What type of disease cancer is?

The word cancer is one of the most frightening diagnoses a doctor can render to a patient. The disease is unpredictable, often devastating, and to a great extent still surrounded by misconceptions. For one thing, cancer is not a single illness; rather, it comprises more than a hundred different diseases, which can affect almost any part of the body. All cancers, however, share a common trait; the uncontrolled growth and proliferation of abnormal, or malignant, cells. Such cells not only form tumors that invade adjacent healthy tissues, they can also migrate to other parts of the body and attack organs and tissues far from the original cancer site.

Despite the destructive potential of the disease, a diagnosis of cancer today need not be a death sentence. Thanks to the availability of improved cancer screening tests and potent new anticancer agents, many cancers can be cured – but only if they are detected and treated early enough. That is why it is so important to be aware of the early warning signs and to seek medical help if you think you have detected one of them.

Cancer is a disease of the body’s cells, the microscopic units that form and repair tissues and organs, and provide the proteins and energy-producing compounds the body needs to remain alive and healthy. It contains hundreds of different kinds of cells: nerve cells, for example, which carry crucial messages to and from the brain; blood cells, which carry oxygen and food to every part and help to fight infections; and muscle cells, which contract and enable the body to move. In addition, cells in various organs produce special chemicals that help you to digest food, have children and regulate hundreds of other body processes. For the most part, each type of cell has a unique function, and each grows in a particular place and at a particular rate.

For various reasons – some known, others not – certain cells become cancerous, that is, they suddenly abandon their normal growth pattern and being to reproduce uncontrollably. As these cells multiply, they form a lump, or primary tumor. From this tumor, cancer calls often travel through the lymphatic system or the bloodstream to other parts of the body, and form tumors there as well. This spreading and clumping of cancerous cells is known as metasis. In time, cancer cells tend to crowd out and replace normal cells. In general, the severity of the disease depends on the extent to which malignant cells spread and erode normal body functions.