What is Cancer?

 

Throughout our lives, healthy cells in our bodies divide and replace themselves in a controlled fashion. Cancer starts when a cell is somehow altered so that it multiplies out of control. A tumor is a mass composed of a cluster of such abnormal cells.

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Most cancers form tumors, but not all tumors are cancerous. Benign, or noncancerous, tumors do not spread to other parts of the body, and do not create new tumors. Malignant, or cancerous, tumors crowd out healthy cells, interfere with body functions, and draw nutrients from body tissues.

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Cancers continue to grow and spread by direct extension or through a process called metastasis, whereby the malignant cells travel through the lymphatic or blood vessels -- eventually forming new tumors in other parts of the body.

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Types of Cancer

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• Bladder Cancer

• Breast Cancer

• Colon and Rectal Cancer

• Endometrial Cancer

• Kidney Cancer

• Leukemia

• Liver Cancer

• Lung Cancer

• Melanoma

• Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

• Pancreatic Cancer

• Prostate Cancer

• Thyroid Cancer