What is cancer ? Symptoms, Causes and Treatment
What is cancer? This is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth, which has the ability to infiltrate and damage healthy cells in the body.Every cell of the body has a controlling Center called the nucleus. The nucleus consists of a series of DNA chains that serve as a regulator of the nature and workings of each cell, including for splitting.
Normally, the cell will divide themselves according to the time specified and with genetic traits in normal cells.
But when the mutations in the cells, the cell's genetic information in the DNA chain is damaged, the printed double or even lost, at a time when the process of cell division in cancer, mutations occur in which cells would divide ourselves too much so it will be forming a network of the tumor.
Based on the type of cell that is stricken with cancer, can be divided into 5 groups:
In addition to the grouping, the disease is also divided in accordance with the place of origin of the network developing cancer such as lung cancer or breast cancer.
The main causes of cancer is a mutation of DNA in cells, so the cells break down himself with speeds exceeding normal. Finally, there was a buildup of new cells are not needed by the body. The new cells will continue to grow into adults and then be splitting again, and so on. In addition, mutations also occur in the gene responsible for repairing DNA damage.
Normally, these genes function to see any abnormalities that occur in the DNA of cells, then fix it. Because these genes undergo mutation, this gene is not able to correct the abnormalities-abnormalities that are present in the cells until the cells become malignant in nature. There are several factors that can cause the occurrence of mutations in normal cells, and can originate from within and outside of the cell.
A mutation that comes from within the cell is generally obtainable genetically from parents. While the causes of the factors from outside the cells, the most common is by exposure to substances that can trigger the occurrence of mutations (mutagen). Some of the substances included in the classes of mutagens include:
Mutations due to external factors can also be caused by other factors like obesity, chronic inflammatory and lack of physical activity. In General, external factors are more at risk of causing cell undergoes mutations compared to internal factors.
Risk factors that can increase a person's chances of developing cancer are as follows:
The symptoms that arise vary considerably depending on the type of cancer is experienced as well as exposed organ cancer. Some of the common symptoms experienced by patients with cancer are:
If you experience any of these symptoms, especially symptoms that settled over a long period, it is advisable to immediately consult with a doctor. Risk factors and a history of cancer in the family also need to be consulted so that routine screening examinations may be conducted and can diagnose early.
After having done these tests and patients suffering from cancer, doctors ascertained will determine levels (stadium) of cancer. In General, the Division of the stages of cancer are as follows:
In addition to the systems tier stadium, also known by the TNM system level details are as follows:
In the case of undiagnosed at an early stage, can be found a condition in the form of a collection of abnormal cells in the body. Collection times can develop into cancer in time to come, but too small to form a tumor. This condition called dysplasia or carcinoma in situ in a division called cancer levels stadium 0. Some doctors call this condition as non-invasive cancer. Carcinoma in situ is generally difficult to detect due to its size is very small, except in a place easily visible (e.g. in the skin). Some type of examination the screening can also detect in situ Carcinoma of the breast or cervix.
Determination of the level of violence and the spread of cancer is a very important part in the diagnosis of cancer because it will determine the most effective type of treatment for the patient.
There are various methods of cancer treatment, chosen based on the type and degree of malignancy cancer patients suffered. The methods commonly used are as follows:
Either cancer or cancer treatments can weaken the resilience of the person's body. Cancer can weaken the immune system if the cancer cells spread to the bone marrow the place of white blood cells are produced. General types of leukemia and Lymphoma cancer can weaken the immune system but some other types of cancer also can weaken the immune system.
Such as the treatment of other diseases, cancer treatments have side effects on the body. One of the side effects is lower the number of blood cells in the body and slows the production of blood. At the beginning of the treatment, the number of white blood cells will decline. Under normal conditions, the white blood cells that are experiencing the death will be replaced with new white blood cells for a week or two weeks. But cancer treatments that are being lived can slow down the process of regeneration of white blood cells. This condition can weaken the immune system of the patient so that the patient is more easily affected by secondary infections due to a weak immune system.
