Cancer is a disease that can be conquered: Expert
cancer is now a fast-growing disease both in terms of a number of patients diagnosed per year as well as number of deaths due to it per year. This trend is seen both in developed and developing countries and a further exponential rise is expected over the coming decade. Good thing is that cancer treatment is also becoming more and more advanced and we are getting better results for curing more and more number of patients.
Cancer starts when the cells of an organ or tissue in the body become abnormal. They grow and multiply out of control. Some tumours grow only at the site where they begin (locally). These are called benign tumours. Other tumours grow locally but they might also invade and destroy the normal tissue around them or they might spread to distant parts of the body. These tumours are called malignant tumours or cancers. A tumour that has spread in this way has ‘metastasized’ and the secondary tumour (or tumours) is called a metastasis (or metastases).
Causes of cancer
Most cancers cannot be assigned to any specific cancer cause. However, there are many risk factors that can increase the risk of developing cancer in a person’s life. These can be modifiable factors like smoking, tobacco chewing, alcohol intake, sedentary lifestyle, obesity, pollution, fast foods etc, others are non-modifiable like mutations in our genes, environmental UV radiation exposures etc.
Over half of all cancers can be prevented by following simple good habits like not smoking, or quitting smoking, doing at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise per day and eating a healthy balanced diet consisting of vegetables, fruits, milk, dry fruits, etc. Most cancers are not caused by an inherited (hereditary) risk.
Different types of cancer vary in their signs and symptoms, how fast they grow, how they spread, and how they react to different treatments. There are no specific symptoms for any cancer. Some non-specific symptoms are weight loss, prolonged fever, cough, constipation, back pain, or lump in any part of the body.
Once cancer is suspected in a patient, specialist doctors should be consulted as soon as possible. Possible tests include biopsy, CT/ MRI/PETCT scans, tumour markers and other blood tests, etc. A biopsy is most important and a compulsory test for diagnosis and starting treatment of cancer. Each patient and tumour type requires different sets of investigations.
Three most important modalities of cancer treatment are surgery, cancer drugs or chemotherapy and radiation therapy. These are all proven to cure cancer, extend life, or improve quality of life.
The type of treatment or the order of treatment will be different for individual patients, depending on the type and location of a tumour, the stage of the disease at diagnosis, factors like general fitness of patient, comorbid conditions, etc.
Most of the time treatment is based on multimodality approach. Surgery is very important part of treatment for stages 1-3 of cancer. It can be combined with chemotherapy or radiotherapy further. Some patients may need chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy before curative surgery while others may require them after surgery to improve the chances of cure.
The key message to people is ‘cancer can be conquered’.
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