Cancer

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Overview

Symptoms

Treatment

Prevention

Cancer

Definition:

Cancer involves the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells that have mutated from normal tissues. This growth can kill when these cells prevent normal function of vital organs or spread throughout the body, damaging essential systems.

Alternative Names:
Carcinoma; Malignant tumor
Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

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There are many different kinds of cancers. Cancer arises out of normal cells in the body, and can develop in almost any organ or tissue, such as the lung, colon, breast, skin, bones, or nerve tissue.

In general, cancer appears to be caused by abnormal regulation of cell division. Cancers can occur when cells divide too rapidly or when cells ?forget? how to die.

There are multiple causes of cancers such as:

Radiation
Sunlight
Tobacco
Certain viruses
Benzene
Certain poisonous mushrooms and aflatoxins (a poison produced by organisms that can grow on peanut plants)

However, the cause of many cancers remains unknown.

The three most common cancers in men in the U.S. are prostate cancer, lung cancer, and colon cancer. In women here, the three most frequently occurring cancers are breast cancer, lung cancer, and colon cancer.

The most common cause of cancer-related death is lung cancer.

Certain cancers are more common in particular geographic regions. For example, in Japan, there are many cases of gastric cancer, while in the US this type of cancer is relatively rare. Dietary differences may account for the variance.