Cancer
• Definition
· Cancer is the disease of a defect or mutation in the DNA of a cell leading to uncontrolled cell growth.
· Cancer is the disease of uncontrolled cell growth of a specific tissue or organ. For example, lung cancer is the disease of uncontrolled cell growth of specific cells in the lungs. The cells grow uncontrollably and cross the basement membrane and go to distant sites (metastasis)
• Overview
· Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the United States.
About 1.5 million cases of invasive cancer per year are diagnosed in the United States.
One out of every two men will develop Invasive cancer in there life time.
One out of every three women will develop invasive cancer in their lifetime.
The specific cause of most cancers in not known although cancer results from a defect or mutation of a gene.
• Symptoms
Symptoms of cancer include:
· unexplained weight loss
· loss of appetite
· unexplained fever
· depression
· pain is an uncommon finding early in the disease
• Treatment
· Chemotherapy (drugs used to kill cancer cells)
· Radiation therapy (to burn the cancer cells)
· Surgery
• Prevention
Cancer prevention
· Lung cancer: smoking cessation
· Colon cancer: diets rich in vegetables and fruit and low in saturated fats
· Colon cancer: use aspirin and NSAIDs , calcium
· Skin cancer: reduced exposure to excessive sunlight; regular use of sunscreen
· Prostate cancer: Vitamin E and Selenium
· Vitamin D may be helpful in decreasing risk of some forms of cancer
· Breast cancer: Tamoxifen and Evista
· Ovarian cancer: Oral contraceptives pills
• Appropriate screening for types of cancer include
· Mammography for breast cancer
· Papanicolaou smear and HPV testing for cervical cancer
· Stool occult blood testing, sigmoidoscopy, and colonoscopy for colon cancer
· Prostate-specific antigen blood test and rectal examination for prostate cancer
References
Jacobs EJ et al. A large cohort study of aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and prostate cancer incidence. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2005;97:975. [PMID: 15998950]
Brenner DE et al. Cancer chemoprevention: lessons learned and future directions. Br J Cancer. 2005;93:735. [PMID: 16160697]
Domcheck SM et al. Mortality after bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers. Lancet Oncol. 2006;7:223. [PMID: 16510331]
Kalidas M et al. Aromatase inhibitors for the treatment and prevention of breast cancer. Clin Breast Cancer. 2005;6:27. [PMID: 15899070]
Posted on March 22, 2009
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