Introduction
Cancer is characterized by an abnormal cell growth that can invade all body parts. For long cancer has been known to be a terminal disease, especially if it is not noticed in its early stages. Not all types of cancer spread to other body parts, there cancers that re considered to be benign; meaning they do spread to other body parts. Cancer symptoms can include changes in bowel movement, abnormal bleeding, and lumps in any part of the body. Cancer is not only a physical illness, it is also psychological and individual with this disease require social and moral support. The above symptoms may not be solely isolate to cancer, they might also indicate other diseases. There are various causes of cancer, and some of them include poor dieting, obesity, smoking tobacco, and exposure to environmental pollution and radiation. The use of tobacco has been reported to cause up to 22 % of death by cancer.
Infections such as hepatitis and HIV can also lead to cancer. Genes also play a role in the spread of cancer. There is a 5 to 10% chance of inheriting cancer genes from one’s parents. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is one of the ways of preventing cancer. Eating a healthy diet that is balanced while avoiding smoking is one of those ways. Eating too many processed foods can be risky, as well as not getting vaccinated from infectious diseases. Out of the ninety million people who had cancer, eight million died. Every year, more than fourteen million patients are diagnosed with cancer. In men, cancer mostly affects the prostate gland, lungs and stomach. In females, cancer affects the breast, cervix and lungs. In the year 2015, one hundred and sixty-five children were reported to have cancer.
Cancer Diagnosis
Low or High levels of several elements in the human body could be a sign of cancer. Doctors must, therefore, carry out laboratory-based tests on blood, urine, and other body fluids to diagnose the cancer. However, there are several abnormal laboratory results that are not a cancer signal, so doctors cannot rely entirely on laboratory examinations to diagnose cancer. Physicians should use a number of tools to diagnose cancer accurately, such as diagnostic imaging processes that could be performed in these ways. CT scan, in which the radiographic device is connected to the computer and creates full images of a person’s internal organisms. The difference in the images will specify the problems for the doctor. Mill is an alternative way, where a magnet connected to the machine takes pictures of a human body (Garrido, 2016). Images are published. These images help in diagnosing the reported difficulty. In many cases, doctors need to perform a biopsy to get a clear result. A biopsy doctor tries to remove a sample of diseased tissue that carries a pathologist who adheres to a microscope and asks if you have cancer. Tissues can be removed in different ways, for example, a fluid or tissue could be replaced by a doctor, and could also be removed to surgery.
Stages Of Cancer
Although there are numerous types of cancer, scientists agree that there are four main stages. The first stage is the zero stage. At this stage, the tumour is detected in the area where it first appeared but is not yet dispersed to influence the surrounding tissues. Cancer can be treated with traditional methods. In the second stage, cancer circulates in neighbouring tissues, but no more than that which is no longer dissipated in the system, for example, in the blood. At this point, the patient asks the doctor to start treatment immediately. In the third stage, they are widely known as regional cancer dispersal and suggest that the cancer spreads significantly in the surrounding tissues. At this time, doctors require instant treatment with surgery in most cases. In the final or fourth stage, cancer feasts on other parts of the body. It is also called distant spread or advanced cancer and is much harder to cure. However, it is essential to remember that the cure at this point is not possible to recover (Imran, F. S., Andrews, 2016).
Complications Of Cancer
Cancer Could Have Many Complications:
Pain: Not all types of cancer are painful. In several cases, people have criticized serious pain, especially at the secondary level. These pains can be treated with drugs and other conventional pain relief methods. Chemical alterations in all parts of the body. Cancer is present in the body’s chemical balance and could mostly increase the likelihood of great complications. These chemical disproportions may occur in some symptoms, such as extreme thirst, confusion, frequent urination and constipation.
Weight loss could cause illness in the body. This is due to the cancer cells that are taken by siblings who are in normal cells and are therefore deprived of their food. In the majority of cases, patients have no appetite, and this is one of the key factors leading to weight loss. In some cases, doctors have attempted to use an artificial breast, which was done by injecting food into the stomach, but this was not successful.
