INTRODUCTION: Cancer is a collection of over 100 different diseases that are cause by abnormal growth of body cells. It is one of the key diseases that is a “golden eggs laying goose” for Orthodox medicine. Cancer is usually classified according to the tissue from which the cancerous cells originated, as well as the normal cell type they look like or resemble.

CHILDRENS CANCERS: Amongst all age groupings, the most common childrens cancers are leukemia, lymphoma, and brain cancer. In nearly all cases, however, childhood cancers come from non-inherited changes in the genes of growing cells. Longer-term effects may include infertility, problems with growth, Damage of internal organs, or increased risk of other cancers.

The diagnosis and treatment of childhood cancers takes time, and there are both short-term and long-term side effects.

WOMAN: Many women with inflammatory breast cancer do not have an associated breast lump, which can make the disease more difficult to detect. Another challenge is that inflammatory breast cancer is a much more aggressive cancer in younger women than other types of breast cancer.

Still, some benign breast conditions are important because women with these conditions have a greater risk of developing cancer of the breast . However not all women with lymph node involvement develop metastases, and it is not rare for a woman to have negative lymph nodes and later develop metastases.

TREATMENTS: Different types of cancer have different signs, symptoms, treatments, and outcomes, depending on the cell type involved and the degree of uncontrolled cell growth.

Every child’s treatment varies, so a child may get daily, weekly, or monthly drug treatments. Radiation is one of the most common treatments for cancer. While surgery is often all that is neccesary, these kinds of cancers may not respond as well to some other treatments used for invasive ductal or lobular breast cancer.

As research develops, treatments are becoming more specific for different varieties of cancer. In addition, histologic grading and the presence of specific molecular markers can also be useful in establishing prognosis, as well as in determining individual treatments. A number of experimental cancer treatments are also under development.

CONCLUSION: Cancer isn’t caused by germs, like colds or the flu are. Cancer is a term for diseases in which abnormal cells divide without control and can invade other tissues.

Although the control of the symptoms of cancer is not typically thought of as a treatment directed at the cancer, it is an important determinant of the quality of life of cancer patients, and plays an important role in the decision whether the patient is able to undergo other treatments. Once diagnosed, cancer is usually treated with a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The cure and cause of cancer is within you.

INTRODUCTION: Leukemia means white blood. It is found in the bone marrow or blood and is characterized by an abnormal growth of blood cells, typically white blood cells (leukocytes)and is separated into its acute and chronic forms.

It can affect the digestive tract,kidneys, lungs, or other parts of the body and can also collect in the testicles causing swelling. Leukemia is one of the most common cancers of children, But isn’t just a children’s disease, as many think.

It is newly diagnosed in about 29,000 adults and 2000 children each year in the United States and has four main types and many sub-types of which only some of them are common among children.

Leukemia that has spread to the brain can produce central nervous system disorders, including headaches, weakness, blurred or distorted vision, seizures, balance difficulties, or vomiting and the drugs used to treat it, can cause anemia.

ACUTE LEUKEMIA: Acute leukemia is characterized by the rapid increase of immature blood cells, and is a potentially curable disease; However only a small number of patients are cured with current therapy. It begins with one or a few white blood cells that have a lost or damaged DNA sequence and gets worse very fast and may make you feel sick right away.

Leukemia tends to develop suddenly, however some chronic varieties may exist for years before they are even diagnosed. Immediate treatment is required due to the rapid growth and accumulation of the malignant cells, which then spill over into the blood stream and spread to other organs.

Although acute leukemia must be treated immediately, chronic forms of the disease are sometimes monitored for some time before any treatment is begun to ensure maximum effectiveness of therapy.

CHRONIC LEUKEMIA: Chronic leukemia is recognized by excessive build up of relatively mature, but still abnormal, blood cells and can go undetected for many years until it is identified in a routine blood test. It is more common between the ages of 40 and 70 and rarely occurs among young people.

It tends to gets worse slowly and may not cause symptoms for years. Like many other cancers, it is a disease of old age. Doctors often find chronic leukemia during a routine checkup, before there are any noticeable symptoms. In adults, the acute forms occur in those of all ages, whereas the chronic varieties tend to occur in people older than 40 years. Although slow-growing chronic leukemia may also be seen in children, it is very rare, accounting for fewer than 50 cases in children each year in the United States.

