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What is Cancer

Mankind has been suffering from cancer since antiquity. Scientists have found evidence of widespread cancers in 4th century B.C. Mummies from Peru.

Cancer is an illness that is due to abnormal growth and development of cells. Cells are smallest building blocks of our body. Our body is a complex systems, composed of many organs such as lungs, liver, kidneys, heart, etc. Each organ of our body is built of billions of cells.

Most cells have a predetermined life span and as they die newer cells are born, a process called growth and development of cells. Every cell in our body is programmed to perform in a particular way. Same is true for a program in each cell that governs their growth and aging and final death. Cancers are due to errors in this process. Such errors can cause rapid growth and accumulation of the abnormal cells or delayed cell death. The result is development of a new tissue, the cancer tissue.

Medical science has begun to learn and understand these errors in cell growth. It appears that there are more than one error involved in development of cancers. And since we are all living a longer age, we are exposing our cells to a higher risk of developing such error. As a result, we are seeing more cancer patients now as compared to 50 or 100 years ago. We also see the difference in cancer rates in countries where life span is shorter than in United States. Americans above age of 65 have almost tenfold risk of developing cancer than their younger counterparts.

There are many other illnesses that are due to errors in cell growth and result in accumulation of abnormal cells. Some of these illnesses are Benign, meaning that that they will not cause a major complication for the patients. Malignant illnesses on the other hand are the ones that can cause major complications and eventual death of a patient unless successfully treated.

Cancer can develop in any body organ or tissue, with the exception of hair and nails. Most common cancers are Lung, Breast, Colon and Prostate cancers.

Development and progress of a cancer takes place over a very long period of time. It may be years, from the time an error in a cell happens, until a patient would develop signs of cancer.

Cancers have a tendency to spread to other tissues and organs. For example, a cancer that develops in the lung, can spread to the bones or to the brain. This process is called Metastasis, and normally takes place in most cancer. Cancer cells have very complex abilities, one of which is their ability to find their ways to blood stream. Once in blood stream, they can travel to almost every part of the body.

Cancer is a very common problem in the world. In United States, it is the second leading cause of death after heart disease and it afflicts more than 1.3 million people every year. This does not include another one million who develop skin cancers and In Situ Cancers (very early stages of breast, uterine, etc. cancers). Cancer is slightly more frequent in men than women.