The Mysteries of Cancer

Written by Dhruv Girish

You may be asking yourself, what is cancer? Well, this is a complicated topic that many scientists have tried to uncover. Cancer is often a scary word to many people. Cancer is a group of many related diseases that all have to do with our cells. As a quick overview, cells are very small units that make up all living things, which includes our human bodies. There are billions of cells in our body. Cancer occurs when there are abnormal cells that multiply and spread. Normally, our cells know to stop multiplying, but cancer cells do not know when to stop and continue to spread.

Cancer usually clumps together to form tumors: a growing tumor becomes a lump of cancer cells in which can affect the human healthy tissues, which can be very dangerous to human health. You may be wondering how cancer spreads. Well, cancer cells break away from the original tumor and can travel to other areas and continue to form new tumors, we call this metastasis.

What are the causes of cancer? This is still widely unknown, many scientists to this day are trying to find a correlation between the causes and cancer. Cancer is not contagious, meaning that you can not catch cancer by germs, bacteria, or other infectious agents. Cancer cannot be caused by things you do, but things we eat or things we get into contact with can make us much more likely to get cancer. For example, smoking and/or drinking alcohol in excess make you much more susceptible to Cancer.

How do you know if someone has cancer? First off, going to a doctor is the first step to catching it early. Having your annual physicals allow you to catch it early and eradicate the tumors before anything serious happens. If a doctor suspects cancer, they will likely take X-Rays and blood tests and even may send the person to an oncologist. An oncologist is a doctor that treats cancer patients. One test an oncologist would do is a biopsy. During a biopsy, a piece of tissue is removed from a tumor or where cancer is suspected, they will then check for the cancer cells in the microscope. The sooner cancer is found and treatment begins, the better someone's chances are for full recovery and treatment.

There are multiple ways to treat cancer including surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation- or sometimes even a combination. Surgery is the oldest and most common form. With surgery, doctors try to remove as many cancer cells as possible. Chemotherapy uses anti-cancer medicines to treat cancer and these can either be pills or through intravenous lines (also known as IV tubes). Chemotherapy is usually given over a number of weeks to months. On the other hand, another common treatment method is radiation. Radiation uses high-energy waves, such as X-Rays to damage and destroy cancer cells.

With all of these treatments, there can be various side effects that may occur. A doctor's goal is to reach remission (which is another word for the signs of cancer are gone). At some points, additional treatment may be done to keep cancer cells from coming back. Cancer is still a pressing topic for many scientists and doctors to find more effective ways to cure this chronic illness. It is up to the younger generations to create new innovative ways to cure cancer and find out the true causes of certain cancer types.

SOURCES

• Keytruda. “RESULTS FOR KEYTRUDA WITH CHEMOTHERAPY.” Keytruda, https://www.keytruda.com/non-small-cell-lung-cancer/combination-therapy-clinical-trial-results/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Keytruda%20Lung_21G%20Immunotherapy_UNBD_NA_EDUC_BROD_TEXT_NA&utm_term=efficacy%20of%20combo%20therapy%20for%20stage.

• KidsHealth from Nemours. “What Is Cancer?” KidsHealth from Nemours, https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/cancer.html.

• Nuelasta. “Strong chemotherapy puts your body at risk for infection that can disrupt your cancer treatments.” Nuelasta, https://www.neulasta.com/infection-caused-by-chemo/?&msclkid=70c65dac27bb1ebffd703d0f9123cedd&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=UNB_DTC_Awareness_General_PHM_05.2020&utm_term=chemotherapy&utm_content=Chemo%20General_PHM&gclid=70c65dac27bb1ebffd70.