Cancer

Question: What is the best way to cure esophageal cancer? My father is suffering from esophageal cancer. The cancer has affected a nerve near his throat causing him to lose his voice. Also, it has already metastasized to two other organs. He has been treated with combined chemotherapy and radiation therapy for half a year, but his cancer shows no sign of shrinking and it's gradually growing. His doctor says he cannot surgically remove the cancer because the cancer is adjacent to nerves and important organs and such an operation will damage the adjacent areas. Isn't there any good way to cure his cancer?

Answer: As a rule, there is no cure for esophageal cancer. There is a surgical procedure that can be performed but if it has already metastasized to other organs it's probably already too advanced. Prognosis for this time of cancer is usually 5 yrs max.....but that's for strictly esophageal cancer. Depending on what other organs are involved, that time would likely be reduced. Because it effects the esophageous, eating can become very difficult so it's important for him to take supplements like Ensure to keep his strength. Most people with esophageal cancer lose a lot of weight.

Question: What types of cancer are common during late adolescence and early adulthood? Is there a good website to look up this information? I tried googling it I'm not getting any good results. I'm just curious as to what types of cancer I should be aware or concerned about. I am 18 and I know I shouldn't be too concerned about cancer at this age, but it does happen. I don't know my medical history and I have no idea whether my family has a history of cancer or not.

Answer: Cancer of all types is rare in young people. Women are advised to begin breast self-exams at 20. Besides that, just be conscious of changes in your body and discuss concerns with your doctor as appropriate. The number one killer of young people is accidents. Tens of thousands of young people die accidentally every year. Motor vehicle accidents are the biggest killer. But falls, drowning, shootings, and drug-related incidents take a terrible toll as well. Here is how to increase your chances of dying from old age: 1) Always wear a seat belt. 2) Obey the speed limit. 3) Never drive drunk or impaired. Don't be a passenger of someone who is drunk or impaired. 4) Wear a helmet on motorcycles and bikes. 5) Learn to swim, never swim alone, never swim at night, and never swim while drunk or impaired. 6) Stay away from ladders and roofs. 7) Stay away from situations where illegal drugs may be present 8) Do not handle firearms unless you have completed a firearms safety class.

Question: How is it possible that healthy people can get cancer? Despite healthy people eating the right and healthy foods with good exercise, how is it possible that these people who take good care of themselves get cancer? But isn't it suppose to be the other way around? In other words, I mean that people who don't take care of their health and eat fatty, unhealthy foods get cancer. I doesn't make sense when healthy people like healthy non-smoking, healthy people get lung cancer. I know the causes of cancer is to eat unhealthy foods and not do many healthy activities. But my question is...... What is the cause of lung cancer for people who are non-smokers and take good care of their health? The wife the actor Christopher Reeve(Dana Reeve) died from lung cancer even though she was a non-smoker and a very healthy person. When you choose to answer my question, don't answer with "that's how life is" or "that's the way it is" or "life is unfair". Please give a specific and elaborate answer to my question. Is nature responsible?

Answer: Yes. A very good friend of mine, who took great care of himself had picked up Pancreatic Cancer. He lasted only a few months. I do not have an answer, except that in spite of what we do, we can't control the hidden destiny. Smokers can live to old age, and the good die young. Another friend of mine was diagnosed with cancer and given just days to live. 25 years later, he is totally cured. He has a very unusual look at life today.

Question: What's a reliable cancer/ cancer research foundation to donate to? I recently got quite a sum of money and am planning to donate to assist patients with cancer or cancer research. I also want to make sure that the money goes directly into helping the cause, and not into someone's paycheck. Plz help me find the most reliable/ best foundations or let me know what you recommend! Thanks.

Answer: You didn't say if you were looking for a specific type of cancer. Try www.charitynavigator.com You can read up on the groups and see what percentage of the budget is spent on overhead, salaries, etc. kate - www.aftercancernowwhat.wordpress.com

Question: What is the difference between Colon Cancer and Intestinal Cancer? And how does one get screened for Intestinal cancer? Colon cancer runs in my family and I have a colonoscopy every year. But I found out that a close relative has Intestinal cancer.

