APPROACH TO CARE OF CANCER

Approach To Care Of Cancer



Approach To Care Of Cancer

Introduction

Cancer is not just an illness, but rather a giant with several looks. Cancer is a very ancient disease, dating back to pre-historic times. Archeological studies have allowed scientists to detect breast cancer in an Egyptian mummy, while precise descriptions of different cases of cancer started in the eighteenth century. The word cancer comes from the Latin "cancer-cancri" and the Greek karkinos (used by Hippocrates in the fifth century B.C.), meaning both cancer and crab. The two words are linked via images of creeping, voracity, and obliqueness. Just like crabs, cancers creep inside the organism and eat away at it. The association of cancers and crabs has lasted throughout the centuries: Rudyard Kipling used the expression "Cancer the Crab," and an American cartoon booklet from the 1950s shows a giant crab crushing its victims with its huge pincers, the words "Cancer the killer" appearing above the scene. Adopting a typically apocalyptic mood, Michael Shimkin claimed that American citizens had defeated the "pale rider of pestilence" and the "cadaverous rider of hunger," but that they now had to face two different riders—"one in shape of a mushroom cloud and one in the shape of a crab".

Discussion

During the 20th century developed countries experienced a change in humanity from acute, transmittable illnesss such as TB to unending diseases for example cancer. The quest for an elusive "cure" for cancer became a policy imperative, and by the first decade of the twenty-first century U.S. government expenditures on cancer research had reached three billion dollars per year. Notwithstanding decades of heavy research funding, advances in long-term survival for many of the common types of cancer have remained insignificant, and critics have charged that research funding has been too narrowly focused.

Staging

Cancer staging determines the extent of the cancer in the body. It usually is based on the size of the original tumor, whether the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes, and whether the cancer has spread to organs of the body that are distant from the original site. Each cancer has its own staging system using letters and numbers. The T in cancer staging describes the original tumor and the N stands for whether the cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes. The M stands for metastases, or distant spread of the cancer. Numbers area assigned along with the letters. Stage I cancers are the least advanced and have the best outlook for survival. Stage IV is the most advanced level. A cancer's stage does not change, even if cancer recurs or distant spread develops.

Factors That Can Cause Cancer

The development of cancer is a process that generally takes years. By stopping this process at any step, the deadly potential of cancer is ended. After the cancer process is initiated, due to environmental or genetic causes, several things must happen. The cancer cells have to grow and reproduce; the immune structure must fail to know the cancer and leave it alone; ...