Cancer is a disease of the body cells in which their functioning and reproduction is uncontrolled. When a cell turns cancerous or malignant, it will not work properly, and it divides rapidly to produce more cells. A collection of cancerous cells is called a tumor. These cells are able to break away and are carried in the blood to other parts of the body, where they continue to grow.
Cancer can affect people of all ages, including fetuses, but the amount of risk increases with age. Cancer causes about 14% of the deaths all over the world. According a survey held in USA, 2.3 million people died of cancer in USA in 2007. Cancer can also affect all animals.
Usually, cells are replaced as they become old and inefficient. The development of these new cells is controlled so that the new cells are identical to the old ones. In cancer, so many abnormal cells are produced that they interfere with normal body functions and if untreated may cause very severe illness or death. The causes are not clear, but chemicals such as tar from cigarettes and many other substances are known to change normal cells into cancer cells. Cancer can be treated by surgery, or by very powerful DRUGS, or by radiation which damages the affected cells. Though people still die from cancer, many are surviving due to the improvement and success of modern treatments.
Some of the terms related to cancer are:
Carcinogen- A cancer causing substance. It attacks normal cells, and may eventually cause some of them to turn cancerous i.e. uncontrolled growth of cells.
Carcinoma- Cancer that starts to grow in tissue that forms the skin and lining of inner organs.
Sarcoma- Cancer that starts to grow in the tissue that forms the body’s supporting structures, such as the bones and the cartilage.
Cancer basic
Breast Cancer - Introduction
Breast cancer is a cancer that starts in the cells of the breast.
Worldwide, breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer after lung cancer (10.4% of all cancer incidence, both sexes counted) and the fifth most common cause of cancer death. Worldwide, breast cancer is by far the most common cancer amongst women, with an incidence rate more than twice that of colorectal cancer and cervical cancer and about three times that of lung cancer. However breast cancer mortality worldwide is just 25% greater than that of lung cancer in women. In 2005, breast cancer caused 502,000 deaths worldwide (7% of cancer deaths; almost 1% of all deaths).The number of cases worldwide has significantly increased since the 1970s, a phenomenon partly blamed on modern lifestyles in the Western world.
The incidence of breast cancer varies greatly around the world being lower in less developed countries and greatest in the more developed countries. In the twelve world regions the annual age standardised incidence per 100,000 women are in Eastern Asia 18, South Central Asia 22, 
sub-Saharan Africa 22, South-Eastern Asia 26, North Africa and Western Asia 28, South and Central America 42, Eastern Europe 49, Southern Europe 56, Northern Europe 73, Oceania 74, Western Europe 78, and in North America 90. In the United States the incidence is 141 among white women and 122 among African American women.
North American women have the highest incidence of breast cancer in the world. Among women in the U.S., breast cancer is the most common cancer and the second-most common cause of cancer death (after lung cancer). Women in the U.S. have a 1 in 8 (12.5%) lifetime chance of developing invasive breast cancer and a 1 in 35 (3%) chance of breast cancer causing their death. In 2007, breast cancer was expected to cause 40,910 deaths in the U.S. (7% of cancer deaths; almost 2% of all deaths).
In the U.S., 
both incidence and death rates for breast cancer have been declining in the last few years. Nevertheless, a U.S. study conducted in 2005 by the Society for Women's Health Research indicated that breast cancer remains the most feared disease, even though heart disease is a much more common cause of death among women.
Because the breast is composed of identical tissues in males and females, breast cancer also occurs in males. Incidences of breast cancer in men are approximately 100 times less common than in women, but men with breast cancer are considered to have the same statistical survival rates as women.
Originally from Wikipedia.org
Lung Cancer - Introduction
Lung cancer is a disease of uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. This growth may lead to metastasis, invasion of adjacent tissue and infiltration beyond the lungs. The vast majority of primary lung cancers are carcinomas of the lung, derived from epithelial cells. Lung cancer, the most common cause of cancer-related death in men and the second most common in women, is responsible for 1.3 million deaths worldwide annually. The most common symptoms are shortness of breath, coughing (including coughing up blood), and weight loss.
The main types of lung cancer are small cell lung carcinoma and non-small cell lung carcinoma. This distinction is important because the treatment varies; non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) is sometimes treated with surgery, while small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) usually responds better to chemotherapy and radiation. The most common cause of lung cancer is long term exposure to tobacco smoke. The occurrence of lung cancer in non-smokers, who account for fewer than 10% of cases, appears to be due to a combination of genetic factors, radon gas, asbestos, and air pollution, including second-hand smoke.
Lung cancer may be seen on chest x-ray and computed tomography (CT scan). The diagnosis is confirmed with a biopsy. This is usually performed via bronchoscope or CT-guided biopsy. Treatment and prognosis depend upon the histological type of cancer, the stage (degree of spread), and the patient's performance status. Possible treatments include surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. With treatment, the five-year survival rate is 14%.
Origenally Form :Wikipedia.org
Peritoneal Mesothelioma - Introduction
Peritoneal mesothelioma in the primary peritoneal mesothelial organizations and epithelial tumors, clinical rarely see.
Disease Arguments can be divided into adenomatous mesothelioma,cystic mesothelioma and peritoneal malignant mesothelioma(PMM).