Answer: As other peole pointed out, "colon" cancer is a cancer specific of the large intestin, whereas "intestinal" cancer could affect any part of the intestine (including the small intestine, i.e. duodenum, ileum and jujenum). If colon cancer runs in your family, you are likely to have FAP, or Familial adenomatous polyposis, an inherited colorectal cancer syndrome. People with the classic type of familial adenomatous polyposis may begin to develop multiple noncancerous (benign) polyps (growths) in the colon as early as their teenage years. This cancer usually develops in the lower part of the digestive system, including the large intestine (colon) and rectum. However, the FAP syndrome could present a risk factor for the cancer of the small intestine (what your relative might have), therefore this person could also carry the genetic mutation that confers cancer predisposition (the APC gene, in the case of FAP). Feel free to contact me for more information

Question: Why does cancer appear in some places more frequently than others? For example, people get tumors in their lungs, bladder, stomach, intestines, brain, breasts,and other organs but you never see anyone developing cancer on their fingers, feet, thighs, etc... Cancer is suppose to be able to develop on any tissue in the body so why does it appear more frequently in certain areas? Can someone please explain this to me, I really want to know.

Answer: It tends to occur more frequently in epithelial tissue because this type of tissue reproduces most frequently. Since it is the replication of cells that goes awry in cancer, it would follow that we would see cancer more frequently in cell types that divide more frequently. We are also more likely to see cancers in places that are most commonly exposed to carcinogens such as UV radition and environmental toxins. So for this reason, some of the most common cancer places for cancer are the skin, the lungs and the digestive track.

Question: What type of cancer starts at the cervix and spreads to the lympy nodes in your back? Ok my friend moms has got cancer she almost died this past spring so what type of cancer spreads from the cervix and spreads to the lympy nodes in in her neck.Two weeks ago couldn't breath and had to be rushed to the hospital.How long does a person live with that.I know intill the good lord takes her away and alot of times the doctor can tell you that you have so long to live but alot of times there wrong.Can someone help me out.

Answer: i thinkk cervical cancer, im rlly sorry.:(

Question: What causes skin cancer and what are the effects? Well, I am 13, and I have gotten two severe sunburns this past month. My mom said they were pretty bad, and they can cause skin cancer in the future. Is this really true? If not what are the real causes of skin cancer? What are the effects?

Answer: Skin Cancer Causes Ultraviolet (UV) light exposure, most commonly from sunlight, is overwhelmingly the most frequent cause of skin cancer. Other important causes of skin cancer include the following: * Use of tanning booths * Immunosuppression—impairment of the immune system, which protects the body from foreign entities, such as germs or substances that cause an allergic reaction. This may occur as a consequence of some diseases or can be due to medications prescribed to combat autoimmune diseases or prevent organ transplant rejection. * Exposure to unusually high levels of x-rays * Contact with certain chemicals—arsenic (miners, sheep shearers, and farmers), hydrocarbons in tar, oils, and soot (may cause squamous cell carcinoma) Regarding your mother's comment, people who had at least one severe sunburn early in life have a greater risk of developing skin cancer. Mom is right! Treatment for basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma is straightforward. Usually, surgical removal of the lesion is adequate. Malignant melanoma, however, may require several treatment methods, including surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy.

Question: What make pancreatic cancer so different from other cancers? From everything that I have read about pancreatic cancer it is uncurable. Breast cancer, leukemia, and other kinds of cancer can be cured/brought into remission and I was wondering what is so different about pancreatic cancer that does not allow this type of cancer to be cured/go into remission?

