BY MS. ASHWINI ISHTE: 10 min read.
What is cancer?
Cancer is the uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells. In a healthy body, normal cells expire after a set period of time. Thereafter, these cells are replaced with new ones. However, in cancer patients, the process of cell growth and division is disrupted.
It’s a serious and potentially life-threatening condition if not detected and treated early.
Therefore, a lot of people around us suffer from different kinds of cancer. Every day, they are battling cancer, fighting with God, and begging for one more chance to live. But then what’s the use of it now?
The American Cancer Society collects the number of new cancer patients and cancer deaths every year in the U.S. In 2022, the count is 1,918,030 new cancer cases and 609,360 cancer deaths. It’s unfortunate, but it’s true.
Causes of cancer:
Many factors, for instance, genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors, contribute to the development of cancer.
Genetic mutations, tobacco smoke, radiation, a poor diet, a lack of physical activity, as well as excessive alcohol consumption are the causes of cancer.
Additionally, hormonal imbalances such as estrogen cause breast and ovarian cancer.
Types of cancer:
Cancer is classified based on the location of the cancer cells.
![Types of cancer](https://wisdomhunting.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Types-of-cancer.png)
Breast cancer: Breast cancer develops in the breast. It primarily affects women.
Lung cancer: Lung cancer affects the lungs. Symptoms of lung cancer can include a persistent cough, chest pain, shortness of breath, coughing up blood, hoarseness, fatigue, and unexplained weight loss.
Colorectal cancer: This type of cancer originates in the rectum or colon.
Prostate cancer: Cancer that forms in the cells of the prostate gland in men.
Skin cancer: There are several types of skin cancer, including melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma.
Leukemia: Leukemia is a type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow.
Lymphoma: Lymphoma occurs when white blood cells grow and multiply uncontrollably.
Brain and spinal cord tumors: Brain and spinal cord tumors are abnormal growths of cells that occur in the brain or spinal cord.
Ovarian cancer: Ovarian cancer is a type of cancer that begins in the ovaries.
Pancreatic cancer: Pancreatic cancer manifests itself in the pancreas. Abdominal pain, unexplained weight loss, jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes), loss of appetite, nausea, and vomiting are the symptoms of pancreatic cancer.
Detection tests of cancer:
Having cancer is like half-death and to accept that reality needs courage. However, early detection and treatment can increase the chances of successful cancer treatment.
There are several methods for cancer detection, including:
![detection tests](https://wisdomhunting.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Detection-tests.png)
a) Imaging tests:
imaging tests such as CT scans, X-rays, MRI scans, ultrasounds, and PET scans.
Computerized tomography:
In CT scans, x-rays capture the finely detailed images of the body’s tissues, bones, and organs.
The patient lies on the donut-shaped machine. As the patient moves through the scanner, the X-ray machine rotates around them, taking multiple images from different angles.
MRI scans:
MRI scans can provide detailed images of the body’s soft tissues. It is particularly useful for imaging the joints, spine, and brain.
The patient lies on the long, tube-shaped machine. The device produces a powerful magnetic field that aligns the protons in the body’s cells. The device then collects these protons, which a computer analyses to provide accurate images.
Ultrasound:
Ultrasound can find breast, thyroid, and testicular tumours in various body parts.
With the help of high-frequency sound waves, ultrasound catches the images of cancer cells.
PET scan:
Position emission tomography scans use a radioactive tracer to provide images of the body’s organs.The PET scan’s drawback is that it sometimes cannot differentiate malignant cells from healthy cells.
Hence, in addition to a CT or MRI scan, a PET scan is recommended for cancer confirmation.
b) Blood tests:
Blood tests are necessary to detect cancer patient. Below is a list of the essential blood tests.
Complete blood count (CBC):
The CBC helps you measure the count of red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. A high WBC count is a sign of leukaemia or lymphoma.
Tumour marker tests:
A tumour marker assay detects a protein released from cancer cells. These tests include the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test for prostate cancer and the CA-125 test for ovarian cancer.
c) Biopsy test:
Biopsy tests detect cancer cells. It involves removing a sample of tissue from the body for examination under a microscope.
Types of biopsy tests:
Endoscopic biopsy:
The endoscope helps to examine a small sample of tissue from the organ’s lining. Endoscopic biopsies identify bladder, rectum, esophagus, small intestine, colon, and lung cancers.