Red blood cells normally have a lifespan of about three months so that the process of regeneration of red blood cells is slower than white blood cells. Cancer treatment primarily of chemotherapy can reduce the number of red blood cells so that people who do not have the risk of anemia can be affected by anemia. If the red blood cell count very little can do a blood transfusion for patients.
Platelets can also decline due to cancer treatment. Symptoms of decreased platelets can be observed from the occurrence of nosebleeds, bruising, or a red rash on the skin. This side effect can be overcome by giving transfusions of platelets to the sufferer. Generally, after patients received chemotherapy in long-term, platelets require a longer time to grow to a normal amount compared to other blood cells.
In order for the cancer treatment given to a patient can kill cancer cells most commonly, patients will be given a combination of multiple therapies.In some cases, the cancer cells can be resistant to treatment of cancer so it is more difficult to treat.
The resistance of cancer cells arises due to mutations that occur in cancer cells constantly so fickle cell genetic traits. If this happens, the doctor will give you some kind of combination treatment to the patient. But in some cases are more rare, having done any cancer treatment combination would still have resistance. The condition is called multidrug resistance.
Normally, the cell will divide themselves according to the time specified and with genetic traits in normal cells.
But when the mutations in the cells, the cell's genetic information in the DNA chain is damaged, the printed double or even lost, at a time when the process of cell division in cancer, mutations occur in which cells would divide ourselves too much so it will be forming a network of the tumor.
Based on the type of cell that is stricken with cancer, can be divided into 5 groups:
- Carcinoma, cancer that originated in the skin tissue or organs in the outer layer of the network. Carcinoma is divided into several subtypes of adenocarcinoma among others, basal cell cancer, squamous cell cancer, and cancer cell transition.
- Sarcoma, cancer that is derived from a connective tissue such as bone tissue, cartilaginous tissue, fat tissue, muscle tissue, and a network of blood vessels.
- Leukemia, a cancer of blood-forming tissues derived from such as bone marrow. This type of cancer-causing excessive blood cell production that will be then released into the bloodstream.
- Lymphoma and Myeloma, cancer originating from cells in the immune system.
- Cancer in the brain and spinal cord, i.e. cancer that comes from central nervous system tissue.
In addition to the grouping, the disease is also divided in accordance with the place of origin of the network developing cancer such as lung cancer or breast cancer.
What is cancer ? What is the cause
The main causes of cancer is a mutation of DNA in cells, so the cells break down himself with speeds exceeding normal. Finally, there was a buildup of new cells are not needed by the body. The new cells will continue to grow into adults and then be splitting again, and so on. In addition, mutations also occur in the gene responsible for repairing DNA damage.
Normally, these genes function to see any abnormalities that occur in the DNA of cells, then fix it. Because these genes undergo mutation, this gene is not able to correct the abnormalities-abnormalities that are present in the cells until the cells become malignant in nature. There are several factors that can cause the occurrence of mutations in normal cells, and can originate from within and outside of the cell.
A mutation that comes from within the cell is generally obtainable genetically from parents. While the causes of the factors from outside the cells, the most common is by exposure to substances that can trigger the occurrence of mutations (mutagen). Some of the substances included in the classes of mutagens include:
- Smoking
- Radiation
- Virus
- Carcinogenic chemicals
- Hormones
Mutations due to external factors can also be caused by other factors like obesity, chronic inflammatory and lack of physical activity. In General, external factors are more at risk of causing cell undergoes mutations compared to internal factors.
Risk factors that can increase a person's chances of developing cancer are as follows:
- Age. The development of cancer in a person can happen in a very long period of time because it's mostly cancer patients is the elderly above age 65 years. However, cancer can also be experienced by anyone regardless of age.
- A family history. Genetic mutations can be inherited from parents. If someone has a family member who became a cancer sufferer, there is a chance that person has a risk of developing the same condition. Recommended for people who have a history of cancer in the family to undergo a genetic test in order to examine the existence of a genetic mutation of the derivative on the person.
- Chronic health conditions. Some chronic diseases can increase the risk of cancer. Such as ulcerative colitis can increase the risk of colon cancer in a person.
