Cancer - Symptom, Treatment And Causes

Cancer occurs when the controlled mechanism of the body is not able to function properly, leading to the development and rampant growth of the malignant cells in the body. These abnormally formed cells form a mass of tissues called tumor, which result in the growth of cancer. Symptoms and signs of cancer vary depending on which part of your body is affected. The early symptoms may include fatigue, loss of weight and appetite, dark patches on the skin, unexplained joint pain or bleeding.

In majority of the cases, people are diagnosed with the disease at an advanced stage where the body fails to react to any medical treatment due to low immunity and poor resistance power. There have been many contradictions regarding the prevention of cancer. Many a time, it so happens that a specific tip on how to prevent cancer recommended by one person or is advised against by another person. All these contradictions may leave you confused and baffled thinking what to do or how to steer away from cancer.

However, the notion that making healthy lifestyle choices helps prevent cancer is widely accepted these days, with the backing of science, of course. That’s why we’re here to help you out with certain ways-

1. Avoid all forms of tobacco: It is probably one of the best health decisions you can make since consumption of tobacco can cause cancer in your oral cavity or pancreas. Smoking also has adverse effects on your health and most likely affects your lungs. If you’re having difficulty in quitting cigarettes, consult a doctor for strategies and anti-smoking medications that may help you. Also, limit consumption of alcohol to maybe once or twice a week because excessive alcohol consumption can cause cancer in the liver, esophagus or larynx.
2. Maintain a balanced diet: Intake of red meat and saturated fat can increase the chances of prostate and colon cancer. So reduce intake of fried and charbroiled food. Include lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains and fish to your diet. Food that is rich in fiber can help reduce the risk of colon cancer.
3. Control your body weight: One major risk factor that may lead to cancer is obesity; so, you need to maintain a balanced weight. High-calorie foods like fat from animal sources and sugary beverages increase your body weight. Exercise or any sort of physical activity can help you reduce weight and hence lower the risk of developing prostate and colon cancer. It also helps to reduce chances of breast cancer or cancer in any reproductive organ among women.
4. Avoid exposure to radiation: Ultraviolet rays and unnecessary sun exposure can cause skin cancer and melanomas, so make sure you have taken necessary precautions before stepping out. You can go for a good sunscreen with effective SPF to keep yourself protected from the harmful UV rays.

Cancer treatments can be very strenuous and emotionally draining, so the best way to fight cancer is to prevent it from the very beginning. These tips on making lifestyle changes can be very useful in preventing cancer.

Cancer occurs when there is an uncontrolled growth of cells in the body. Blood cancer affects three major components of the blood, namely white blood cells and marrow, the lymphocytes, and plasma. These are respectively known as leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma. The most commonly affected are the white blood cells.

Symptoms for each of these types differ; the same have been listed below:

Leukemia: Leukemia can be acute or chronic. In acute cases, the symptoms are more pronounced than the chronic ones. If the white blood cells are affected, then it causes the following:

1. Shortness of breath
2. Anemia
3. Extreme tiredness and lack of energy
4. Profuse sweating
5. Increased susceptibility to infections
6. Profuse bleeding during menstruation in women
7. Swollen lymph nodes
8. Headache and blurring of vision
9. Bones and joint pain
10. Chills and night sweats

The acronym TEST helps remember the symptoms of leukemia – tiredness, excessive sweating, sore joints, and terrible cases of bleeding. As white blood cells are involved in fighting infections, these individuals are also prone to easily develop infections.

Lymphoma: A type of white blood cells, lymphocytes help in fighting infections. Excessive growth of these leads to enlarged lymph nodes, which is often painless. However, other typical symptoms include:

1. Severe coughing
2. Swollen lymph nodes which are often generalized
3. Severe weight loss, which is often unexplained
4. Fever
5. Sudden chills and night sweats
6. Extreme/severe fatigue, even with minimal activity
7. Abdominal fullness
8. Itching of the skin (again unexplained)

Myeloma: This form of cancer affects the plasma, which are responsible for carrying the blood cells throughout the body. Multiple myeloma is the most common cancer in this group, and this is generally a chronic condition. Symptoms are atypical and include:

1. Generalized weakness and fatigue
2. Increased incidence of infections
3. Shortness of breath
4. Chest pain
5. Pain in the back region
6. Kidney issues, which can be indicative to look for myeloma

When a patient presents with a combination of the above symptoms, a detailed history is very helpful to come to a sort of conclusion. The clinical findings are then corroborated with blood screening and tests which will help pin down the diagnosis.