Answer: Pancreatic cancer can be treated for cure under very specific conditions. It spreads by local invasion and via lymphatic channels. If it is caught early prior to invasion in the local vasculature, it can be treated for cure via several procedures - Whipple (pancreaticoduodenectomy), Total Pancreatectomy, or Distal Pancreatectomy. A major issue is catching it early. The symptoms of this disease early on are usually no symptoms, vague abdominal pain, mild discomfort. It is hard to detect. There is also no good screening that is cost effective. The reason for this is the cancer is not that common, and the tests available are not that cheap. This makes for a very inefficient screening method. The ones out there currently that can detect pancreatic cancer include CT scan of the abdomen and Endoscopic Ultrasound. Both of these tests have their own drawbacks. CT scan of the abdomen involves radiation that may set you up for a cancer. Endoscopic ultrasound requires sedation, a specialist (gastroenterologist), and has risks of perforation. Also the tests need to have a high degree of sensitivity (meaning that there is a high number of people who have the disease also test positive). Endoscopic ultrasound is being used more for symptomatic pancreatic cancer, but I do not know of studies used for screening the general population. Another issue is it's proximity to other organs. It is near the duodenum, stomach, inferior vena cava, aorta. It is also a part of the biliary system and liver. It can spread to many important organs easily. There is some increased hope on the horizon as new chemotherapy drugs are being developed. Dr. Vickers at the University of Minnesota is doing clinical trials on a new medication that will hopefully help with treating the disease.

Question: How do I plan a cancer walk for my school? Next year, I want to plan to have a cancer walk that students can participate in, but I have never been in charge of planning a cancer walk before. What advice do you have? Who can I get in contact with to do this? Should other people be allowed into the cancer walk? Should we put together teams to walk that day? Any suggestions are appreciated and will be taken seriously. dink2925, I am perfectly aware of the way cancer has affected and changed our society. I have many loved ones who have been diagnosed with the cancer throughout my 14 years of existence, and I have decided to raise awareness to this and to do raise money to help provide treatment for these people. I am doing something about a major illness in the United States, something that I believe is just as important as picking up trash on the side of the road.

Answer: call your local cancer foundation. they have all the answers

Question: Cancer . . .????????????????? do you have to have cemo for all types of cancer or are there somethat doesn't require it?? Also, what types of cancer are genetic and do both of your parents have to carry it for you to get it or does only one need to?? Please help me! My mom had 2 types of cancer and I don't know if my father did or not because I do not know who he is. Please help! Please!!

Answer: Cancer isn't "genetic" in the sense that "You will have cancer if your parents did". Genetics is far more of a crapshoot, and is also affected by what occurs during an organisms growth. Even if you inhereted a sensitivity to specific types of cancer, chances are that you may never encounter the required stimuli to trigger the cancer itself. You can seek genetic counciling if its a big concern in your family tree. Cancer can be treated by surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, monoclonal antibody therapy or other methods, and there are even new recombinant drug treatments and DNA tagging experimentations that are constantly being tested on the fringe of science. If you'd like a complete rundown of each of these treatments, visit my source link for more.

Question: How long do cancer patients in Canada have to wait before starting treatment? Honest question. I've read that if you get cancer in Canada and can't afford to go outside Canada for treatment, you're pretty much dead. What's the average wait time between starting treatment after being diagnosed with cancer in Canada?

Answer: I have had cancer twice - the first time was 20 years ago. The last time was a different type of cancer and that was diagnosed 4 years ago. I waited a month with the first cancer but only because I did not want to go to a different city. The last time, I was diagnosed on Thursday and was operated on two days later on a Saturday. Obviously, I recovered both times, so..... Don't believe everything you hear. In fact, if it is coming from the status quo in the States and has anything to do with Universal medicare as practiced in Canada, you might be well advised not to listen to it at all.

Question: What kind of cancer could cause a dog to limp? My dogs been limping and someone said cancer could cause it. What kind of cancer could cause a dog to limp?

Answer: A tumor could have formed on another organ & could be pressing on the spinal cord, causing limited motion. He could also be limping because he sprained his leg, it doesn't always mean something like cancer. Get him checked out since you are concerned about it.

Question: What are the symptoms of cancer? How can someone diagnose if he has cancer? Just wondering what the symptoms of cancer are? How can a person recongnize if he/she might have cancer? Is there any way you can tell in general? What instructions/advices/recommendations could you give? Additional info would be helpful! Thanks! What should I do if I want to make sure I don't have cancer?