- The environment. Environmental factors can increase the risk of cancer in a person. An example is a dangerous chemical compound such as benzene or asbestos. Smoking also increases the risk of cancer, especially lung cancer.
- The infection. Some viruses can be a cause or increase the risk of the occurrence of cancer. An example is the hepatitis B and C viruses which can cause the occurrence of liver cancer. In addition, viral infection HPV (human papillomavirus) in women can lead to the occurrence of cervical cancer. Disorders of the immune system.
- Immune system disorders. Sufferers or people with weak immune systems are more easily affected by cancer than healthy people. Disorders of the immune system can derive from infections such as HIV/AIDS or medications that suppress the body's durability.
What is cancer ? How do the Symptoms
The symptoms that arise vary considerably depending on the type of cancer is experienced as well as exposed organ cancer. Some of the common symptoms experienced by patients with cancer are:
- Fatigue and feel limp.
- Desired weight without changes, can be either a decrease or increase in weight.
- The appearance of a lump or thickening of the felt under the skin.
- Changes to the skin, such as yellowing, turn dark, or blush. It can also be an abnormality or wound pain and failed to recover.
- Fever and night sweat in a prolonged period of time.
- Bleeding and bruising which is not clear is why.
If you experience any of these symptoms, especially symptoms that settled over a long period, it is advisable to immediately consult with a doctor. Risk factors and a history of cancer in the family also need to be consulted so that routine screening examinations may be conducted and can diagnose early.
Diagnosis and Division of cancer
Getting early cancer undiagnosed, the greater the chance of recovering to its victims. Therefore it is highly recommended to those who have a risk of developing cancer to consult a doctor associated risk factors. A cancer diagnosis steps did doctor is:- Physical examination. A physical examination is done to show signs of cancer can be an examination of the lump under the skin, skin discoloration, and swelling of the body organs.
- Laboratory tests. Examination of blood and urine may be done to check for the abnormal condition of the body. An example is in the case of leukemia, which doctors can perform laboratory tests in the form of complete blood cell count calculation to diagnose increased leukocyte cell count are not normal.
- Imaging tests. These tests serve to map out the internal organs and bones without doing surgery. Imaging tests may be done on a CT scan, a bone scan, MRI, PET scan, ultrasound examination, x-rays, and others.
- Biopsy. This inspection is carried out by taking a sample of a network that allegedly experienced cancer to be observed using a microscope in a laboratory. Through the microscope, the structure of the tissue samples can be observed more clearly. Normal cells are usually seen as cells whose size is uniform and arranged neatly. Whereas, in the cancer cells, the size will look different and the order was not neat. A biopsy is an examination of the most accurate in determining whether someone getting cancer or not.
After having done these tests and patients suffering from cancer, doctors ascertained will determine levels (stadium) of cancer. In General, the Division of the stages of cancer are as follows:
- Stage 1. Indicates that the cancer is small and remains in place organ cancer originated.
- Stage 2. Indicates that cancer has not spread to the surrounding tissue, but the size of the cancer is already larger than the stadium 1. On some types of cancer, stage 2 means the cancer cells had already spread to the lymph nodes closest to the organ cancer.
- Stage 3. The size of the cancer is already larger than the stage 2 and cancer cells have started to spread to other organs or tissues, as well as to lymph nodes around cancer.
- Stage 4. Indicates that cancer has already spread to other organs or tissues.
In addition to the systems tier stadium, also known by the TNM system level details are as follows:
- T (Tumor). Describes the size and the spread of cancer to the network around. To illustrate the size of cancer used the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, with number 1, which indicates the size of the smallest and most 4.
- N (Lymph). Describe the spread of cancer to the lymph nodes (lymph nodes) around cancer. To describe the spread of cancer used numbers 0, 1, 2, 3 with 0 indicates cancer has not spread to the lymph nodes and 3 denotes lymph nodes has been affected by cancer.
- M (Metastasis). Describe the spread of cancer to other organs. The 0 indicates cancer has not spread to other organs and the number 1 indicates cancer has already spread to other organs.
