Questions and Answers About Cancer - Part 1

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What is cancer?

Cancer is a group of diseases characterized by loss of control of cell division and the ability to invade other organic structures.



What causes cancer?

Cancer can be caused by external factors (chemicals, radiation and viruses) and internal (hormones, immune conditions and inherited mutations). Causal factors may act together or in sequence to initiate or promote carcinogenesis. In general, ten or more years often pass between exposures or mutations and detectable cancer.

The cancer is hereditary?

In general, cancer is not hereditary. There are only a few rare cases that are inherited, such as retinoblastoma, a type of eye cancer that occurs in children. However, there are some genetic factors that make some people more sensitive to the action of environmental carcinogens, which explains why some of them develop cancer and others do not, even when exposed to a carcinogen.

The cancer is contagious?

No. Even cancers caused by viruses are not contagious like a cold, or no more than one person to another by contagion. However, some oncogenic virus that is capable of producing cancer, may be transmitted through sexual contact, blood transfusions or contaminated needles used to inject drugs. Examples of carcinogenic viruses, we have the hepatitis B virus (liver cancer) and HTLV - I / Human T-lymphotropic virus type I (leukemia and lymphoma, adult T-cell).

What is the difference between in situ and invasive cancer?

Carcinoma in situ (noninvasive cancer) is the first stage when the cancer can not be classified hemapoético. At this stage, cancer cells are only in the layer from which they developed and has not spread to other layers of the organ of origin. Most in situ cancers are curable if treated before it progresses to the stage of invasive cancer. At this stage, the cancer invades other cell layers of the body and invades and gains the ability to spread to other parts of the body.

The cancer is curable?

Currently, many types of cancer are cured, if treated in early stages, demonstrating the importance of early diagnosis. More than half of cancers have no cure.

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