The first two are benign. Cystic mesothelioma was particularly prevalent in women,
Cause unknown, occurred in the surrounding pelvic or attachments, a single or multiple cystic masses; patients often palpable abdominal mass and attendance. PMM about vicious Mesothelioma of 30%; in its close relationship with exposure to asbestos, about 5% of the patients have a history of exposure ; asbestos fibers after oral intake through Translocation to the wall and peritoneal disease. Exposure to asbestos from confirmed, the disease incubation period could be as long as 25 to 40 years. But from 1951 to 1993 domestic 20 reported 161 cases of the literature only one case of PMM a history of exposure to asbestos. In the absence of a history of exposure to asbestos in the crowd, the incidence rate of about 1 / 1 million years, Infection may be related to certain genetic factors. Reported one case of international, PMM patients more than 40 years ago dioxide contacts glial
Thorium (Thorotrast) .
PMM often occur in men over 40 years of age. Dirty floor or layer can be permanently and peritoneal tumor can be a direct violation of abdominal, pelvic Organ, 50% to 70% of the patients with lymph node and (or) blood distant metastasis such as liver, kidney, adrenal gland, lung, bone and lymph nodes, etc..
Clinical manifestations of this disease Lack of specificity, have abdominal pain, constipation, abdominal distension, weight loss and other intestinal obstruction performance. Physical or ascites can be found, such as abdominal mass. Ascites To exudate, some bloody. The disease often misdiagnosed as tuberculosis peritonitis and recurrent spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, mesenteric inflammation or peritoneal carcinomatosis Etc..
Ascites hyaluronic acid increased significantly,> 0.8 g / L found only PMM. Ascites exfoliated cells also check some value, but the result often difficult Judgement. -125 Serum carbohydrate antigen (CA125) increased help diagnose this disease .
B-ultrasound and CT performance varied, the typical irregular, peritoneal Thickening and omental adhesion was popular among hungry students, mesenteric a tissue sample; CT can also display enhanced Peripancreatic large mass, or intraperitoneal substantive diffuse large Mass, and bowel and mesenteric violations or peritoneal nodules, or a cystic mass, multi-with varying degrees of ascites .
Guided by ultrasound or CT wear Thorn biopsy a certain value. PMM diagnostic laparoscopy is a simple and effective method microscope peritoneum, omentum diffuse plaques and nodules, Open biopsy and pathological examination. We sent one case of 83-year-old male patient with laparoscopy, peritoneal biopsy report mesothelial cell hyperplasia, After immunohistochemical tests confirmed the PMM. Butchart, and so will be divided into four PMM: Phase I, confined to the peritoneal tumor; Ⅱ stage, tumor invasion Intra-abdominal lymph nodes; Ⅲ, tumor metastasis to the lymph nodes outside the abdominal cavity; Ⅳ period, blood distant metastasis. The above categories will help choose the method of treatment.
PMM has no effective standard treatment. Poor prognosis, the survival period after diagnosis in a median survival of more than two years of less than 20%. Main
Dioxin or died of intestinal obstruction of the death of little distant metastasis and tumor.
Cancer - Introduction
Cancer is a group of diseases in which cells are aggressive (grow and divide without respect to normal limits), invasive (invade and destroy adjacent tissues), and sometimes metastatic (spread to other locations in the body). These three malignant properties of cancers differentiate them from benign tumors, which are self-limited in their growth and don't invade or metastasize (although some benign tumor types are capable of becoming malignant). Cancer may affect people at all ages, even fetuses, but risk for the more common varieties tends to increase with age. Cancer causes about 13% of all deaths. According to the American Cancer Society, 7.6 million people died from cancer in the world during 2007.Apart from humans, forms of cancer may affect other animals and plants.
Nearly all cancers are caused by abnormalities in the genetic material of the transformed cells. These abnormalities may be due to the effects of carcinogens, such as tobacco smoke, radiation, chemicals, or infectious agents. Other cancer-promoting genetic abnormalities may be randomly acquired through errors in DNA replication, or are inherited, and thus present in all cells from birth. Complex interactions between carcinogens and the host genome may explain why only some develop cancer after exposure to a known carcinogen. New aspects of the genetics of cancer pathogenesis, such as DNA methylation, and microRNAs are increasingly being recognized as important.
Genetic abnormalities found in cancer typically affect two general classes of genes. Cancer-promoting oncogenes are often activated in cancer cells, giving those cells new properties, such as hyperactive growth and division, protection against programmed cell death, loss of respect for normal tissue boundaries, and the ability to become established in diverse tissue environments. Tumor suppressor genes are often inactivated in cancer cells, resulting in the loss of normal functions in those cells, such as accurate DNA replication, control over the cell cycle, orientation and adhesion within tissues, and interaction with protective cells of the immune system.
Cancer is usually classified according to the tissue from which the cancerous cells originate, as well as the normal cell type they most resemble. These are location and histology, respectively. A definitive diagnosis usually requires the histologic examination of a tissue biopsy specimen by a pathologist, although the initial indication of malignancy can be symptoms or radiographic imaging abnormalities. Most cancers can be treated and some cured, depending on the specific type, location, and stage. Once diagnosed, cancer is usually treated with a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. As research develops, treatments are becoming more specific for different varieties of cancer. There has been significant progress in the development of targeted therapy drugs that act specifically on detectable molecular abnormalities in certain tumors, and which minimize damage to normal cells. The prognosis of cancer patients is most influenced by the type of cancer, as well as the stage, or extent of the disease. In addition, histologic grading and the presence of specific molecular markers can also be useful in establishing prognosis, as well as in determining individual treatments.
Originally from Wikipedia.org