TREATMENT: Treatment for leukemia is complex and it depends largely on your age and health, the type and how far it has metastasize or spread. Treatment is generally considered necessary when the patient shows signs and symptoms such as low blood cell numbers. Generally speaking, all treatment is divided into several different phases. In children, an intensive 6-month treatment program is needed after induction, followed by 2 years of chemotherapy.

For children with low-risk, standard therapy usually consists of three drugs (prednisone, L-asparaginase, and vincristine) for the first month of treatment. High-risk patients receive higher drug doses plus treatment with extra chemotherapeutic agents. Follow-up therapy for ALL patients usually consists of: supportive care, such as intravenous nutrition and treatment with oral antibiotics.

In general, the indications for treatment are: dropping hemoglobin or platelet count, progression to advance or later stages of disease, painful,disease related over growth of lymph nodes or spleen, lymphocyte doubling time (an indicator of lymphocyte reproduction) of less than a year. Overall, the strategy is to control bone marrow and systemic or total body disease while offering specific treatment for the central nervous system (CNS), if necessary. Maintenance treatments may be given to prevent disease re-ocurrence once remission has been accomplished. Whatever the plan or strategy, it is important for the patient to understand the treatment that is being given and the reasons behind the selection.

CONCLUSION: Leukemia is a cancer of blood forming cells in the bone marrow. These cells crowd out other types of cells produced by the bone marrow, including red blood cells, which carry oxygen throughout your body, and platelets, which are used to form blood clots.

Leukemia cells can spread to the lymph nodes causing swelling and or pain and can also accumulate in the kidneys, liver and spleen, causing these organs to enlarge. The cells also can affect the lungs and other parts of the body. Acute forms occur in both children as well as young adults. Chronic forms usually occurs in older people, but theoretically can occur at any age.

To date there is no single known cause for all of the different types of leukemia. Studies have linked exposure to chemicals, such as benzene, and hair dyes to the development of some forms of the disease. Viruses have been linked to other forms. Until the cause or causes are discovered, there is no known way to prevent the occurrence of Leukemia. As of 1998, it is estimated that each year, approximately 30,800 individuals will be diagnosed with Leukemia in the United States and 21,700 persons will die of the disease.

INTRODUCTION: Lung cancer is a disease of uncontrolled cellular growth in tissues of the lungs. It is one of the most commonly occuring cancers in the United States, accounting for approximately 15 percent of all cases, or 170,000 new cases every year. It is also the leading cancer killer in America, taking more lives each year than breast, prostate and colorectal cancers combined, according to the American Cancer Society. In the US it is the leading cause of cancer deaths in women and is responsible for as many deaths as breast and all gynecological cancers combined.

SMOKING: Smoking, radon, and second hand smoke are the leading causes. Smoking causes an estimated 160,000* deaths in the US. Smoking leads to 85 percent to 90 percent of all lung cancers.

Smoking affects those who do not smoke by exposing them to second hand smoke. If a person ceases smoking, the chance of developing lung cancer steadily decreases as damage to the lungs is repaired and contaminant particles are gradually removed.

RADON: An invisible and odorless gas generated by the breakdown of radioactive radium, which in turn is the product of decaying uranium, found in the earth’s crust.

Radon leads the way as the number one cause of lung cancer among non-smokers, according to EPA estimates. It causes between 15,000 and 22,000 deaths each year in the United States — 12 % of all lung cancer deaths are linked to radon.

RISK FACTORS: Include smoking cigarettes or cigars, now or in the past. Not all cases are due to smoking, but the role of passive smoking is increasingly being recognized as a risk factor, leading to policy interventions to decrease undesired exposure of non-smokers to others’ tobacco smoke.

A smoker who is also exposed to radon has a much greater risk. The more cigarettes you smoke each day and the earlier you began smoking, the greater your risk of lung cancer. High levels of pollution, radiation and asbestos exposure can also increase that risk.

SYMPTOMS: Can include Chronic coughing, Hoarseness, Coughing up blood, Weight loss & lack of appetite, Shortness of breath, Fever for unknown reasons,Wheezing, Repeated episodes of bronchitis or pneumonia and Chest pain.

Approximately 10% of people do not have symptoms at diagnosis; these cancers are incidentally found on regular chest x-rays. In fact, lung cancer can spread outside the lungs with no symptoms at all.

