Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. Half of all men and one third of all women in the United States are clouted by cancer during their life span. Today, millions of people are living with cancer or had cancer. The risk of developing most types of cancer can be reduced by changes in a person's lifestyle, by quitting smoking and eating a better diet. The sooner the disease is diagnosed and the treatment begins, the better are the chances for living for many years.

What Is Cancer?

Cancer develops when cells in a part of the body begin to grow out of control. Although there are many kinds of cancer, they all start because of out-of-control growth of abnormal cells.Cells in different parts of the body may look and work differently but most reproduce themselves in the same way. Cells are constantly becoming old and dying, and new cells are produced to replace them. Normally, cells divide in an orderly and controlled manner. If for some reason the process gets out of control, the cells carry on dividing, developing into a lump which is called a tumour.

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

Because cancer cells continue to grow and divide, they are different from normal cells. Instead of dying, they outlive normal cells and continue to form new abnormal cells.

There are six main types of treatment for cancer and these are described below. It is fairly common for a combination of treatments to be used.

• Active surveillance (or watchful waiting)
• Surgery
• Radiotherapy
• Chemotherapy
• Hormonal therapy
• Biological therapy

Learn More About Cancer

1. What is Cancer?
2. How is Cancer formed?
3. Types of Cancer
4. How is Cancer treated?