There are about 130+ varieties of blood cancer, but the above three are the most common ones. Once suspected, it is very easy to diagnose blood cancer with blood tests. If a person has a family history, then they should watch out for early symptoms of blood cancer, and should immediately seek medical attention when in doubt. The most common form of therapy is chemotherapy as it is a generalized condition, and radiotherapy is more suitable for localized cancers.

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!

Breast Cancer can be detected at various stages. Some women might feel a difference in their breast area, with a lump or kind of a skin rash around the nipple or they could see that their nipple has become inverted, so then the treatment procedures would be different. The different stages of cancer and their respective treatment procedures are discussed below:

Stage I Breast Cancer - Treatment
In this case, breast cancers are at their nascent stage, either they have not spread to the lymph nodes or might have spread to only a small area. Treatment options are as follows:

• Surgery: The main treatment for breast cancer in stage I is surgery. These types of cancers get treatment with either breast-conserving surgery or mastectomy. There are some cases when breast reconstruction can also be done along with the surgery to get rid of cancer.
• Radiation therapy: When doctors feel the need to do a breast construction surgery, then radiation therapy is normally given after surgery. This helps in lowering the chance of cancer getting relapsed. Older women, aged close to 70 years, should go for breast reconstruction surgery without radiation therapy, provided the following conditions are true:
  • The lump was 2cm or less across and it has been completely removed.
  • None of the lymph nodes removed contained cancer.
  • The cancer is either ER or PR-positive and hormone therapy is conducted.
• Chemotherapy and other drugs: Women who have either ER or PR-positive hormone receptor, doctors would recommend them to go for hormone therapy. The therapy is given for 5 years. In case the tumor is larger than 1cm across, adjuvant chemotherapy is recommended.

Stage II Breast Cancer-Treatment
This is the stage when cancer has spread to some nearby lymph nodes. The treatment methods followed are:

• Surgery and radiation therapy: This second stage of cancer gets treated with breast-conserving surgery or mastectomy. The lymph nodes nearby get checked either with a sentinel lymph node biopsy or an axillary lymph node dissection. Women, on whom BCS have been conducted, get treated with radiation therapy after surgery.
• Neoadjuvant and adjuvant systemic therapy: This is another method followed for treating stage II cancer. It is a good option for women with large tumors as they shrink the tumor before conducting surgery. Chemotherapy, HER2 targeted drugs and Hormone therapy all form part of treatment in this stage II.

Stage III Breast Cancer – Treatment
In stage III breast cancer, the size of a tumor is more than 5 cm, with cancer spreading on to the nearby lymph nodes. The treatment procedures followed are:

• Neoadjuvant therapy: Generally the stage III cancers are treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Radiation therapy is also given after surgery, followed by breast reconstruction surgery.
• Starting off with surgery: Another treatment option for this stage is to get started off with surgery. The tumors are quite large and they even grow on to nearby tissues, which means women need to get a mastectomy. Women having large breasts can even go for Breast Reconstruction Surgery, in case cancer has not spread on to the nearby tissues.

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!

Colon cancer, also known as Colorectal cancer, occurs in the rectum or the colon. Colon is the last part of the large intestine that is connected to the anus. The food which is not absorbed and not digested in the small intestine enters the colon and finally gets flushed out through the anus. As you may know, cancer occurs when your body’s control mechanism stops functioning, leading to the formation and uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body. These newly-formed cells form a mass of tissue known as tumor, which results in cancer.

Colon cancer initially develops as polyps. Polyps are abnormal growth found inside the rectum or colon, which may become cancerous if not treated at an early stage.

Early symptoms of colon cancer include- constipation, rectal bleeding, change in bowel habits, pain in the abdomen etc.

Cancer grows in stages- gradually spreading through the mucosa, lymph nodes, and eventually affecting your lungs or liver.

Treatment -

Treatment of colon cancer depends on its stage, and the three most effective treatment options recommended by the doctor are- radiation, chemotherapy and surgery.

