Important Questions About Your Cancer Diagnosis

Receiving a cancer diagnosis can make you feel a great amount of anger, frustration, and confusion. So many thoughts are running through your mind, it is easy to forget important questions and concerns that are vital to make important decisions about your care.

What to Bring with You to the Doctor's Appointment

Before your appointment, write down any questions or concerns you have in a notebook. Bring this notebook with you to your appointment so you don't forget any of your questions. You can record your doctor's answers in the notebook so you can review them later. Some even prefer to bring a small tape recorder so they can devote their full attention to what their doctor is discussing.

Bringing a trusted support person with you is also perfectly acceptable and often encouraged. This person can take notes and even contribute to the discussion by asking questions that perhaps you didn't think about.

11 Questions to Ask Your Doctor When You Get a Cancer Diagnosis

Here are some questions that are often forgotten, but are important to ask:

• What is the extent or stage of the cancer I have?
• What is my prognosis?
• What are my treatment options? What treatment(s) do you suggest?
• Why do you favor this treatment over others?
• When will my treatment start, and how long will it last?
• Can I continue working? How will treatment affect daily living?
• Would a clinical trial be appropriate for me?
• What will happen if I choose not to have treatment?
• How long will I have to continue regular check-ups after treatment?
• What are the associated financial costs, and will my insurance cover the recommended treatment?
• Would you object to me getting a second opinion?

It is important to have a physician who will take the time to address your concerns. Cancer is never easy, and having a physician with a good bedside manner makes the journey much easier.

(from: cancer.about.com)

methods of treatment - Clinical & Biologic Therapy

Biologic or Targeted Therapy:
Biologic therapy is a term for drugs that target characteristics of cancerous tumors. Some types of targeted therapies work by blocking the biological processes of tumors that allow tumors to thrive and grow. Other types of therapies cut off the blood supply to the tumor, causing it to basically starve and die because of a lack of blood. Targeted therapy is used in select types of cancer and is not available for everyone. It is given in conjunction with other cancer treatments.

Clinical Trials: Research studies of the latest drugs and therapies against many types of cancer are continuously being conducted. This type of research requires human volunteers to test the safety and effectiveness of new therapies. Volunteers must meet the criteria of each study to participate.



(from: cancer.about.com)

methods of treatment - Radiation

Radiation Therapy: Radiation therapy uses certain types of energy to shrink tumors or eliminate cancer cells. It works by damaging a cancer cell's DNA, making it unable to multiply. Cancer cells are highly sensitive to radiation and typically die when treated. Nearby healthy cells can be damaged as well, but are resilient and are able to fully recover.

Radiation therapy may be given alone, along with chemotherapy, and/or with surgery. The decision to combine radiation therapy with other types of treatment depends on the stage of cancer and other factors.




(from: cancer.about.com)

methods of treatment - Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that uses of drugs to eliminate cancer cells. Unlike surgery, chemotherapy affects the entire body, not just a specific part. It works by targeting rapidly multiplying cancer cells. Unfortunately, other types of cells in our bodies also multiply at high rates, like hair follicle cells and the cells that line our stomachs. This is why chemo can cause side effects like hair loss and an upset stomach.

Chemotherapy is most commonly given by pill or intravenously (IV), but can be given in other ways. A single type of chemotherapy, or a combination of drugs, may be prescribed for a specific length of time. Like surgery, chemotherapy can be prescribed alone, in conjunction with radiation therapy or biologic therapy.

methods of treatment - Surgery

Surgery: Surgery can be used to prevent, treat, stage (determine how advanced the cancer is), and diagnose cancer. In relation to cancer treatment, surgery is done to remove tumors or as much of the cancerous tissue as possible. It is often performed in conjunction with chemotherapy or radiation therapy. For those whose cancer is not treatable, palliative surgery may be an option to relieve pain that may be caused by the cancer. Palliative surgery is not intended to treat or cure the cancer, or even to prolong life, but more to lessen discomfort.

Methods of Treatment for Cancer

There are four standard methods of treatment for cancer: surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy and biologic therapy.
Clinical trials may be an option for some as cancer treatment who meet certain study criteria. Others may choose alternative cancer treatments, which are usually not FDA-approved and often given in locations outside of the U.S.

When initially diagnosed with cancer, a cancer specialist, an oncologist, will provide you with the cancer treatment options. He or she will recommend the best treatment plan based on your type of cancer, how far it has spread, and other important factors like your age and general health.

(from: cancer.about.com)

Top 8 Ways Women Can Prevent Cancer

There are many things that women can do to prevent cancer! Reducing your risk of cancer is easier than you think. Simply changing some lifestyle habits can go a long way in preventing many types of cancer.


1. Avoid Smoking and Secondhand Smoke
We hear a dozen times a day how bad cigarettes are for us and the risk of lung cancer they pose. Why? Smoking is the most significant risk factor for cancer that we can reduce. Did you know that smoking increases your risk factor for developing dozens of types of cancer?

