Custom Search by Tirgan.com

Home    Content    services

 Signs and Symptoms of Cancer

Signs are what patients feel or notice and report to their doctors. On the other hand, symptoms are what a physician detects in his evaluation of a patient.

Different cancers have different signs, all of which depend upon the extent of the cancer. The more advanced a cancer is, the more signs will be manifested. Most cancers in their earlier stages have no signs. As they grow and become sizeable, they will produce some signs.

Some signs are due to direct effect of the cancer in an organ:

• Shortness of breath, cough, stomach pain, etc.

• Feeling a lump in the breast

• Shortness of breath, cough or blood in sputum in patients with lung cancer

• Pain in the abdomen in patients with tumors of liver, stomach or bowels

• Bone pain

• Headache

• Backache

Some signs are due to an indirect effect of cancer:

·         Weakness, fatigue, loss of appetite, weight loss

Please keep in mind that many other illnesses can cause these signs and not everyone with the aforementioned signs has cancer. However, it is crucial to diagnose cancer at an early stage, when cure is possible. Detecting cancers, even before they cause any signs or symptoms, is done by using Screening tests. These are tests that are performed on a large scale on healthy individuals, i.e., tests such as PAP smears, mammograms, etc.