TREATMENT: Treatment depends on the cancer’s specific cell type, how far it has spread, and the patient’s performance status. It also depends on the stage, or how advanced it is.

Treatment choices should be discussed with Your Physician. It can include drugs, radiation and surgery. In the last few years, different molecular targeted therapies have been developed as treatments.

CONCLUSION: Lung cancer is the second most commonly occurring form of cancer in most western countries, and it is the leading cancer-related cause of death. It is the most common cause of cancer deaths in both men and women, accounting for nearly a third of cancer deaths annually in the United States.

It has become the subject of a large amount of research. Even though the rate of men dying from it is decreasing in western countries, it is actually increasing for women because of the increased taking up of smoking by this group. It is already known that the best way to prevent it is to quit (or never begin) smoking. Three to five years after you quit, the risk of getting the disease is reduced by half.

Introduction: Gastric cancer (stomach cancer) is the fourth most common cancer in the world with 930,000 cases diagnosed in 2002. It mostly affects older people – 2 out of three people who have it are over age 65. Stomach cancer is more readily treated when found early.

SYMPTOMS: Cancer of the Stomach is often asymptomatic or causes only nonspecific symptoms in its beginning stages. By the time symptoms appear, the cancer has generally spread to other parts of the body, which is one of the primary reasons for its poor prognosis. Stomach cancer can produce the following signs and symptoms: Decreased appetite, Difficulty in swallowing, especially difficulty that increases over time, Vague abdominal fullness, Nausea and vomiting, Vomiting blood, Abdominal pain, Excessive belching, Breath odor, Excessive gas, Weight loss for unknown reasons, A general decline in health, Premature abdominal fullness after dining.

These can also be symptoms of other problems such as a stomach virus, stomach ulcer or tropical sprue and diagnosis should be carried out by a gastroenterologist or an oncologist. To find out what is the cause of the symptoms, the doctor will asks about the patient’s medical history, does a physical examination, and may order laboratory studies. Unfortunately, since early stomach cancer causes little symptoms, the disease is often advanced when the diagnosis is made.

RISK: It is felt that many risk factors are involved including diet, gastritis, intestinal metaplasia and Helicobacter pylori infection. You can diminish your risk of stomach cancer by making a few changes in your daily habits. Your risk of getting it is more if you have had a Helicobacter pylori infection, Have had inflammation of the stomach, Are a man who eats a great deal of salted, smoked, or pickled foods, Smoke cigarettes or have a family history of stomach cancer. Helicobacter pylori is the main risk factor in about 80 percent or more of gastric cancers.

TREATMENT: As is usual with any cancer, treatment is adapted to fit individual needs and depends on the size, position, and extent of the cancer, the stage of the disease, and the person’s general health.

The kind of treatment you receive for stomach cancer depends on a number of factors, including the location of the cancer, how advanced it is, your overall health and your own preferences. The goal of any treatment is always to eliminate the cancer completely.

CONCLUSION: Stomach cancer causes close to one million deaths worldwide annually. It often affects nearby organs and lymph nodes. A gastric tumor can grow through the stomach’s outer layer into other neighboring organs, such as the pancreas, esophagus, or intestine. Metastasis occurs in 80-90% of individuals with gastric cancer, with a five year survival rate of 75% in those diagnosed in early stages and fewer than 30 percent of those diagnosed in late stages.

Because gastric cancer can spread to the liver, the pancreas, and other organs close to the stomach as well as to the lungs, the physician may order a CT scan, a PET scan, an endoscopic ultrasound exam, or other tests to check these areas. The use of chemo drugs to treat gastric cancer has no established standard of care. Although the incidence of gastric cancer has declined dramatically in the US and Western Europe in the past 60 years, the disease is still a serious problem in much of the rest of the world, where it’s a leading cause of cancer death.

INTRODUCTION: True bone cancer (aka primary bone cancer) affects over 2,000 people in the United States each year. Cancer that originates in the bone – primary bone cancer – is rare. Early diagnosis and treatment of this disease increases the likelihood of survival. Children and young people are more likely than adults to develop cancer of the bones. In the past, amputation was common for bone cancer in an arm or leg.

CAUSE: Most of the time, when people have cancer in their bones, it is caused by cancer that has spread from elsewhere in the body to the bones rather than actual cancer of bone cells.