1. Radiation: During a radiation therapy, powerful beams of X-ray are directed to destroy the cancerous cells and shrink large tumors before performing a surgery so that they can easily be removed from the body. It also helps in reducing the symptoms of colon cancer.

2. Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy is recommended after a surgery in case the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes. A standardized chemotherapy treatment uses a single or a combination of anti-cancer drugs to prevent the cancer from recurring. These are either inserted directly into your bloodstream or targeted to particular cancer sites.

3. Surgery: If you’ve been diagnosed with colon cancer in the early stage, your doctor will most likely recommend a minimally invasive approach to surgery such as-

• Colonoscopy- during which the cancerous polyps are removed.
• Endoscopic Mucosal Resurrection- during which the polyps are removed along with a small portion of the lining of the rectum or colon.
• Laparoscopic Surgery- during which an instrument attached with cameras is inserted into your body to display and monitor the colon, and multiple small incisions are made in the abdominal wall.

If the cancer has spread through or into your colon, you may have to undergo the following treatment options-

• Partial colectomy- The portion of the colon containing the cancer, along with the edge of the adjacent normal tissue is removed.
• Ostomy- This surgery is performed to create an opening in the abdominal wall for the disposal of waste products.

In case the cancer has reached an advanced stage, it can take a toll on your health as a result of low immunity. In this case, you will be recommended a surgery to relieve a blockage of the colon or underlying conditions to refine your symptoms.

Apart from these, there are a few quick-tips that you should keep in mind- visit your doctor for frequent follow-ups, switch from a high-fat, high-protein diet to a balanced healthy diet with lots of fruits and vegetables. Cancer treatment can be very strenuous and emotionally draining, so the best way to fight cancer is to prevent it from the very beginning.

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!

The treatment options for bone cancer depends on the type of cancer one is suffering from, the general health of the patient, the stage of cancer and the general preference of the patient. Different treatment options are designed for different types of cancer, based on the diagnosis. Each treatment responds in a different way. An oncologist decides the treatment options considering all the factors mentioned above. For instance, some cancer is best suited to surgery, while some cancer needs radiotherapy or chemotherapy to curb them. In many cases, all three modes of treatment might be required to tackle the growth of the cancer cells.

Surgery:
The goal of surgery is to eradicate the cancer cells in totality along with some surrounding healthy tissues. This involves special techniques to remove a tumor in one piece. Following are the types of surgeries that are available:

1. Removing the cancer cells sparing the limb: At the very first sight, the surgeon tries to understand whether it is possible to separate cancer cells from the tissues and the nerves. If the same is possible, the surgeon tries to save the limb while getting rid of the cancer cells. For the sake of safety and to ensure that the surgery is effective, the surgeon removes some of the healthy bone from the body and may replace the same with tissue from other parts of the body. To achieve this, a doctor might seek the help from of a bone bank or use a special metal prosthesis.
2. Surgery that does not involve the limbs: If the bone cancer does not involve the legs and the arm, surgeons can remove the affected bone along with some healthy bone from the surrounding areas. Cancer of the ribs and the spine are good examples of this type.
3. Surgery that affects the limb: Bone cancer that has spread to a significant extent and is strategically located in such areas that it is very difficult to remove, requires amputation. While this form of treatment is being increasingly discouraged by the wider medical community, it still does exist. In such cases, patients are fitted with artificial limbs and trained to do their job without the use of natural limbs.

Chemotherapy:
This is a form of drug treatment that uses powerful chemicals to kill cancer cells throughout the body. This medication is mostly given through an IV and the medication kills whatever cancer cells it comes across. 

Radiation therapy:
Radiation therapy involves the use of special X-ray beams that have high power and can kill cancer cells. The patients are required to lie on a table, while a machine moves around the affected area and treats it with high energy X-rays, thereby killing the cancer cells. Radiation therapy is often used in conjunction with chemotherapy to reduce the size of a tumor before operating on it. Also, Brachytherapy is another kind of radiotherapy in which plastic tubes for introducing radioactive sources are placed over tutor bed during surgery, later it is connected with brachytherapy machine to give extra high dose to tutor bed to improve cure rates.

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!