Cancer: Do You Know Your Enemy?

When we hear the word cancer, we often think of tumours that spread and affect our wellness in many different ways. Not all cases of the disease result in malignant lumps that spread, some tumours are benign, while other types of cancer don’t create lumps at all. Knowing how the condition varies could help raise our awareness of the disease and increase our understanding of treatments.

Benign or not

Cancer usually results from one of our simple bodily processes getting out of control. Cells need to divide to refresh our bodily tissues, but gene malfunctions sometimes mean this process doesn’t stop and so many new cells are produced and lumps are formed. If the lump stops growing by itself and doesn’t spread then it’s normally classed as benign and our wellbeing may not be negatively affected at all. When it does continue to get bigger and moves to other parts of the body then we are diagnosed with malignant tumours.

Location

The name given to the type of cancer we get depends on where it first started to grow. Even if breast or prostrate tumours spread they will usually be referred to as breast cancer or prostate cancer. Medics identify the condition further by the type of tissues it began in. Colorectal, lung and breast cancers are called carcinomas, while those starting in muscles, fat or bone are referred to as sarcomas. Sometimes the tissues that make our blood cells are affected by the disease and these are known as leukaemias and those beginning in our lymph cells are termed lymphomas.

Getting diagnosed

Each type of cancer may present in different ways in our bodies. Some of us may detect lumps and then get screened via scans, biopsies and blood tests to determine whether we have the condition or not. In other types of the condition, like leukaemia and lymphoma we may experience periods of general ill-health and tiredness before proper diagnosis. Although the disease seems like it can strike all parts of our body, medical research means there are many different ways to treat the condition wherever it occurs.