Cancer

Cancer is a wide range of different diseases of which there are well over a hundred types. Cancers can be classified into two broad types: haematological (malignancies of the blood) or solid tumors. The name of the cancer depends on the type of tissue or the site it develops in. For example a sarcoma is a cancer arising from bone, muscle or connective tissue, and carcinoma is cancer arising from epithelial tissue.

Origins of Cancer:

Cell division or cell proliferation is a physiological process that occurs in almost all tissues and under many circumstances. Normally the balance between proliferation and programmed cell death is tightly regulated to ensure the integrity of organs and tissues. Mutations in DNA that lead to cancer disrupt these orderly processes. The uncontrolled and often rapid proliferation of cells can lead to either a benign tumor or a malignant tumor (cancer).

Benign tumors do not spread to other parts of the body or invade other tissues, and they are rarely a threat to life unless they extrinsically compress vital structures. Malignant tumors can invade other organs, spread to distant locations (metastasize) and become life-threatening