TYPES: There are at least 100 forms of cancer, and each type is named for the organ or tissue in which it originated. Certain forms of cancers are particularly likely to metastasize (spread) to the bones. It is important to noticed that when these other kinds of cancer spread to the bone, they are still named for the tissue or organ where they originated and are not termed “bone” cancer.

Many different forms of cancer are able to metastasize to the bones. The most common forms of malignancies that spread to the bones are lung, breast, prostate, thyroid, and kidney.

There are a number of kinds of sarcoma of the bone, depending upon the kind of bone tissue where the tumor originated. The most frequently occuring kinds of primary bone cancer are osteosarcoma, Ewing’s sarcoma, and chondrosarcoma. Other, less occuring types include fibrosarcoma, malignant giant cell tumor, and chordoma.

SYMPTOMS: The symptoms of malignancy of the bone tend to occur slowly and depend on the form, location, and size of the tumor. Pain is the most frequent symptom of this malignancy and physicians sometimes use radiation therapy to shrink tumors to diminish the pressure, pain and other symptoms they may cause.

TREATMENT: Treatment depends on the kind of bone cancer, as well as its location, size and stage. It can involve chemotherapy with multiple drugs as well as radiation therapy and surgery to eliminate the primary tumor.

Treating cancer that has spread to the bones (metastatic cancer) depends on the form of cancer (the tissue where it originated) and the extent of the spread. As with other malignancies, treatment depends on the size, type, location and stage of the cancer, including whether it has metastasized to the lungs or other parts of your body, and your overall health.

Your physician may suggest using radiation therapy at various times during your treatment and for various reasons, such as before surgery to shrink a cancerous growth or after surgery to end the growth of any remaining cancer cells.

A well-coordinated group of doctors – including surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, plus physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists who have knowledge about treating sarcomas – is absolutely necessary for increasing the chance you’ll be able to have limb-sparing treatment. In some instances, chemotherapy may be the only treatment that’s needed. More often, doctors use it along with other treatments, such as surgery or radiation, for improve results.

CONCLUSION: In contrast to cancers which have metastasized to the bone, real bone cancers are tumors that originate from the tissues of the bones. These malignancies, called primary bone cancers, are very rare in comparison to those that have spread to the bones.

Pain is the most frequent sign of bone cancer, but sometimes a lump on the bone can be felt through the skin. It is a rare occurence to have a true bone cancer, a tumor that arises from cells that make up the bone.

The treatment and prognosis for the disease depends upon many factors including the kind and extent of the cancer, the age of the patient and overall degree of health . It may be treated with surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or a combination of all of these.

Introduction: Liver cancer is the 3rd leading cause of cancer deaths in the world after lung and stomach cancer, with approximately 600,000 deaths in 2002. A deadly disease, It will kill almost all patients who have it within a year. In 1990, the World Health Organization (wHO) estimated that there were about 430,000 new cases around the world,and a similar number of persons died as a result of this disease.

About 75% of the cases occur in Southeast Asia (China, Hong Kong,Taiwan, Korea, and Japan). The occurence of liver cancer in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa is higher than 20 cases per 100,000 population. In contrast, the frequency of cases in North America and Western Europe is much less, fewer than five per 100,000 population. However, the frequency of cases among Alaskan natives is comparable to that seen in Southeast Asia.

CAUSE: The cause of liver cancer is usually cirrhosis (scarring of the liver). Cirrhosis may be caused by viral hepatitis, primarily hepatitis B and C, alcohol abuse, hemochromatosis, certain auto-immune diseases of the liver, and other diseases that result in chronic inflammation of the liver.

SYMPTOMS: Many peoples with liver cancer do not develop symptoms until the advanced stages of the tumor which often makes prognosis poor. Symptoms can include a lump or pain on the right side of your abdomen and yellowing of the skin. However, you may not exhibit any symptoms at all and the cancer may not be found until it is advanced.

Patients with liver cancer frequently don’t experience symptoms prior to diagnosis. As the disease advances, symptoms begin to appear causing potential discomfort. If a patient has symptoms, his or her physician may order special x-rays, such as a computed tomographic scan or a liver scan. If you experience any symptoms of the disease, you should report them to your doctor.

