Cancer Essay -- essays research papers fc

Cancer   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Right now, cancer is one of the most feared diseases in the world. In the early 1990s almost 6 million new cancer cases developed and more than 4 million deaths from cancers occurred. Also more than one-fifth of all deaths were caused by cancer and it has been predicted, by the American Cancer Society, that about 33% of Americans will eventually develop this disease. This is a huge disease that is killing people all over the world.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The field of cancer study is called Oncology. The government has spent billions of dollars on research of this fatal disease. Cancer is the most aggressive disease of a larger class known as neoplasms. Neoplasms do not fully comply with the parts of the cell that control the growth and functions of the cell. These cells eventually become abnormal growths and can be recognized as not normal tissue. These traits are passed down as the cell reproduces therefore spreading the cancer.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Neoplasms are generally classified into two groups: malignant and benign. Malignant tumors, or abnormal tissue, grow more rapidly than benign tissue and they invade normal tissue. Benign tissue is structured similar to normal tissue while malignant tissue is abnormal and has an unstructured appearance. Of greater importance, benign tissue does not metastasize, or begin to grow in other sites, like malignant tumors do. Cancer always refers to metastasized tumors but the term tumor is not always necessarily cancer. A tumor is any living tissue that is distinguishable as abnormal living tissue. After a cancer forms, it can also change from a benign to a malignant state, therefore making the cell grow at a more rapid rate. The development of the cell starts when it forms notable abnormalities in chromosomes and then multiplies exceedingly. Then metastasis usually occurs and generally causes the death of the host. There are many different cancers which form on just about all parts of the body. In the US, skin cancer is the most common cancer, then prostate cancers in males, and then breast cancer in women. Leukemia is clearly the dominant cancer in children. The number one killing cancer in the world today is lung cancer, mostly caused by the smoking of cigarettes. Some researchers have stated that if Americans stopped smoking, lung-cancer deaths could disintegrate within two decades. Stomach cancer is ... ...e cancerous legions in the body. The second is radiation therapy, which uses radiation to try and kill the tumor. One of the main problems with that is not only does it kill cancerous tissue, it also kills healthy ones. The third way to treat cancer is chemotherapy, which is treatment by chemical agents. The chance of complete cure is not common but it is usually used to increase the life of the carrier. The desired effect of treatment in cancer patients is remission, where the cancer is gone from your body and if it does not return within 5 years it is considered cured.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Right now the government is spending huge sums of money on cancer research. They are continuously finding cures and finding better ways to treat and deal with cancer. Research has come very far and helped many people fight cancers. Thanks to all the work done, cancer is still a dreaded disease but is now curable which gives many people faith in recovery. Bibliography Compton’s Encyclopedia(1992). Cancer . Chicago: Compton’s Learning Company Encyclopedia Britannica(1992). Cancer. Chicago: Encyclopedia Brittanica, Inc. American Cancer Society website(1996): http://www.cancer.org/acs.html