Death is always a source of pain. And it impacts even more when the person who dies is young. This morning, the announcement of the death of Technoblade, the popular Minecraft video game youtuber, who died at the age of 23 from cancer, was shocked, as confirmed by his family in an emotional video that was uploaded to the platform.
In August of last year, the young man – whose real name was Alex – had told his followers that had been diagnosed with cancer although it did not transcend what type of tumor affected him.
Many diseases under one name
Cancer is not a single disease, but a group of different pathologies that have in common a abnormal behavior of some cells of the organism that, unlike the normal ones, have different programs inside that regulate their growth, they begin to multiply without control and partially lose the mechanisms of programmed natural death (a process called apoptosis) for which they live much longer.
These tumor cells grow in groups occupying spaces that are not prepared for them and damage the tissues where they are housed, replacing them or altering their functions. In addition, they gain the ability to invade, travel through the blood and lymphatic stream and develop in other tissues or organs, which is known as metastasis, explains an article published on the site of the Alexander Fleming Institute (IAF), specialized in oncology.
Nevertheless, not all tumors are malignant (cancer). Benign tumors do not spread to other organs and are usually curable with surgery.
“Malignant tumors can behave very differently depending on the site of origin and the type of cancer,” the IAF article specifies.
Tumors that form from epithelia (lining tissues) or glands are called carcinomas; those that are formed from supporting tissues, sarcomas; those produced in the melanocytes (pigmented cells of the skin), are called melanomas; and those of the lymphatic system are called lymphomas and others that are produced from blood cells leukemias and myelomaspoint.
In some types of cancer, blood tests can help detect abnormalities. Photo Shutterstock.
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How cancer is diagnosed
In many types of cancer, the early diagnostic is associated with a better prognosis.
In some types of tumors, such as breast and colon cancer, for example, screening studies are indicated in the general population from the age at which these types begin to be more frequent. For other types of cancer, screening is recommended only for people at higher risk.
An article from the Mayo Clinicfrom the United States, lists which approaches health professionals can use to diagnose cancer:
. Physical exploration. The doctor may feel parts of the body for lumps that indicate the presence of cancer. During a physical exam, the doctor may look for abnormalities, such as changes in skin color or enlargement of an organ, that could indicate the presence of cancer.
. Laboratory analysis. Laboratory tests, such as blood and urine tests, can help the doctor identify abnormalities caused by cancer. For example, in people with leukemia, a common blood test, called a complete blood count, may reveal an unusual number or type of white blood cells.
From the age of 40, mammography is part of the annual check-ups in women. Photo Shutterstock.
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. Imaging tests. Imaging tests allow the doctor to examine the bones and internal organs noninvasively. Imaging tests used for cancer diagnosis may include CT scans, bone scans, MRIs, positron emission tomography (PET) scans, ultrasounds, and X-rays, among others.
. Biopsy. During a biopsy, the doctor removes a sample of cells to analyze in the laboratory. There are several ways to extract a sample. In most cases, biopsy is the only way to get a definitive diagnosis of cancer.
cancer stages
Once diagnosed, the doctor will determine the grade (stage) of the cancer. The doctor uses the stage of the cancer to determine treatment options and chances of a cure.
Types of treatment
“There are many types of cancer treatment. The treatment you will receive depends on your type of cancer and how advanced that is”, they indicate from the US National Cancer Institute.
“Some people with cancer will only receive one type of treatment. However, most receive a combination of treatments such as surgery with chemotherapy or radiotherapy”, they continue and specify the different treatment alternatives that exist:
. Surgery to treat cancer. When used to treat cancer, surgery is a procedure in which a surgeon removes the cancer from the body. Radiation therapy to treat the cancer. Radiation therapy is a type of cancer treatment that uses high doses of radiation to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors.
. Chemotherapy to treat cancer. Chemotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that uses drugs to kill cancer cells.
. Immunotherapy to treat cancer. Immunotherapy is a type of treatment that helps the immune system fight cancer. (Read more about what immunotherapy is here)
Immunotherapy encourages the immune system to defend itself against tumors. Shutterstock illustration.
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. Targeted therapy to treat cancer. Targeted therapy is a type of cancer treatment that attacks changes in cancer cells that help them grow, divide, and spread.
. Hormone therapy to treat cancer. Hormone therapy is a treatment that slows or stops the growth of breast and prostate cancers that use hormones to grow.
. Stem cell transplants in cancer treatment. Stem cell transplants are procedures that restore blood-forming stem cells in cancer patients who have been destroyed by very high doses of chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
Blood-forming stem cells are cells that grow like different types of blood cells. The main types of blood cells are white, red, and platelets.
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