What You Need To Know About Cancer

Cancer is An abnormal growth of cells which tend to proliferate in an uncontrolled way and, in some cases, to metastasize (spread).

Cancer is not one disease. It is a group of more than 100 different and distinctive diseases.

Cancer can involve any tissue of the body and have many different forms in each body area. Most cancers are named for the type of cell or organ in which they start. If a cancer spreads (metastasizes), the new tumor bears the same name as the original (primary) tumor.

The frequency of a particular cancer may depend on gender. While skin cancer is the most common type of malignancy for both men and women, the second most common type in men is prostate cancer and in women, breast cancer.

Cancer frequency does not equate to cancer mortality. Skin cancers are often curable. Lung cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer for both men and women in the world today.

Benign tumors are NOT cancer; malignant tumors are cancer. Cancer is NOT contagious.

Cancer is the Latin word for crab. The ancients used the word to mean a malignancy, doubtless because of the crab-like tenacity a malignant tumor sometimes seems to show in grasping the tissues it invades. Cancer may also be called malignancy, a malignant tumor, or a neoplasm (literally, a new growth).

ORIGIN OF CANCER

All cancers begin in cells, the body's basic unit of life. To understand cancer, it's helpful to know what happens when normal cells become cancer cells.

The body is made up of many types of cells. These cells grow and divide in a controlled way to produce more cells as they are needed to keep the body healthy. When cells become old or damaged, they die and are replaced with new cells.

But sometimes this orderly process goes wrong. The genetic material (DNA) of a cell can become damaged or changed, producing mutations that affect normal cell growth and division. When this happens, cells do not die when they should and new cells form when the body does not need them. The extra cells may form a mass of tissue called a tumor.

COMMON TYPES OF CANCER

A. Bone Cancer

B. Brain Cancer

C. Breast Cancer

D. Endocrine Cancer

E. Gastrointestinal Cancer

F. Gynecologic Cancer

G. Head & Neck Cancer

H. Leukemia

I. Lung Cancer

J. Lymphoma

K. Multiple Myeloma

L. Prostate Cancer

M. Skin Cancer

N. Soft Tissue Sarcoma

CAUSES OF CANCER

some causes of cancer, such as smoking, can be controlled. Others, like a person's age or family history, can't be changed.

Causes

Scientists have found many factors that make a person more likely to get hepatocellular liver cancer.

1.Gender

Men are more likely to get liver cancer than are women. This could be because of the behaviors listed below, such as smoking and alcohol abuse.

There are also some inherited liver diseases that increase the risk of liver cancer.

2. Cirrhosis

Cirrhosis (suh-row-sis) is a disease in which liver cells are damaged and replaced with scar tissue. This can often lead to cancer. In this country, the major causes of liver cirrhosis are alcohol abuse and hepatitis B and C. Another cause is a disease that results in too much iron in the liver.

3. Diabetes

Diabetes can increase the risk of liver cancer. This is more common in diabetics who have other risk factors such as heavy drinking or viral hepatitis.

4. Obesity

Obesity might increase the risk of getting liver cancer.

5. Aflatoxins

These cancer-causing substances are made by a fungus that can contaminate peanuts, wheat, soybeans, groundnuts, corn, and rice. Long-term exposure to aflatoxins can increase the risk of liver cancer. In the United States and Europe, these foods are tested for aflatoxins.

6. Vinyl Chloride and Thorium Dioxide (Thorotrast)

These chemicals are risk factors for several types of liver cancer. They have become much less important since Thorotrast is no longer used and exposure to vinyl chloride is strictly controlled.

7. Anabolic Steroids

These male hormones are used by some athletes to increase their strength. Long-term use of these can slightly increase the risk of liver cancer.

8. Arsenic

In some parts of the world, drinking water contaminated with arsenic increases the risk of liver cancer. This is a concern in some areas of the United States.

Less Certain Risk Factors for Liver Cancer

Birth Control Pills

Birth control pills may slightly increase the risk of liver cancer. Most of the studies linking birth control pills and cancer involve types of pills that are no longer used. Birth control pills are now made in a different way, and it is not known if they increase liver cancer risk. Tobacco

Some studies have found a link between smoking and liver cancer, but the extent of this is not known.

CANCER SYSTOMS TO NOTE

Local Symptoms

Unusual Lumps

Swelling

Hemorrhage/Bleeding

Pain

Ulcers

Jaundice

Systemic Systoms

Weight Loss

Poor Appetite

Fatigue

Cachexia (Loss of weight, muscle atrophy, fatigue, weakness, and significant loss of appetite)

Excessive Sweating

Night Sweats

Anemia

Thrombosis

Hormonal Changes

HOW TO PREVENT CANCER

Food: Eat organic produce, especially fruits whose peels are eaten, and avoid red meat. Eat low on the food chain, choosing more fresh produce and grains and less meat.

Cleaning products: Look under the kitchen sink, and avoid using anything that carries a skull and crossbones. Buy baking soda and vinegar instead - they're just as good.

Cellphones: Limit your calls as much as possible, to lower direct microwave penetration to your brain.

Non-stick cookware and stain repellents: Throw out any old, cracked non-stick pans, since the chemical, PFOA, used to make the non-stick coating has been linked to cancer. It is also presernt in stain-resistant clothing, and waterproof fabrics. Rain-proof gear is OK,, but not next to the skin.

Personal care items: Avoid anything that contains parabens - butylparaben, methylparaben - which in some studies have shown estrogenic activity, and which have also been found in human breast tumours. "We have to create political change so young mothers and fathers don't need to be chemists to decide on a shampoo for their baby." - Devra Davis.

Prevention is the best single opportunity we have to stop the cancer epidemic in The world.I invite you to join Me now!