Surgical biopsy:
In a surgical biopsy, breast, lung, liver, and bone cancers are all detected through a microscope examination of a small sample of tissue.
d) Genetic tests:
Genetic testing can identify gene mutations that cause cancer. Some genetic tests for cancer include BRCA gene testing, Lynch syndrome testing, and tumour sequencing.
Prevention of cancer:
According to ayurveda, “Prevention is always better than cure.” Occasionally, when genetic elements are involved, prevention is impossible. However, it’s important to take steps to reduce the risk of developing cancer.
Here’s how you can take care to prevent cancer:
![cancer prevention](https://wisdomhunting.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Prevention-of-cancer.png)
1. Regular health check-ups:
We don’t realise how important our health is until we are faced with cancer. Regular health check-ups are necessary for living a better and healthier life.
For example body weight, cholesterol, blood pressure, glucose test, dental checkups, eye checkup, breast examinations, cardiovascular tests and some cancer detection test.
Maybe you feel it costs you a lot, but I think nothing costs you more than your health. Due to regular health check-ups, there’s a greater possibility you can take care of your health before it leads to chronic levels.
Go for a complete body check-up at least every six months, and don’t ever compromise with your health.
A health insurance policy is the best option for covering your future medical expenses. It includes various plans such as individual plans, family floater plans, and senior citizen plans. Choose it wisely based on your needs.
2.Avoid smoking, alcohol and tobacco:
Smoking is extremely dangerous; it contains harmful chemicals that are harmful to both smokers and nonsmokers; it causes cancer, particularly lung cancer, as well as other ailments.
It harms your lungs’ airways and alveoli. The most surprising thing about cigarettes is that even though the packet states that smoking causes throat cancer, people continue to smoke.
Similarly, excessive consumption of alcohol and tobacco also increases the chances of cancer. It’s better to avoid smoking, and for this, you can try nicotine replacement therapy with your doctor’s advice.
3.Eat healthy food:
Refined sugar is the leading cause of cancer. The exponential growth of cancer cells depends on sugar. For instance, organic honey, maple sugar, or coconut sugar are superior alternatives for cancer prevention.
Genetically modified foods include corn, soybeans, cottonseed oil, and sugar beets, which also cause cancer. Grilled red meat releases heterocyclic aromatic amines, which are cancer-causing chemicals.
Above all, salted or pickled food contains preservatives like nitrates, which accumulate in the body and destroy cells. The nitrates, however, are changed into the dangerous nitrites when it is cooked at a high temperature.
Carbonated beverages are high in omega-6 lipids, which may disrupt cell membrane structure. Hydrogenated oils are also carcinogenic, so to beat cancer, eat nutritious foods and avoid cancer-causing foods for the long term.
4.Exercise daily:
Physical activity is more important in order to sustain a cancer-free world. Approximately 70% of adults acknowledge that exercise has a cancer-prevention benefit.
Exercise enhances your immune system’s ability to kill cancer cells. It also reduces weight, which is responsible for causing cancer.
5. Avoid excessive sunlight:
For the production of vitamin D, enough sunlight is necessary, which maintains healthy bones.
Excessive sun exposure is harmful to one’s health and can lead to skin cancer. UV rays cause skin damage and disrupt the formation of melanin, which is essential for skin protection.
Wear sunglasses and sun jackets if you have sensitive skin, and stay out of the sun from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Therapies for the cancer:
Therapy is nothing but a treatment to recover from cancer. There are many different types of therapies available in the medical field.
Types of cancer therapies:
![therapies for the cancer](https://wisdomhunting.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/types-of-cancer-therapies.png)
1.Chemotherapy:
Chemotherapy is not an easy option for the treatment of cancer patients. These drugs can not differentiate between cancer cells and healthy cells.
It kills cancer cells and the fastest-growing healthy cells as well. Modern new drugs have unpredictable side effects without knowing you, which is too scary to try. It only offers you hope for extending your life when things are out of control.
Chemotherapy drugs disrupt unwanted cell growth. The duration of cancer treatment is around 6 months, 1 year, or more, depending on your recovery period.
The chemotherapy drugs are available in the form of pills and injections. The cost of the medicines is also highly expensive, and they’re not affordable to everyone. It’s a never-ending exhaustion.
Chemotherapy is advised as a first-line treatment for brain metastases that are chemosensitive, such as germ cell tumours and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Alkylating agents are mostly preferable drugs in the market which affects DNA of the cells.
Nausea, vomiting, bleeding, loss of appetite, anemia, and damage to hair, nails, and skin cells are the major side effects of chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy drug treatment is always based on the treatment goals as well as the potential risks and benefits to the patient.
