Overview of Cancer - There Are Over 100 Diseases That Are Sheltered Under The Umbrella Of Cancer

Overview of Cancer

There are over 100 diseases that are sheltered under the umbrella of cancer. The common denominator of all is an abnormal division of cells, malignant cells are growing uncontrollably. It is known that cell division is an important process that allows the body to grow and repair damage when the DNA that controls cell division failure, cancer enters the picture. These cancer cells invade other tissues and healthy, something that normal cells do not.

Causes

Damage to DNA cause cells to replicate this instead of dying when not needed, thereby creating more cells containing damaged DNA. There are many causes for this damage, from birth defects to environmental causes such as smoking or exposure to asbestos.

However, the cause is not always known. If the cancer cells spread to other parts of the body such as blood or lymph nodes, are said to be metastatic This is usually a sign that the cancer is in its later stages, making the disease more difficult to treat.

Although commonly speak interchangeably of tumor and cancer, these words refer to two different things: not all cancers cause a tumor and not all tumors are cancerous. Leukemia causes eg cancer cells to the blood and the organs that secrete as bone but does not form a tumor. Benign tumors are not cancerous and do not invade other tissues. However a benign tumor can cause health problems if it grows and presses on other organs interfering the function of these.

Cancers

Cancer can be divided into different categories according to the location where they originate. Carcinomas are cancers that begin in the skin or in the membrane of internal organs, while sarcomas are those that start in the bones, cartilage, blood in the large intestine and other connected tissues. Leukemia as we have said before, begins in tissues that produce blood and lymphoma and myeloma are cancers of the tissues and organs of the immune system. Finally, central nervous system cancers are those that develop in the brain and spinal cord.

Unfortunately the cancer has become a very common phenomenon. The American Cancer Society provides that a third of women and half of men in the U.S. will develop cancer at some time in their lives. According to the National Cancer Institute, more than 1.5 million cancers excluding melanoma were diagnosed in 2010 and 569,490 people died of cancer.Risk factors vary from region to region as well as from person to person. Known risk factors include smoking, excessive drinking, exposure to UV rays and sunlight and a poor diet.