Cancer Summary "All about Cancer"

Researchers from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have found that women in a large study who used estrogen replacement therapy after menopause were at increased risk for ovarian cancer.

Cancer is a disease caused by normal cells changing so that they grow in an uncontrolled way. The uncontrolled growth causes a lump called a tumour to form. If not treated, the tumour can cause problems by spreading intonormal tissues nearby or by causing pressure on other body structures.

Girls' diet and the amount of exercise they take can determine their risk of breast cancer in later life, it says.

Carcinoma - cancer that begins in the skin or in tissues that line or cover internal organs.

At this time there are about 2.5 million breast cancer survivors in the United States. his includes both women still being treated and those who have completed treatment.) Survival rates are discussed in the section "

Different types of body tissues are made up of different types of body cells. For example, there are bone cells in bone and breast cells in the breast.

The report continues: "Further research should focus on nutrition in children and breast cancer risk to prevent the disease.

Looking at some specific types of cancer, the research showed a 76 percent higher risk of death for women with cancer of the uterus and a 61 percent higher risk of death for breast cancer if they also had diabetes. For colorectal cancer, there was a 32 percent higher risk of death for diabetics.

All cancers begin in cells, the body's basic unit of life. To understand cancer, it's helpful to know what happens when normal cells become cancer cells.

Previous studies looking at the effect of postmenopausal hormones on ovarian cancer risk have been inconsistent. Some reported increased risk with estrogen use while others reported either no effect or a protective one. Most of these earlier studies were relatively small and limited by incomplete information about ovarian cancer risk factors.

Dr Leslie Walker, director of information for Cancer Research UK said: ?We are already worried about rising rates of obesity and unhealthy lifestyle in children. This study shows the negative aspects of our affluence in potentially influencing breast cancer risk.

It is not clear from this study whether the increased risk with estrogen use is due to higher doses of estrogen, longer duration of estrogen use, or both dose and duration. It is also not clear whether long-term use of lower-dose estrogen is associated with ovarian cancer.

Most women in this study were on the combined therapy for less than four years, so more data will be needed to determine whether estrogen-progestin use increases risk. The effect of long-term use of estrogen-progestin therapy is not known.

The 18 years long Minnesota Colon Cancer Control Study included 46 plus thousand patients between the ages of 50 and 80. It demonstrated only a 0.6% reduction in the incidence of colorectal cancer. Statistically speaking, this difference is even less than the chance outcome of one thousand coin flips.

Malignant tumors are cancerous. Cells in these tumors can invade nearby tissues and spread to other parts of the body. The spread of cancer from one part of the body to another is called metastasis.

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Cancer Summary - All about Cancer