Answer: There are over 200 different types of cancer. Cancer is a progressive disease which means that it starts out very tiny, a microscopic cell . . and starts to grow. When it is small there are rarely any symptoms at all. The body does not recognize a malignant cell as being dangerous or any different that any of the other millions of cells within the body. In fact the body will nurture the cancer cell in the same way it takes care of the rest of the body . . and make it a nice healthy cancer cell. Eventually the cell grows into a nodule or tumor and if it is not bothering any vital structures or nerves . . again, no one will feel anything. The cancer will continue to grow and be nourished by the body (just as the body takes care of organs, bones, skin, tissue it also takes care of cancer tumors). Tumors at this point can start to grow their own blood vessels . . if a patient is lucky they will notice symptoms of fatigue or unusual weight loss as the body continues to nourish the new tumor at the expense of other organs. In general, though, there are very, very few warning signs that someone has a malignancy until the cancer is advanced. One of the only warning signs a young person might have that something is wrong is to notice an unusual lump or bump that seems to be growing. Otherwise, most cancers are found by chance. The only recommendation I could give anyone is to remain as healthy as you can, diet, exercise, don't smoke or drink excessively, avoid excessive exposure to carcinogens, and stay healthy. This won't prevent all cancers (you might stop smoking, but later get a bone cancer anyway . . but at least you didn't get lung cancer) , but it will cut down on the risks . . . Mostly though staying healthy and fit will help you fight cancer should you ever get it. The healthier you are the stronger you'll be when you have treatment. It makes a difference to not have any secondary health issues when fighting this monster.

Question: How long does cancer exist?When was the first case diagnosed and what type of cancer was it? Okay I just want to know if cancer has been around forever. Can someone give me more info on this disease's origin.

Answer: Cancer has been around as long as life itself, with the potential for it to develop in any multicellular organism. It has been a hot topic in modern medicine because prior to the advent of antibiotics and advanced lifesaving techniques, people most often died of acute disease or traumatic injury. Nowadays, we have the "luxury" of dying of chronic illnesses related to old age, such as cancer and heart disease. As far as the history of diagnosing cancer goes, the diagnosis for any type of cancer was previously called "consumption." It wasn't until well into the 20th century that doctors began differentiating between cancer types at any meaningful level. If you're interested, the reason why people tend to get cancer as they get older is a pretty complicated process that still isn't fully understood, but it ultimately all boils down to mutations in DNA. Cancer is not a condition that just suddenly develops overnight. A cell or group of cells may develop abnormalities, but still be noncancerous at that point (a condition called "precancerous"). Part of what makes cancer so difficult to treat is the fact that by the time a group of cells become a full-blown malignancy, they have already picked up so many survivalist mutations that they are extremely difficult to kill. And in a manner analogous to the way bacteria become resistant to antibiotics, cancer cells can become resistant to treatments like chemotherapy because though a large number of the cancer cells may be killed, a few that have a mutation enabling them to survive the treatment chemicals will survive and reproduce - so in time, the only cancer cells you have left are resistant to a particular treatment or treatments. And it isn't as simple as going in and cutting the cancer out, either - because by the time a group of cells are a full-blown cancer, they have gained the ability to delocalize, thus making it literally impossible to ever remove every single malignant cell via surgery.

Question: How did Eddie Van Halen get mouth cancer from holding a metal pick in his lips? I don't understand Cancer I guess. He was a chain smoker, and in an interview he said that he got Mouth cancer from a metal pick he would hold in his lips. Not from the smoking. How do you get cancer from metal? Can someone explain this a little?

Answer: Cancer is started by a cell mutation in a single cell which makes it grow rapidly and make more similar fast growing cells creating a malignant (cancerous) tumor of many mutated cells. If not removed a malignant tumor will eventually start shedding cells that will travel to distant parts of the body where they start making more turmors. The causes of why these cell mutations occur is not completely understood, but it is known that exposure to certain substances and chemicals greatly increases a person's chances of developing cancer. Smoking and chewing tobacco contains chemicals that are associated with cell mutations that leads to cancer. Lip and mouth cancer are strongly associated with chewing tobacco. It is also possible that a metal pick could have some type of chemical in it that could increase the chances of cell mutations that would lead to cancer.