TYPES: Because the liver is made up of several different types of cells, many types of tumors can form in the liver. While there are other types of liver cancer, the most common form in adults is called hepatocellular carcinoma (huh-pat-uh-CELL-u-larcar-sin-o-muh). Doctors can identify several subtypes of hepatocellular cancer by looking at tissue under a microscope. Most of these subtypes do not affect treatment or the patient’s outlook.

RISK: Risk factors for primary liver cancer include Having hepatitis, Having cirrhosis, or scarring of the liver, Being male, Low weight at birth. Persons with associated cirrhosis brought on by chronic hepatitis B or C infections, alcohol, and hemochromatosis have the highest risk of developing this kind of cancer.

The only hope for persons who are at risk for cancer of the liver is regular observation so that the cancers can be found early. But the most important facts about primary liver cancer is that you can greatly diminish your risk by protecting yourself from hepatitis infection and cirrhosis, the leading causes of the disease.

TREATMENT: Treatments for primary liver cancer depend on the extent (stage) of the disease as well as the age of the person, overall health, feelings and personal needs. Treatments that your MD will consider include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and in some cases liver transplantation.

Aggressive surgery or liver transplantation may be successful in treating small or slow-growing tumors if they are diagnosed early. Primary liver cancer is rarely discovered early and often doesn’t respond to current treatments. Thus, the prognosis is often poor. Even when treatments fail to provide much improvement in the cancer itself, pain and other signs and symptoms caused by the disease can be aggressively treated to improve quality of life.

CONCLUSION: Liver cancer is the fifth most common cancer in the world. It may be difficult to diagnose early because patients often have no symptoms and the cancer usually grows quickly. It is most commonly diagnosed when tumors from other parts of the body have metastasized to the liver (metastatic liver cancer), but can also more rarely arise directly in the liver (primary liver cancer). Cancer can start within the liver (primary liver cancer or hepatocellular cancer) or spread to the liver (metastatic liver cancer) from other sites, such as the colon.

Even though many cancers are declining in the United States, new cases of primary liver cancer are increasing. Although the current techniques for surveillance are not very good at detecting early liver cancer, newer techniques are being tested and appear to be better. Because standard treatments often aren’t effective against the disease, you may want to consider participating in a clinical trial, a research study that tries to improve current treatments or find new treatments. More studies are needed to understand how targeted therapies may be used to control advanced liver cancer.

INTRODUCTION: Colon cancer is cancer of the large intestine (colon), the lower part of your digestive system. It is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, and the leading cause of cancer deaths among non-smokers.

It is, in the majority of cases, a treatable disease providing it is caught early. The facts show that when colon cancer is caught early, there is a 95 percent survival rate. It may be nutritionally based. For example, the rate of colon cancer is much higher in North America than in China, but Chinese who move to North America have a higher incidence.

EARLY: The majority of colorectal cancers are predictable with early diagnosis and screening. In fact, screening prevents more deaths because of early detection than breast or prostate cancer screening. Other ongoing research is looking at multiple genes involved in colorectal cancer as well as improving screening methods so more cancers can be detected early.

This includes checking for markers in blood, stool or urine that might provide an easier screening procedure for detecting early signs of colon cancer. In general, when treatment begins at an early stage, greater than 90% of patients survive at least 5 yrs after their diagnosis. However, only about 39 percent of colon cancer is found at an early stage.

SYMPTOMS: Symptoms vary depending on the location of the cancer within the colon or rectum, though there may be no symptoms at all. Symptoms of colon cancer can include severe abdominal pain, blood in the stool or rectal bleeding, unexplained loss of weight, or major changes in bowel habits (recurrent constipation or diarrhea).

In fact, the most common sign is no signs at all, says Emina Huang, MD. But once these symptoms start to develop, it may be a signal of more advanced disease. Fully half of people diagnosed after symptoms start will die. Finding colon cancer before symptoms develop greatly improves the chance of survival.

CONCLUSION: There’s no question that the earlier colorectal cancer is found, the more likely he or she will be cured with surgery. Even though the cause is still unknown, there is evidence that most of colorectal cancers arise from polyps (benign intestinal tumors).

It has been well demonstrated that if colorectal cancer is diagnosed in its earliest stages, the cure rate could rise to 90%.

INTRODUCTION: Breast Cancer is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells form in the tissues of the breast. It is the leading cause of death among women between 40 and 55 years of age, the second overall cause of death among women (exceeded only by lung cancer) and is on the rise worldwide. Breast cancer is more easily treated and often curable if it is found early.