Describing The Tactic To Care Of Cancer Staging And Diagnosis
The treatment of cancer is based on physical tests, biopsies, blood tests, and diagnostic tests for images, for example, CT scans, x-rays and magnetic resonance imaging. After a person is identified with cancer, the next step is to figure out the stage of cancer. The process of staging includes a classification of the level of cancer growth. This exercise is important because it informs about the therapeutic measurements that would be carried out. The most used staging system in the world is the TNM system. The TNM system identifies the tumours according to the size (T), amount of metastasis towards regional lymph nodes (N), and degrees of metastasis to some other parts of the body (M). Furthermore, the anatomical setting of the system may also take into account several prognostic-based aspects, such as serum or histological tumour markers.
In the TNM system, the degree of the main tumour is evaluated and assigned a value between Tx, A, Tis, Ti, T2, T3, and T4, which depends on the dimension of the tumour. The presence or absence of a tumour in the regional lymph nodes is evaluated, and the value Nx, No, N1, N2 or N3 is assigned according to the amount of diffusion. Conversely, distant metastases are estimated, and the values of Mx, Mo and Mi are used to indicate the degree of metastasis. Staging is an important stage in the cancer treatment process. For example, if the configuration is local based, the interventions that are useful in the treatment are surgery or radiation. If cancer has progressed and metastasized to some more parts of the body, a procedure that happens in the lymphatic system and blood circulation, chemotherapy is deliberated as an effective therapeutic tactic. Most cancers are in the fourth phase, which is very severe, while certain types of cancers are in the stage in which the tumour is located.
Describing The Approach To Care Of Cancer
Unlike any other chronic disease, cancer has some side effects that are usually psychological or physical in nature. Some of the side effects of cancer are infertility, diabetes, and hypothyroidism. The main reason of the cause of Hypothyroidism is the secretion of thyroid hormone due to radiation that kills the thyroid gland. Patients with hypothyroidism exhibit cold intolerance, dry skin and reduced metabolism. However, hypothyroidism could be controlled by drugs that stimulate thyroid hormone administration, such as iodine thyroxine or levothyroxine. Radiation could further cause harm to teeth. This is because high radiation medicines on the neck could affect the enamel, which increases the risk of developing diseases related to rubber. Radiation can destroy salivary salivary cells, causing a condition called agranulocytosis, in which patients receive dry mouth (Stewart, B. W. K. P., & Wild, C. P, 2015).
Corticosteroids, such as dexamethasone and prednisone, are among the significant agents used in treating this disease. These agents are further used to reduce the inflammation associated with cancer, increase the patient’s appetite, alleviate the disease and treat the disease by itself. However, these steroids cause a rise in blood glucose levels, which leads to diabetes. Patients with diabetes are prescribed an insulin regimen. Infertility occurs in several extreme cases. Studies have shown that those chemotherapeutic agents that are normally alkaline in nature, such as cyclophosphamide, destroy the ovaries. Whereas in men, the practice of chemotherapeutic drugs, for example, methyl, vinca alkaloid, and platinum, affects the reproduction system. The preservation of fertility can be achieved by freezing embryos and ovarian tissue.
Cancer treatment could also significantly disturb the memory of patients, preventing their cognitive abilities, which leads to illnesses, for example, amnesia. This can be a big problem, particularly among learners who might begin to experience learning difficulties. Fatigue is also a complication caused by radiation and chemotherapy.
References
Brennan, M. E., Gormally, J. F., Butow, P., Boyle, F. M., & Spillane, A. J. (2014). Survivorship care plans in cancer: a systematic review of care plan outcomes. British journal of cancer, 111(10), 1899-1908.
Imran, F. S., Andrews, C., Doerner, K., Heatherington, B., Hodes, S., Pictor, N. M., … & Jamshed, S. (2016, January). Survey of cancer survivors’ understanding of their cancer care and follow-up plan. In ASCO Annual Meeting Proceedings (Vol. 34, No. 3_suppl, p. 51).
Stewart, B. W. K. P., & Wild, C. P. (2015). World Cancer Report 2014. World.
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