Cancer |
|
|
|
|
||
|
Cancer is a major illness, but not necessarily fatal. Nearly two million Americans are considered cured of cancer five years or more after their initial diagnosis. One in three people with cancer is cured. For some forms of the disease, nine out of ten people diagnosed can be considered cured. Many others will live a long time before dying of the disease. Yet the diagnosis of cancer is the most dreaded of any medical problem. The first question is how long will I live? No one really knows.
There is hope for every patient. Some patients are cured by surgery, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy. Some patients are never cured, but their disease it controlled so that they can live for many years.
Treatments are not easy. In some cases they cause hair loss, nausea, or the loss of a limb or breast. These losses can be worse than the actual disease.
Just what is cancer? Cancer is a group of diseases in which there is irregular growth of abnormal cells. Normal cells grow in an orderly, controlled pattern; as they wear out and die, new ones are produced. Abnormal cells grow in an uncontrolled pattern, they never stop reproducing themselves.
The medical specialty that deals with cancer is oncology, and the specialist who treats it is an oncologist.
|
||