LUMPS: Most breast tumors (abnormal lumps of tissue) are benign (not cancerous). Using your fingertips, a lump may be detected within the breast. If a lump is found, the doctor may need to cut out a small piece of the lump (called a biopsy).

There are four basic types of biopsies: Excisional Biopsy (The removal of an entire lump or suspicious mass of tissue); Incisional Biopsy (The removal of some of a lump or suspect tissue); Needle Biopsy (The removal of part of a lump, suspicious tissue, or fluid, using a thin needle); Core Biopsy (The removal of part of a lump or suspicious tissue utilizing a wide needle).

A group of rapidly dividing cells may form a lump of extra tissue. For example, fibrocystic change is a non-cancerous condition in which a female develops cysts (accumulated packets of fluid), fibrosis (formation of scar-like connective tissue), lumpiness, areas of thickening, tenderness, or breast pain.

RISKS: Women who have an altered gene related to breast cancer and who have had cancer in one breast have a high risk of developing cancer in the other breast. These women also have an increased risk of developing ovarian cancer as well as other cancers.

Age and history of health can affect the risk of developing breast cancer. Each woman’s risk may be higher or lower, depending upon a number of factors, including family history, genetics, age of menstruation, and other factors that have yet to be identified. Breast feeding for several months also seems to reduce the risk.

TREATMENT: Treatment usually depends on the type of cancer and whether it has spread outside of the breast to the rest of the body. Treatment may include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and endocrine/anti-hormone therapy. Treatment for male breast cancer is most often a mastectomy, which is surgery to remove the breast.

CONCLUSION: Previously a malady that mostly afflicted white, affluent women in the industrial hubs of North America and Western Europe, breast cancer is now everywhere. But in China, as in most other emerging economies, it is a relatively new concern, something that both patients and doctors are only haltingly learning how to treat.

The recent age-specific data in Denmark show that the occurence of breast cancer is maximal for women born between 1945 and 1950, and is declining for women born more recently. At least 90 out of 100 women whose cancer is found early will be cured. The primary cause of cancer in the breast is said to be the use of anti-perspirants. The good news is that it can be treated and cured if found early.

INTRODUCTION: Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that is almost always caused by previous exposure to asbestos. Most people who develop it have worked on jobs where they inhaled asbestos particles, or they have been exposed to asbestos dust and fibre in other ways, such as by washing the clothes of a family member who worked with asbestos.

It is a very serious disease with an average survival time of only 1 to 2 yrs after diagnosis. Unlike lung cancer, there is no correlation between mesothelioma and smoking. The disease happens more often in males than in females and risk rises with age, but this disease can appear in both men and women at any age. It is also known to occur in people who are genetically pre-disposed to it.

SYMPTOMS: Mesothelioma may not appear until 20 to 50 years after exposure to asbestos. Diagnosing it is often difficult, because the symptoms are similar to those of a number of other conditions. The symptoms include shortness of breath due to pleural effusion (fluid between the lungs and the chest wall) or chest wall pain, and more general symptoms such as weight loss.

Signs of the condition may also include abdominal pain, ascites, or an un-explained buildup of fluid in the abdomenal mass in the abdomen, problems with bowel function. Other signs of peritoneal mesothelioma may include obstruction of the bowel, abnormal blood clotting, anemia, and fever.

If the disease has spread beyond the mesothelium to other areas of the body, signs may include pain, having trouble swallowing, or swelling of the neck or face.

In severe cases of the disease, the following symptoms may be present: blood clots in the veins, which may produce thrombophlebitis, disseminated intravascular coagulation, a condition causing severe bleeding in many body organs, jaundice, or yellowing of the eyes and skin, low blood sugar level, pleural effusion, pulmonary emboli, or blood clots in the arteries of the lungs, severe ascites. These symptoms can be produce by mesothelioma or by other, less serious problems.

TREATMENT: There are several kinds of treatment plans available: Radiation, Surgery, and chemotherapy including recently approved drugs. Despite treatment with chemotherapy, radiation therapy or surgery, the disease comes with a poor prognosis. For persons with localized disease, and who can tolerate a radical surgery, radiation is given most often post-operatively as a consolidative treatment.