2. Practice Safe Sex and Limit the Amount of Partners You Have
Having unprotected sex with many partners raises your risk for contracting a virus called the human papillomavirus, or HPV for short. Certain strains of HPV have been linked to several different types of cancers, mainly cervical cancer. It is estimated that almost 80% of women have HPV.

3. Get Regular Pap Smears
Getting a regular Pap smear can detect changes in the cervix before they become cancerous. A regular Pap smear is one of the best tools a woman has to prevent cervical cancer.

4. Pass on that Last Call for Alcohol
Studies have determined that women who drink alcoholic beverages develop cancer at a higher rate. How much is too much? Based on studies, ladies who consume 2 to 5 drinks daily have about 1½ times the risk of women who don't consume alcohol.

5. Get Moving
Did you know that when you are exercising, you are reducing your risk for many types of cancer? The American Cancer Society recommends exercising 30 or more minutes, at least 5 days a week. Exercising doesn't mean having to go to the gym to lift weights. Check out ""Top 10 Ways to Prevent Cancer Through Exercise"" for some great gym alternatives.

6. Eat a Low-Fat, Sensible Diet
Eating a diet low in animal fats has been shown to reduce the risk of many types of cancer. It also curbs obesity, which is a risk factor for many types of cancer. Maintaining a healthy weight is essential.

7. Be Sun Savvy
Using sunscreen properly and staying out of the sun during peak hours is essential to preventing skin cancer. If you are looking for a tan, try some tanning alternatives like cosmetic bronzers and self tanning creams. New formulas don't leave your skin looking orange.

8. Know Your Family History of Cancer
Knowing your family history of cancer is very important to properly assess your risk factor for certain types of cancer. We know that cancers like breast, colon, ovarian, and possibly other types can be hereditary.

If you know that a certain type of cancer runs in your family, let your doctor know. Together, you can determine a proper screening plan and assess your true risk. Genetic testing and counseling may be appropriate for some individuals.

Causes of CANCER

Cancer is a diverse class of diseases which differ widely in their causes and biology. Any organism, even plants, can acquire cancer. Nearly all known cancers arise gradually, as errors build up in the cancer cell and its progeny (see mechanisms section for common types of errors).

Anything which replicates (our cells) will probabilistically suffer from errors (mutations). Unless error correction and prevention is properly carried out, the errors will survive, and might be passed along to daughter cells. Normally, the body safeguards against cancer via numerous methods, such as: apoptosis, helper molecules (some DNA polymerases), possibly senescence, etc. However these error-correction methods often fail in small ways, especially in environments that make errors more likely to arise and propagate. For example, such environments can include the presence of disruptive substances called carcinogens, or periodic injury (physical, heat, etc.), or environments that cells did not evolve to withstand, such as hypoxia[5] (see subsections). Cancer is thus a progressive disease, and these progressive errors slowly accumulate until a cell begins to act contrary to its function in the animal.

The errors which cause cancer are often self-amplifying, eventually compounding (like money) at an exponential rate. For example:

* A mutation in the error-correcting machinery of a cell might cause that cell and its children to accumulate errors more rapidly
* A mutation in signaling (endocrine) machinery of the cell can send error-causing signals to nearby cells
* A mutation might cause cells to become neoplastic, causing them to migrate and disrupt more healthy cells
* A mutation may cause the cell to become immortal (see telomeres), causing them to disrupt healthy cells forever

Thus cancer often explodes in something akin to a chain reaction caused by a few errors, which compound into more severe errors. Errors which produce more errors are effectively the root cause of cancer, and also the reason that cancer is so hard to treat: even if there were 10,000,000,000 cancerous cells and one killed all but 10 of those cells, those cells (and other error-prone precancerous cells) could still self-replicate or send error-causing signals to other cells, starting the process over again. This rebellion-like scenario is an undesirable survival of the fittest, where the driving forces of evolution itself work against the body's design and enforcement of order. In fact, once cancer has begun to develop, this same force continues to drive the progression of cancer towards more invasive stages, and is called clonal evolution.[6]

Research about cancer causes often falls into the following categories:

* Agents (e.g. viruses) and events (e.g. mutations) which cause or facilitate genetic changes in cells destined to become cancer.
* The precise nature of the genetic damage, and the genes which are affected by it.
* The consequences of those genetic changes on the biology of the cell, both in generating the defining properties of a cancer cell, and in facilitating additional genetic events which lead to further progression of the cancer.

Classification of CANCER

Cancers are classified by the type of cell that resembles the tumor and, therefore, the tissue presumed to be the origin of the tumor. These are the histology and the location, respectively. Examples of general categories include:

* Carcinoma: Malignant tumors derived from epithelial cells. This group represents the most common cancers, including the common forms of breast, prostate, lung and colon cancer.
* Sarcoma: Malignant tumors derived from connective tissue, or mesenchymal cells.
* Lymphoma and leukemia: Malignancies derived from hematopoietic (blood-forming) cells
* Germ cell tumor: Tumors derived from totipotent cells. In adults most often found in the testicle and ovary; in fetuses, babies, and young children most often found on the body midline, particularly at the tip of the tailbone; in horses most often found at the poll (base of the skull).
* Blastic tumor or blastoma: A tumor (usually malignant) which resembles an immature or embryonic tissue. Many of these tumors are most common in children.

