All about Cancer

Medical definition - Cancer is a disease when cells start producing abnormal cells at an uncontrollable rate. Slowly those cells grow into one or multiple lumps inside the body and destroy the normal body cells. Cancer has the ability to spread to the entire body. Also, it can appear at any part of the body - from the head to toe.

As per Guruspeak preventive healthcare - Cancer is the last warning the patients’ body gives to stop your bad habits and wrong ways of living. Cancer is caused when a person fails to listen to all the previous calls of the body or ignores the signals the body gives.

Cancer happens for mutation in genes causing - the rapid growth of cells, failure to stop uncontrollable growth and making mistakes while repairing the DNA errors. A gene mutation can occur in several instances. Like, one can be born with a gene mutation or one can develop a gene mutation after birth.

For the first scenario, most of the time gene mutation is inherited from parents or any close relatives. Although, a percentage of cancers is counted in this category. But in the case of developing gene mutation after birth accounts for the majority of the cancers. One can develop a gene mutation through various kinds of things. Such as - smoking, radiation, viruses, cancer-causing chemicals (carcinogens), obesity, hormones, chronic inflammation and a lack of exercise.

Depending on the area of the body where cancer is developed, the symptoms vary from one to another. Following are the types of cancer and their symptoms as below:

• Severe pain in specific body parts. 

• Fatigue 

• Lump or area of thickening that can be felt under the skin.

• Sudden unintended weight changes - including gain or loss.

• Unexplained bleeding and bruising

• Persistent cough and troubled breathing

• Sudden changes in bowel and bladder habits

Most prevalent Cancers

Among Men - Prostate, Urinary Bladder,  Leukemia, Oral Cavity or Pharynx, Pancreatic Cancer

Among Women - Breast, Uterine corpus, Thyroid, Uterine cervix

Among both genders - Colon and rectum, Melanoma of the skin, Lung and bronchus, Kidney and renal pelvis, Lymphoma

References from:  

Statista Health Statistics

American Cancer Society - https://www.cancer.org/

National Cancer Institute - https://www.cancer.gov/ 

Mayo Clinic - Cancer Data

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - Cancer Data

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