The Most Dangerous Types Of Cancer

2024 Author: Rachel Wainwright | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 07:39

The most dangerous types of cancer

Malignant tumors are one of the most widespread diseases on the planet, each year they find themselves millions of new victims. Cancer is responsible for 13% of all human deaths, in other words, one in eight people in the world dies from this disease.

What is this disease and what exactly is its danger?

In a nutshell, cancer is a disease in which a group of cells begins to grow uncontrollably, and so quickly that they do not have time to mature. A tumor is a disorderly accumulation of immature cells, which are also aggressive - they invade adjacent tissues, destroying them, or they can break away from the main tumor and spread with the flow of blood, lymph or along the nerve pathways, settling in other parts of the body and giving rise to a new one. daughter tumor. This process is called metastasis, and daughter tumors are called metastases. Metastasis is one of the main reasons cancer is so difficult to treat. The rate of tumor growth and its ability to metastasize determines the degree of cancer malignancy.

Different types of cancer differ in the degree of malignancy. Cancer with a low grade of malignancy is less aggressive, the disease progresses slowly, metastases do not form for a long time, and in general, this type of tumor has a favorable prognosis, since it responds well to treatment. Tumors with a high degree of malignancy metastasize early and are prone to rapid growth. Such aggressive tumors require the most active treatment possible, since the time margin is very limited. The degree of malignancy depends on many reasons, the main of which is the degree of maturity of the tumor cells and what kind of cells they are.

Melanoma

Melanoma, the rarest type of skin cancer, is called the queen of tumors. This is an extremely aggressive type of cancer that very quickly gives multiple metastases and is practically not amenable to any treatment, except surgery, and even then it is effective only until the tumor has spread throughout the body. Despite the fact that melanoma is easier to diagnose, since in most cases, although not always, it is visible due to its superficial location, it is often diagnosed only when it has already formed metastases. The reason is that the tumor is almost indistinguishable from a small mole and does not pay much attention to itself until the process goes far enough. Moles that appear in adulthood, very black or irregularly colored, dense and small, without hairs, should cause suspicion. Having found such a "birthmark" it is better to take precautions and get tested, because the sooner a tumor is found, the more chances of recovery.

Lung cancer

Lung cancer is the number one cause of cancer death in the world. Almost one and a half million lives annually claim this pernicious disease. Its peculiarity is the fact that the majority of cases of lung cancer, although not all, are directly related to smoking, that is, they are caused by a devil-may-care attitude towards their health by the person himself. Who has not yet heard about the dangers of smoking? There are probably no such ones. Who among the smokers is sure that this will not affect him in any way? One hundred percent out of a hundred.

Lung cancer does not particularly manifest itself for a long time, except for a persistent cough and an increased tendency to bronchitis and pneumonia, but these signs appear already at advanced stages, and smokers do not pay attention to the cough until it becomes painful and permanent. Often this warning sign is an indication that cancer has already invaded the lung.

Brain cancer

Brain cancer is very dangerous because of its location. The brain is "hidden" in the skull, which serves as its protection, but in the case of a tumor, this factor plays a negative role - it is difficult to get close to it, surgical intervention is associated with high risks of damage to vital brain structures, because, in fact, there are no unimportant ones there. The growth of a tumor in a closed cranial space inevitably causes compression of adjacent brain structures, and then their destruction. That is why, without exception, all brain tumors are considered malignant - they all lead to death if they are not removed in time. Unfortunately, this type of tumor is often found in children.

Intense headaches, aggravated in the morning and with a change in body position, nausea, vomiting without dysfunction of the gastrointestinal tract - those symptoms in which you need to immediately go for examination.

Pancreas cancer

A fairly common type of cancer, about 42.5 thousand new diseases are diagnosed in America every year, and more than 60 thousand in Europe. This type of tumor is extremely difficult to treat, surgery is possible, but it is fraught with significant difficulties and is not always effective, and in addition, pancreatic cancer develops for a long time without any special symptoms. A small habitual ailment in the form of wandering pains in the abdomen and back is in no way associated with either cancer or the pancreas, and the first serious signs often appear when there is nothing to save.

Leukemia

Leukemia, aka leukemia, aka leukemia, aka blood cancer, is a malignant disease that affects the bone marrow, which gradually loses its ability to produce normal blood cells, filling up with immature aggressive cells called blasts. Blasts are unable to perform the functions of blood cells; instead, they only grow rapidly. Normal blood cells have a limited lifespan, when they are destroyed, they must be replaced by new ones that have matured in the bone marrow, and the number of those gradually disappears, displaced by blasts.

Leukemia is caused by a mutation in a single hematopoietic cell. Children often suffer from leukemia, this disease is number one in pediatric oncology, acute leukemia is characteristic of children. Acute and chronic leukemia are not two forms of one disease, but two different diseases that never turn into one another. Both forms are deadly, but, oddly enough, children with acute leukemia have a better chance of success, of course, with active treatment.

Lymphoma

Lymphoma is cancer of the lymph nodes - organs of the immune system designed to protect the body from diseases, including malignant tumors. Therefore, it is clear that the defeat of this particular system is a mortal danger to the body, since it weakens it more than other types of cancer. Essentially, lymphoma causes immunodeficiency, a condition in which the body loses its immune defenses similar to AIDS. Lymphomas are extremely diverse, including varying degrees of aggressiveness. Some of them, called indolent, can develop very slowly, for decades, while others can kill a person in a matter of weeks. Enlarged lymph nodes, a weakened condition, night sweats - these are the meager symptoms of lymphoma, which are not only diagnosed late, but also difficult to treat.

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