Although mesothelioma is generally resistant to curative treatment with radiotherapy alone, palliative treatment regimens are sometimes used to relieve symptoms arising from tumor growth, such as obstruction of a major blood vessel. In February 2004, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved pemetrexed (brand name Alimta) for treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma.

CONCLUSION: Mesothelioma is a kind of cancer that is most often caused by previous exposure to asbestos. If it affects the pleura it can cause these signs and symptoms: pain in the chest wall, pleural effusion, or fluid surrounding the lungs, shortness of breath, fatigue or anemia, wheezing, hoarseness or cough, blood in the sputum (fluid) coughed up (hemoptysis).

It is described as localized if the disease is found only on the membrane surface where it began. Screening tests might diagnose it earlier than conventional methods thus raising the survival prospects for patients.

The processes that lead to the rise of peritoneal mesothelioma remain unresolved, although it has been proposed that asbestos fibres from the lung are carried to the abdomen and associated organs via the lymphatic system.

It has been said that in humans, transport of fibres to the pleura is essential to the pathogenesis of the disease.

Experimental evidence suggests that asbestos acts as a complete carcinogen with the development of mesothelioma occurring in sequential stages of initiation and promotion.

Although reported incidence rates have increased in the past 20 years, the disease is still a relatively rare cancer. Incidence of malignant mesothelioma currently ranges from about 7 to 40 per 1,000,000 in industrialized Western nations, depending on the amount of asbestos exposure of the populations during the past several decades.

Between 1973 and 1984, there has been a threefold rise in the diagnosis of pleural mesothelioma in Caucasian men. From 1980 to the late 1990s, the death rate from mesothelioma in the U.S. increased from 2,000 per year to 3,000, with men 4 times more likely to acquire the malignancy than women. These rates may not be accurate, since it is possible that many cases are mis-diagnosed as adenocarcinoma of the lung, which is difficult to separate from mesothelioma.

Working with asbestos is the greatest risk factor for mesothelioma. However, the disease has been reported in some persons without any known exposure to asbestos. In addition to mesothelioma, exposure to asbestos raises the risk of lung cancer, asbestosis (a noncancerous, chronic lung ailment), and other malignancies, such as those of the larynx and kidney.

Smoking modern cigarettes does not seem to increase the risk of developing the disease. The Kent brand of cigarettes used asbestos in its filters for the first few years of production in the 1950s and a few cases of mesothelioma have resulted.

INTRODUCTION: Prostate cancer is cancer of the small walnut-shaped gland in males that produces the fluid that feeds and transports sperm. It is also the second most common type of cancer among men in the United States and is the 3rd most common cause of death from cancer in men of all ages.

Prostate cancer occurs more often in older males and is rarely found in men younger than 40. It occurs in 1 out of every 6 men and when confined to the gland is often treated successfully.

RISK: Every man is at risk for developing prostate cancer. Along with being male, there are other risk factors, such as age, race, and family history that may contribute to the overall risk. Men at greater risk include African-America men over 60,farmers, tire plant workers, painters, and men exposed to cadmium. The risk for developing it rises significantly with age, and 60 percent of recently diagnosed cases occur in men over the age of 70.

The greatest risk factor is your age. This risk increases greatly after the age of 50 in caucasian men who have no family record of the disease and after the age of 40 in black men and males who have a close relative with the cancer. Having a brother with the disease appears to increase your risk more than having an affected father does. That risk is even greater when there are multiple family members affected.

SYMPTOMS: May include Problems such as urinating pain, difficulty starting or stopping the stream, or dribbling, Low back pain, Painful ejaculation. A lot of men experience no symptoms; the first indication that they may have the disease is often an abnormal finding on a routine screening exam. Symptoms are more apt to appear as the cancer grows.

TREATMENT: May include surgery, radiation therapy, drugs or control of hormones that affect the cancer. It often depends on the stage of the cancer and appropriate treatment is often very controversial.

Surgery is usually only recommended after thorough evaluation and discussion of all treatment options. Chemotherapy is often used to treat prostate cancers that are resistant to hormonal treatments. Gland Removal (radical prostatectomy) is often recommended for treatment of stages A and B.

CONCLUSION: Prostate cancer is the 3rd most common cause of death from cancer in men of all ages and is the most common cause of death from cancer in men past 75 years of age. Frequently there are no symptoms in its early stages. If it has spread, it may be treated with drugs to reduce testosterone levels, surgery to remove the gland, or chemotherapy.