What is Cancer? Have you ever wondered just what cancer actually is? Cancer is more involved then this but here is the short version... The body is made up of trillions of living cells. Normal body cells grow, divide into new cells, and die in an orderly way. Cancer begins when cells in a part of the body start to grow out of control. There are many kinds of cancer, but they all start because of out-of-control growth of abnormal cells. Growing out of control and invading other tissues are what makes a cell a cancer cell. Cancer cells often travel to other parts of the body, where they begin to grow and form new tumors that replace normal tissue. This process is called metastasis . It happens when the cancer cells get into the bloodstream or lymph vessels of our body. No matter where a cancer may spread, it is always named for the place where it started. For example, breast cancer that has spread to the liver is still called breast cancer, not liver cancer. Different types of cancer can behave very differently. For example, lung cancer and breast cancer are very different diseases. They grow at different rates and respond to different treatments. That is why people with cancer need treatment that is aimed at their particular kind of cancer. We will talk next specifically about Breast Cancer.
Posted on: Sat, 03 May 2014 02:00:00 +0000