Cancer Awareness Month

What is Cancer?

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.

How Normal Cells Become Cancer

Normal body cells grow, divide, and die in an orderly fashion. During the early years of a person’s life, normal cells divide faster to allow the person to grow. After the person becomes an adult, most cells divide only to replace worn-out or dying cells or to repair injuries.

Because cancer cells continue to grow and divide, they are different from normal cells. Instead of dying, cancer cells outlive normal cells and keep forming new abnormal cells. Another difference between cancer cells and normal cells is that cancer cells can invade
(grow into) other tissues. Being able to grow out of control and to invade tissues makes a cell a cancer cell.

How Cancers Grow and Spread

In most cases the cancer cells form a tumor. Some cancers, like leukemia, do not form tumors. Instead, these cancer cells involve the blood and blood-forming organs and circulate through other tissues where they grow.

Cancer cells often travel to other parts of the body, where they begin to grow and replace normal tissue. This process is called metastasis. It happens when the cancer cells get into the bloodstream or lymph vessels of our body.

How Cancers Differ

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.

Who Gets Cancer

Over one million people get cancer each year. About 1 out of every 2 American men and 1 out of every 3 American women will have some type of cancer at some point during their lifetime. Anyone can get cancer at any age; but about 77% of all cancers are diagnosed in people age 55 and older. Cancer can be found in Americans of all racial and ethnic groups, but the rate
of cancer occurrence (called the incidence rate) varies from group to group.

What Are the Risk Factors for Cancer?

Smoking and drinking alcohol cause some people to get certain types of cancer. All cancers caused by cigarette smoking and heavy use of alcohol could be prevented completely. The best thing is to never use tobacco at all. Cigarettes, cigars, pipes and smokeless tobacco all cause cancer and should not be used. People who already smoke should try to quit-we know that
former smokers have less risk of cancer than people who continue to smoke.

Many of the more than 1 million skin cancers that are diagnosed every year could have been prevented by protecting the skin from the sun’s rays and avoiding indoor tanning. The chances of getting skin cancer can be lowered by staying in the shade as much as you can, wearing a hat and shirt when you are in the sun, and using sunscreen.

About one third of the cancer deaths expected every year are related to nutrition, overweight or obesity, and physical inactivity, and thus could also be prevented. We know that our diet is linked to some types of cancer, but the exact reasons are not yet clear. A healthy diet and at least 30-45 minutes of physical activity on at least 5 days a week is important.

Certain cancers are related to infectious diseases, many of which can be prevented through behavioral changes, vaccines, or antibiotics.

Can Cancer be Prevented?

There is no way to prevent most cancers, but the best plan is to avoid risk factors you can control, and make healthy lifestyle choices.

Cancer Screening and Early Detection

There are tests, called screening tests, which adults should have in order to find cancers at an early stage when they are most treatable. Screening can prevent cancers of the cervix, colon, and rectum by allowing doctors to take out pre-cancerous tissue before it becomes cancer. Screening can also detect cancers of the breast, colon, rectum, cervix, prostate, oral cavity, and skin at early stages. For most of these cancers, early detection has been shown to reduce the number of deaths caused by cancer.

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