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What is cancer and how do you get it?
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Every year, more than 70,000 people in Belgium are affected by cancer. It is still one of the most common causes of death in the world, although patient survival rates have already been greatly improved by innovative techniques.
Also read: 15 tips to lower your risk of cancer
What is Cancer?
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Cancer is characterized by the development of abnormal cells that divide uncontrollably. Those abnormal cells form a mass or a tumor. They can invade and destroy normal body tissue. Cancer can spread throughout the body. In that case one speaks of metastasis.
Also read: What is the chance that you will get cancer?
How do you get cancer?
Cancer is caused by changes (mutations) in the DNA in cells. If enough mutations have accumulated in a cell, the cell becomes cancerous. This cancer cell will begin to divide out of control.
Experts are still in the dark about what exactly causes the mutations. However, certain risk factors are known. Some of these are in your control, such as smoking, obesity or UV radiation, but others are unavoidable. Just think of age, ethnicity or heredity.
Read also: What are possible causes of cancer?
What types of cancer are there?
There are many types and subtypes of cancer, because cancer can arise in any cell of the body.
- Examples of carcinomas are breast cancer, lung cancer and colon cancer. They arise from epithelial cells, such as the skin, mucous membranes or glands.
- Sarcomas are less common than carcinomas. They start in cells that support the tissue: the so-called connective tissue cells. Examples of sarcomas are bone and cartilage cancer.
- Leukemia originates in the bone marrow. The cells that multiply unrestrained here are progenitor cells or precursor cells of white blood cells in the bone marrow. The cells then spread in the blood.
- Lymphoma is located in the lymphatic system. A certain type of white blood cell, lymphocytes, starts dividing, leading to cancer in the lymph nodes, spleen, or liver.
Metastatic or metastatic cancer means that the cancer cells have spread through the blood vessels or lymphatic system to surrounding tissues. As a result, all kinds of organs can be affected.
Secondary cancer is cancer that you get from the treatment of a (primary) cancer. The cancer therapy is then the cause of a new cancer.
Also Read: Types of Blood Cancer and Cancers of the Lymphatic System
Which treatments are possible?
Some treatments – the curative treatments – can effectively cure a patient of cancer. Other treatments are palliative in nature. That means they slow down the progression of the cancer, but there is no definitive cure.
Also Read: Possible Signs And Signals Of Cancer
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