Doctors also prescribe antiemetic drugs and antibiotics to reduce side effects.
2.Radiation therapy:
Almost half of all cancer patients receive radiation therapy. In radiation therapy, doctors use your CT scan pictures to determine the cancer cells’ location and then deliver radiation.
Thermoplastic mesh is employed in radiation therapy for brain tumours to ensure that the radiation is properly absorbed in the tumour cells. This therapy kills the genetic material in the cells.
X-rays and gamma rays are the two most widely used radiations for cancer treatment.
In addition to intensity-modulated radiation therapy, image-guided radiotherapy, stereotactic body radiation therapy, and 3D conformal radiotherapy are the different types of technologies available in radiotherapy.
Radiation is sometimes combined with other treatments, such as surgery or chemotherapy.
3.Stem Cell transplant:
A stem cell transplant, often known as a bone marrow transplant, red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets are all made by these stem cells, and due to a high dose of chemotherapy or radiation therapy, the blood-forming stem cells get destroyed.
There are two types of stem cells transplant autologous means using patient’s own stem cell and second allogenic means donor’s stem cell.
For transplants, there are three possible sources of stem cells: bone marrow, the bloodstream, and umbilical cord blood from newborns.
Treatment for blood cancers such as lymphoma, leukemia, and myeloproliferative neoplasms involves stem cell transplantation.
4.Immunotherapy:
The immune system is responsible for the destruction of viruses, bacteria, and cancer cells in the body. White blood cells serve a crucial function in the development of immunity.
WBC contains B-cells, which produce antibodies, as well as T-cells, which are helper T cells (CD4) and cytotoxic (CD8) cells, which kill cancer cells directly.
The majority of cancers, such as lung, kidney, bladder, oral, skin, and blood cancers, are treated with immunotherapy. Orally, topically, and intravenously are the three ways of administration.
There are some side effects,includings pneumonitis, colitis, redness, itching, nausea, diarrhea, and so on. It’s a new treatment, and studies are still ongoing for advanced cancer treatment, so choose your treatment wisely based on the type of your cancer.
In some cancer patients, chemotherapy and immunotherapy administered together.
Immunotherapy is ineffective in autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory bowel disease since it puts patients in risk or causes death owing to excessive immune power.
5.Surgery:
Surgery is recommended to the patients who undergoes higher risk of cancer. It’s the best option for completely removing the cancerous part or organ from the body.
![Types Of Surgery](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1000/1*cw5GitmLeTsc5u-yncAdRQ.jpeg)
6. Targeted therapy:
Targeted therapy is more effective as compared to chemotherapy with lower side effects. It only focuses on or kills cancer cells, not healthy cells, by targeting specific proteins that cause cancer.
Side effects such as diarrhea, fatigue, blood clotting, hypertension, and skin problems.
There are three main types of targeted cancer therapies: monoclonal antibodies, small molecule inhibitors, and immunotoxins.
Monoclonal antibodies exert their anti-cancer effects by activating the immune system and inhibiting ligand-receptor interactions.
Small-molecule inhibitors inactivate the tyrosine kinase domain and block the process of cancer cell growth.
Whereas immunotoxins target the cytosol and are extremely effective at inducing apoptosis once they reach the cytosol.
7.Hormone therapy:
Hormone therapy is also known as hormonal therapy. After diagnosis of cancer or after treating with chemotherapy or radiotherapy doctor recommends hormone therapy.
Before undergoing through hormone therapy ER PR HER2 test is recommended by doctor.
Patients can simply take oral hormone therapy in the form of tablets. This therapy suppresses estrogen as well as progesterone hormone to treat cancer, and the duration of treatment depends on the type or stage of cancer.
Breast cancer and prostate cancer are mostly treated by hormone therapy. It can be treated with aromatase inhibitors, selective estrogen receptor modulators, and ovarian suppression therapies.
Whereas prostate cancer is treated with androgen deprivation therapy and androgen blockers.
Conclusion:
Cancer is a complex and challenging disease that affects millions of people around the world. However, there is reason for hope. Advances in cancer research and treatment have led to more effective cancer therapies.
Regular checkups or screenings help you detect cancer in its early stages. As a result, with early detection, advances in research, family support, and medical professionals, it is possible to overcome cancer.
There are some side effects of cancer therapy. However, in many cases, side effects can be managed with medication.
In conclusion, cancer therapies have come a long way in recent years. Traditional treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy are still effective for many types of cancer.