In the case of undiagnosed at an early stage, can be found a condition in the form of a collection of abnormal cells in the body. Collection times can develop into cancer in time to come, but too small to form a tumor. This condition called dysplasia or carcinoma in situ in a division called cancer levels stadium 0. Some doctors call this condition as non-invasive cancer. Carcinoma in situ is generally difficult to detect due to its size is very small, except in a place easily visible (e.g. in the skin). Some type of examination the screening can also detect in situ Carcinoma of the breast or cervix.
Determination of the level of violence and the spread of cancer is a very important part in the diagnosis of cancer because it will determine the most effective type of treatment for the patient.
What is cancer? How do I cure
Different types of cancer treatment have already found and used for patients with cancer. The type of treatment that will be applied to the doctor depends on several things, such as the type of cancer, stage of cancer, location of cancer, the patient's health condition in General, as well as the patient's request. The doctor will give consideration related benefits and risks of each treatment. The main goal of cancer treatment is as follows:- Healing the patient. Healing is the main purpose of various cancer treatments that do. The achievement of this goal or not depends on many factors, such as the type and degree of malignancy of cancer as well as the General State of the patient.
- The primary treatment. The purpose of the primary treatment is to remove or kill the cancerous tissue in the body as a whole without any cells left behind. Different types of treatment can be used so that cancer cells can be removed from the patient, but commonly used is surgically removed. If the type of cancer the patient has a sensitivity to radiotherapy or chemotherapy, both types of treatment can be used as a primary treatment.
- Adjuvant/additional treatment. The goal of treatment is to eliminate the adjuvant remains of cancer cells that are still in the patient's body he did post a primary treatment. Treatment of adjuvant can also be done to prevent cancer reappeared in patients. Adjuvant commonly used treatment is a treatment of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and hormone therapy.
- Palliative treatment. The purpose of palliative treatment is to relieve symptoms and side effects of the treatment of primary and adjuvants, not to cure.
There are various methods of cancer treatment, chosen based on the type and degree of malignancy cancer patients suffered. The methods commonly used are as follows:
- Surgery. The goal of surgery is to remove the cancerous tissue in the body as fully as possible.
- Chemotherapy. Is the treatment of cancer using chemical compounds in the form of drugs.
- Radiotherapy. Is the treatment of cancer with the use of high-energy rays to kill cancer cells. Radiotherapy can use beams of radiation from outside the body (external beam radiation) or plant in the body of the patient.
- Stem cell transplants (stem cell). Stem cell transplantation is also called bone marrow grafts involved producing blood cells. The transplanted stem cells can be derived from the patient or from stem cell donors. In addition to done to replace bone marrow disorders or who are experiencing violence, stem cell transplantation can also be done to provide opportunities for doctors use chemotherapy with higher doses on the other types of cancer.
- Immunotherapy. This also known as biologic therapy aimed at helping the immune system in identifying cancer cells then kill him. Cancer cells if not combated by the immune system can spread uncontrollably and endanger patients.
- Hormone therapy. Some cancers can come up with is triggered by hormones such as breast cancer and prostate. Lowering or eliminating hormone levels in the body may stop the growth of the cancerous tissue.
- Targeted drug therapy. Dispensing drugs capable of turning off the abnormal cells only, without attacking the healthy cells.
Either cancer or cancer treatments can weaken the resilience of the person's body. Cancer can weaken the immune system if the cancer cells spread to the bone marrow the place of white blood cells are produced. General types of leukemia and Lymphoma cancer can weaken the immune system but some other types of cancer also can weaken the immune system.
Such as the treatment of other diseases, cancer treatments have side effects on the body. One of the side effects is lower the number of blood cells in the body and slows the production of blood. At the beginning of the treatment, the number of white blood cells will decline. Under normal conditions, the white blood cells that are experiencing the death will be replaced with new white blood cells for a week or two weeks. But cancer treatments that are being lived can slow down the process of regeneration of white blood cells. This condition can weaken the immune system of the patient so that the patient is more easily affected by secondary infections due to a weak immune system.