Malignant tumors (cancers) are usually named using -carcinoma, -sarcoma or -blastoma as a suffix, with the Latin or Greek word for the organ of origin as the root. For instance, a cancer of the liver is called hepatocarcinoma; a cancer of the fat cells is called liposarcoma. For common cancers, the English organ name is used. For instance, the most common type of breast cancer is called ductal carcinoma of the breast or mammary ductal carcinoma. Here, the adjective ductal refers to the appearance of the cancer under the microscope, resembling normal breast ducts.

Benign tumors (which are not cancers) are named using -oma as a suffix with the organ name as the root. For instance, a benign tumor of the smooth muscle of the uterus is called leiomyoma (the common name of this frequent tumor is fibroid). Unfortunately, some cancers also use the -oma suffix, examples being melanoma and seminoma.

The following terms can be used to describe a cancer

* Screening: a test done on healthy people to detect tumors before they become apparent. A mammogram is a screening test.
* Diagnosis: the confirmation of the cancerous nature of a lump. This usually requires a biopsy or removal of the tumor by surgery, followed by examination by a pathologist.
* Surgical excision: the removal of a tumor by a surgeon.
o Surgical margins: the evaluation by a pathologist of the edges of the tissue removed by the surgeon to determine if the tumor was removed completely ("negative margins") or if tumor was left behind ("positive margins").
* Grade: a number (usually on a scale of 3) established by a pathologist to describe the degree of resemblance of the tumor to the surrounding benign tissue.
* Stage: a number (usually on a scale of 4) established by the oncologist to describe the degree of invasion of the body by the tumor.
* Recurrence: new tumors that appear at the site of the original tumor after surgery.
* Metastasis: new tumors that appear far from the original tumor.
* Transformation: the concept that a low-grade tumor transforms to a high-grade tumor over time. Example: Richter's transformation.
* Chemotherapy: treatment with drugs.
* Radiation therapy: treatment with radiations.
* Adjuvant therapy: treatment, either chemotherapy or radiation therapy, given after surgery to kill the remaining cancer cells.
* Prognosis: the probability of cure after the therapy. It is usually expressed as a probability of survival five years after diagnosis. Alternatively, it can be expressed as the number of years when 50% of the patients are still alive. Both numbers are derived from statistics accumulated with hundreds of similar patients to give a Kaplan-Meier curve.

What is CANCER..??

Cancer (medical term: malignant neoplasm) is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth (division beyond the normal limits), invasion (intrusion on and destruction of adjacent tissues), and sometimes metastasis (spread to other locations in the body via lymph or blood). These three malignant properties of cancers differentiate them from benign tumors, which are self-limited, and do not invade or metastasize. Most cancers form a tumor but some, like leukemia, do not. The branch of medicine concerned with the study, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer is oncology.

Cancer may affect people at all ages, even fetuses, but the risk for most varieties increases with age.[1] Cancer causes about 13% of all human deaths.[2] According to the American Cancer Society, 7.6 million people died from cancer in the world during 2007.[3] Cancers can affect all animals.

Nearly all cancers are caused by abnormalities in the genetic material of the transformed cells.[4] These abnormalities may be due to the effects of carcinogens, such as tobacco smoke, radiation, chemicals, or infectious agents. Other cancer-promoting genetic abnormalities may be randomly acquired through errors in DNA replication, or are inherited, and thus present in all cells from birth. The heritability of cancers are usually affected by complex interactions between carcinogens and the host's genome. New aspects of the genetics of cancer pathogenesis, such as DNA methylation, and microRNAs are increasingly recognized as important.

Genetic abnormalities found in cancer typically affect two general classes of genes. Cancer-promoting oncogenes are typically activated in cancer cells, giving those cells new properties, such as hyperactive growth and division, protection against programmed cell death, loss of respect for normal tissue boundaries, and the ability to become established in diverse tissue environments. Tumor suppressor genes are then inactivated in cancer cells, resulting in the loss of normal functions in those cells, such as accurate DNA replication, control over the cell cycle, orientation and adhesion within tissues, and interaction with protective cells of the immune system.

Diagnosis usually requires the histologic examination of a tissue biopsy specimen by a pathologist, although the initial indication of malignancy can be symptoms or radiographic imaging abnormalities. Most cancers can be treated and some cured, depending on the specific type, location, and stage. Once diagnosed, cancer is usually treated with a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. As research develops, treatments are becoming more specific for different varieties of cancer. There has been significant progress in the development of targeted therapy drugs that act specifically on detectable molecular abnormalities in certain tumors, and which minimize damage to normal cells. The prognosis of cancer patients is most influenced by the type of cancer, as well as the stage, or extent of the disease. In addition, histologic grading and the presence of specific molecular markers can also be useful in establishing prognosis, as well as in determining individual treatments.