Cancer as a disease has become a threat to mankind. Scientists and researchers are trying to find out medicines to fight with cancer and improve the condition of cancer patients. Cancer is caused because of the uncontrolled growth of some cells inside the body. Most cancers form a tumor but some like leukemia does not lead to tumors.
Cancer may affect people of all ages, but the risk of life threat increases with age. In today’s world, Cancer causes about 13% of all deaths. According to the American Cancer Society, about 7.6 million people died from cancer in the world during the year 2007. Cancer can also affect other plants besides humans and other animals.
There are mainly 3 ways to find out people are suffering from cancer.
- Developing unusual lumps or swelling, bleeding and pain or ulceration
- Enlarged lymph nodes, cough and hemoptysis, enlarged liver, bone pain, fracture of affected bones and other neurological symptoms
- Weight loss, poor appetite, fatigue and excessive sweating and anemia
With the growing chances of health risks due to cancer, a number of treatments and diagnosis have developed by medical scientists and researchers. Cancer can be treated by surgery, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy, monoclonal antibody therapy or such other methods. The choice of therapy depends upon the location of the tumor and the stage of the disease as well as on the general health condition of the patient.
Every treatment of cancer aims at the complete eradication of this disease. Sometimes this can be accomplished by surgery, but treating cancer at the earliest stages is the best way to cure the patient. The efficiency of chemotherapy is often limited by toxicity to other tissues in the body. Radiation can also cause damage to the normal tissues of the body.
Thus through proper treatments and diagnosis, cancer can be completely removed from our body.