Red blood cells normally have a lifespan of about three months so that the process of regeneration of red blood cells is slower than white blood cells. Cancer treatment primarily of chemotherapy can reduce the number of red blood cells so that people who do not have the risk of anemia can be affected by anemia. If the red blood cell count very little can do a blood transfusion for patients.
Platelets can also decline due to cancer treatment. Symptoms of decreased platelets can be observed from the occurrence of nosebleeds, bruising, or a red rash on the skin. This side effect can be overcome by giving transfusions of platelets to the sufferer. Generally, after patients received chemotherapy in long-term, platelets require a longer time to grow to a normal amount compared to other blood cells.
How Cancer Could Reappear (Relapse)
Cancer can recur in a person after treatment in cancer patients. Several events recurrence of cancer is described as follows:- Recurrence of post-surgery. Cancer can recur in cancer patients who are already undergoing treatment through surgery due to the following:
- Some cancer cells still lag behind in the body of post adoption cancerous tissue.
- Cancer cells had already spread from the original organ cancer before surgery is performed.
The surgeon who did the appointment of cancer patients will try everything possible to eliminate the entire cancer cells. But there is still the possibility of a small portion of cancer cells left behind in patients so that it could reappear and cause a relapse. To overcome this the doctor will recommend additional treatment of post-surgery that all cancer cells can be killed. Additional treatment can be done with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, and hormone therapy. - Relapse post-chemotherapy. The working principle of treatment of chemotherapy is killing the cells that are currently in the phase of cell division. Chemotherapy was given at regular intervals with the aim of killing the entire existing cancer cells in patients despite having a cleavage phase time vary. Nevertheless, such as the appointment of cancer through surgery, chemotherapy is not able to kill cancer cells. A small part of the cancer cells will be left the last post-chemotherapy so that there is a likelihood of cancer relapse. To address this possibility doctors will try everything possible so that some cancer cells can be killed through chemotherapy.The remainder of the cancer cells will be killed through the patient's immune system or will die by itself.
- Recurrence of post radiotherapy. On the implementation of radiotherapy, healthy cells around the cancerous tissue will also damage healthy again although it will by itself. The same thing also happened with cancer cells especially if there are some cells that are not killed through radiotherapy.
- Relapse post-biological therapy. Some type of biological therapy serves to kill cancer cells but some are just reducing the size of cancer without killing him. Like other therapy, biological therapy can also leave a small portion of post-treatment cancer cells can grow and appear back in the time to come.
In order for the cancer treatment given to a patient can kill cancer cells most commonly, patients will be given a combination of multiple therapies.In some cases, the cancer cells can be resistant to treatment of cancer so it is more difficult to treat.
The resistance of cancer cells arises due to mutations that occur in cancer cells constantly so fickle cell genetic traits. If this happens, the doctor will give you some kind of combination treatment to the patient. But in some cases are more rare, having done any cancer treatment combination would still have resistance. The condition is called multidrug resistance.
Cancer Prevention
Some things that can be done to prevent cancer are as follows:- Stop smoking. Smoking can increase the risk of a person is exposed to various types of cancer, especially lung cancer.
- Avoid sunburn. Harmful ultraviolet rays from the Sun can increase the risk of developing skin cancer. Avoid sunburn by way of dwelling place shade, wear closed, or using sunscreen.
- Set up a healthy diet. Multiply eat fruits, vegetables, whole grains (such as wheat), and foods rich in protein.
- Exercising regularly every week. Regular exercise to decrease the risk of cancer in a person.
- Keep the weight off. Experience the condition of obesity or overweight can increase the risk of cancer in a person. To keep the weight to keep the ideal can be through maintaining a healthy diet and exercise routine.
- Reduce and stop drinking alcohol. If you are active in consuming alcohol, limit the number of consumption to 1-2 times per day.
- Schedule regular cancer screening examination.
- Vaccination consultation with a doctor. Some types of cancer are caused by a virus so that it could be avoided by vaccination. Examples of cancers that can be avoided by vaccination cervical cancer are caused by HPV infection and liver cancer caused by hepatitis a virus infection.