What is the most known disease in the world?
I think we can all agree that everyone knows what cancer is. At least 99.9999% of the population knows what it is. Millions of people have been impacted by this deadly diseases whether a family member or friend has cancer or you yourself have had cancer.
There are tons of different types of cancers as well. That could be skin cancer, breast cancer, Leukemia, etc.
Now we all know about all these types of cancers and we have all heard of cancer before but how many of us actually understand, on a deep level, what cancer is? Not that many of us. So let's get into that!
What is Cancer?
Cancer happens when cancer cells start growing at an uncontrollable rate. But how are these cells formed?
Cancer develops when the body’s normal control mechanism stops working. The old cells don’t die though. Instead, they grow out of control forming new abnormal cells. These extra cells may form a mass of tissue, called a tumor which is cancer.
Once these cells start forming they spread throughout the area they are forming in.
Stages of cancer
Doctors use the stage as an easy way to describe to their patients what the size and spread of their cancer is. The stage of cancer is used to help plan around the treatment or it can help you look at clinical trials if that is something you would be interested in doing.
Cancers in the same part of the body (such as colon cancer) with the same stage are usually treated the same way.
There are different staging systems for different cancers and depending on where in the world you are it may be a different staging system. The most common staging system in Canada is the TNM (Tumor lymph nodes metastasis) system
T stands for tumor. It describes the size of the main tumor. It also describes if the tumor has grown into other parts of the organ with cancer or tissues around the organ. T is mainly given as a number from 1 to 4. A higher number means that the tumor is larger. It may also mean that the tumor has grown deeper into the organ or into nearby tissues.
N stands for lymph nodes. It describes whether cancer has spread to lymph nodes around the organ. Lymph nodes are are a part of the lymphatic system which is a component of the body’s immune system. N0 means cancer hasn’t spread to any lymph nodes that are close. N1, N2 or N3 means cancer has spread to lymph nodes. The numbers beside the “N” can also help us gauge the number of lymph nodes that contain cancer and their general size and location.
M stands for metastasis. It tells us whether cancer has spread to other parts of the body through the blood or lymphatic system. M0 means that cancer hasn't spread to other parts of the body. M1 means that it has spread to other parts of the body.
So now we know how cancer is formed and what we use to measure the size of cancer and if it has spread but how can we actually prevent it?
How can we prevent cancer?
This is a pretty obvious one but smoking and drinking a lot can lead to a higher chance of cancer. Eating healthy is important as well. If you eat fast food every day and eat junk all the time your body will be very unhealthy which can lead to not just cancer but many other health issues.
This is all pretty obvious but most people don’t think about it.
So that’s a quick article on what cancer is and the different stages it’s measured at along with a few quick things on cancer prevention!
