If someone asked you to define cancer, could you do it? We all have heard the word "cancer" many times, however very few people understand the disease and how it develops.
Cancer is a complex group of over 100 different diseases. Cancer can affect just about every organ in the human body.
The organs in our body are made up of cells.
Cells divide and multiply as the body needs them. When these cells continue
multiplying when the body doesn't need them, the result is a mass or growth,
also called a tumor.
These growths are consider either benign or malignant. Benign is considered
non-cancerous and malignant is cancerous.
The cells within
malignant tumors have the ability to invade neighboring tissues and
organs, thus spreading the disease. It is also possible for cancerous cells
to break free from the tumor and enter the blood stream, and spreading the
disease to other organs. This process of spreading is called metastasis.
When cancer has metastasized and has affected other areas of the body, the
disease is still referred to the organ of origination. For instance, if
cervical cancer spreads to the lungs, it is still called cervical
cancer, not
lung cancer.
Although most cancers develop this way, diseases like
leukemia do not. They affect the blood and the organs that form blood
and then invade nearby tissues.
All cancers are different, and require different
treatment. What may be effective for
prostate cancer, probably will not be for
bladder cancer. Diagnosing cancer will vary as well, depending on the
organ affected.