Cancer

Cancer is the scourge of mankind. By mortality, it takes second place after cardiovascular diseases. However, it is the first by fear it instills in people. Each year, tens of millions of people are diagnosed with cancer around the world, and more than half of the patients eventually die from it. Thousands of researchers are seeking to understand its causes, find ways to prevent and treat it. Dozens of institutions and hundreds of laboratories around the world are working on this problem ensuring its success in understanding and slow but steady progress in prevention and treatment.

Cancer is malignant tumors of the epithelial cells of the skin, the mucous membranes of the stomach, bowel, respiratory, various glands, etc. In connection with the morphological features, different forms of cancer are distinguished. They include squamous-cell carcinoma (mainly develops on the skin and mucous membranes, is covered by squamous epithelium), adenocarcinoma, scirrhoma, and others. The name of the disease was given by the doctors of the Middle Ages due to the appearance of the tumor that was reminiscent of a crab or cancer. It constitutes the vast majority of all human malignancies that also include various sarcomas, hematological malignancies, glial, and other bone tumors.

The tumor arises from metabolic processes in cells and monitoring the attenuation of intracellular processes by the organism. As a result of the acquisition of new skills and the partial independence of the regulatory systems of the body, new dividing cells lose their ability to differentiate — they do not get the proper function and not form the normal operating fabric. Not participating in the life of the organism, these cells become useless, superfluous. The body tries to get rid of them with the help of immune responses, which are not always effective. An excess of new but not working cells, which require an increasing amount of energy and food resources, leads to the fact that these cells are attacked on a tissue or organ. These cells, which are called tumor, are introduced into the body tissues, infiltrate and destroy them, grab the blood and lymph vessels distributed throughout the body.

The symptoms of cancer occur relatively late: when the tumor reaches a considerable size and disrupts the functions of the organ in which it grows. There are pathological (inflammatory or otherwise) allocations and bleeding. The patient feels weak and loses weight. His or her body temperature rises, and one experiences pain. Other common symptoms include unexplained weight loss, fever, skin changes, and fatigue.

The most important cancer diagnostic principle is timeliness identifying tumors at early (pre-clinical) stages. The diagnostic of the disease uses all the known methods of modern medicine: clinical, biochemical, immunological, X-ray, ultrasound, endoscopic, cytological, and histological methods with biopsies. The effectiveness of the aggregate of their use is very high.

Cancer prevention consists of identifying it at an early stage in the mass screening of the population considered to be at the high risk. The risk factors include alcohol, tobacco, age, hormones, diet, obesity, radiation, and sunlight. For the prevention, a chest X-ray, mammography, and cervical smear are used. Another task of prevention is a creation of optimal conditions for the existence with the minimization of environmental pollution, a decrease in the probability of contact with the body of carcinogenic factors, general recovery of the population. It is believed by the https://essays-service.com/ experts that such actions can significantly reduce the incidence of malignant tumors.

Cancer treatment can be surgical and with the help of hormones, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy agents. To increase the body’s defense, the effects on the immune system are used. Various treatments are often used in conjunction with one another depending on the stage of disease, localization of the tumor, and other factors.