The Human Body
The human body is a complex and wondrous living machine.
Like any machine, our bodies are composed of smaller parts that work together with the various tasks.
These tasks are performed each day such as breathing eating and digesting food and the movement of our blood. They are performed by specialized structures known as organs.
Organs
Examples of organs include the lungs, stomach, heart, and brain.
All of these organs and other body parts like our skin and muscles are made of smaller living units called cells.
How do doctors diagnose cancer, and what are the tests included in it?
Cancer Diagnosis
When any patient comes with a particular symptom, a thorough history is taken.
What are the symptoms of the patient, what are the problems of the patient?
A clinical examination is done to check whether there is any problem with the oral cavity, or in the breast, or in the abdomen.
The patient must be examined in detail. If there is any suspicion of cancer, other tests are performed.
The number of cells in a tissue is determined by the balance between cell division and cell death.
Uncontrollable cell division leads to the formation of abnormal growths called tumors. Tumors can be benign or malignant.
Benign Tumors
Benign tumors are slow-growing and constrained by surrounding connective tissue so they do NOT spread to other organs.
They can still be harmful or even kill by pressing on nearby nerves, blood vessels, or brain tissue. Examples of benign tumors include pituitary tumors which may press on optic nerves and cause loss of vision.
Cancerous diseases occur as a result of the excessive, uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells, which invade (grow into) and destroy other body tissues.
This makes its cell growth different from normal cell growth.
Instead of dying, these cells continue to grow and form new, abnormal cells. They develop in almost any organ or tissue of the body.
The origin of these changes is a result of damage to DNA.
DNA is in every cell and directs all its actions of which replication or growth is our major concern.
Of all of the different types of cancer, there 10 that make up the most common types of cancers.
Cancer is a class of diseases that is characterized by uncontrollable cell growth. There are over a hundred types of different cancer and each one is classified by the type of cell that is initially affected.
Once cells divide uncontrollably, they form lumps or masses. These are called tumors that are capable of interfering with the body’s normal processes.
There are well over 200 different types and varieties of cancers that are known today, and some may not have been found yet as well.
Cancer in general is an abnormal class of disease in which cellular growth gets out of control.
This happens because cells multiply and divide too quickly causing the formation of tumors, which are masses or lumps that interfere with many different body organs and change the number of hormones released as well.
The classification of cancer depends on what cell has been affected at the start of the abnormal growth.
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