, that chemotherapy or radiation has destroyed. The cells are then strengthened and put back into the body.
- Targeted Therapies: These perform certain functions within cancerous cells that prevent them from multiplying. Examples of these therapies include small-molecule drugs and monoclonal antibodies.