Thursday, 24 November 2011

CANCER TREATMENTS AND SYMPTOMS - LUNG CANCER-DEFINITION, CAUSES AND PREVENTION - HYPERTENSION, NOT BLOOD PRESSURE DRUGS, LINKED TO BIRTH DEFECTS



CANCER TREATMENT AND SYMPTOMS.

Definition

Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body. Cancerous cells are also called malignant cells.

Alternative Names

Carcinoma; Malignant tumor

Causes, incidence, and risk factors

Cells are the building blocks of living things. Cancer grows out of normal cells in the body. Normal cells multiply when the body needs them, and die when the body doesn't need them. Cancer appears to occur when the growth of cells in the body is out of control and cells divide too quickly. It can also occur when cells “forget” how to die.
There are many different kinds of cancers. Cancer can develop in almost any organ or tissue, such as the lung, colon, breast, skin, bones, or nerve tissue.
There are many causes of cancers, including:
  • Benzene and other chemicals
  • Certain poisonous mushrooms and a type of poison that can grow on peanut plants (aflatoxins)
  • Certain viruses
  • Radiation
  • Sunlight
  • Tobacco
However, the cause of many cancers remains unknown.
The most common cause of cancer-related death is lung cancer.
The three most common cancers in men in the United States are:
In women in the U.S., the three most common cancers are:
Some cancers are more common in certain parts of the world. For example, in Japan, there are many cases of gastric cancer, but in the U.S. this type of cancer is pretty rare. Differences in diet may play a role.
Some other types of cancers include:

Symptoms

Symptoms of cancer depend on the type and location of the tumor. For example, lung cancer can cause coughing, shortness of breath, or chest pain. Colon cancer often causes diarrhea, constipation, and blood in the stool.
Some cancers may not have any symptoms at all. In certain cancers, such as gallbladder cancer, symptoms often do not start until the disease has reached an advanced stage.
The following symptoms can occur with most cancers:

Signs and tests

Like symptoms, the signs of cancer vary based on the type and location of the tumor. Common tests include the following:
Most cancers are diagnosed by biopsy. Depending on the location of the tumor, the biopsy may be a simple procedure or a serious operation. Most patients with cancer have CT scans to determine the exact location and size of the tumor or tumors.
A cancer diagnosis is difficult to cope with. It is important, however, that you discuss the type, size, and location of the cancer with your doctor when you are diagnosed. You also will want to ask about treatment options, along with their benefits and risks.
It's a good idea to have someone with you at the doctor's office to help you get through the diagnosis. If you have trouble asking questions after hearing about your diagnosis, the person you bring with you can ask them for you.

Treatment

Treatment also varies based on the type of cancer and its stage. The stage of a cancer refers to how much it has grown and whether the tumor has spread from its original location.
  • If the cancer is confined to one location and has not spread, the most common goals for treatment are surgery and cure. This is often the case with skin cancers, as well as cancers of the lung, breast, and colon.
  • If the tumor has spread to local lymph nodes only, sometimes these can also be removed.
  • If surgery cannot remove all of the cancer, the options for treatment include radiation, chemotherapy, or both. Some cancers require a combination of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy.
Although treatment for cancer can be difficult, there are many ways to keep up your strength.
If you have radiation treatment, know that:
  • Radiation treatment is painless.
  • Treatment is usually scheduled every weekday.
  • You should allow 30 minutes for each treatment session, although the treatment itself usually takes only a few minutes.
  • You should get plenty of rest and eat a well-balanced diet during the course of your radiation therapy.
  • Skin in the treated area may become sensitive and easily irritated.
  • Side effects of radiation treatment are usually temporary. They vary depending on the area of the body that is being treated.
If you are going through chemotherapy, you should eat right. Chemotherapy causes your immune system to weaken, so you should avoid people with colds or the flu. You should also get plenty of rest, and don't feel as though you have to accomplish tasks all at once.
It will help you to talk with family, friends, or a support group about your feelings. Work with your health care providers throughout your treatment. Helping yourself can make you feel more in control.

Support Groups

A cancer diagnosis often causes a lot of anxiety and can affect your entire quality of life. Several support groups for cancer patients can help you cope.

Expectations (prognosis)

The outlook depends on the type of cancer. Even among people with one type of cancer, the outcome varies depending on the stage of the tumor when they are diagnosed.
Some cancers can be cured. Some cancers that are not curable can still be treated well. And some patients can live for many years with their cancer. Other tumors are quickly life-threatening.

Complications

One complication is that the cancer may spread. Other complications vary with the type and stage of the tumor.

Calling your health care provider

Contact your health care provider if you develop symptoms of cancer.

Prevention

One of the best ways to prevent cancer is to not smoke or chew tobacco. Many cancers can be prevented by avoiding risk factors such as excessive exposure to sunlight and heavy drinking.
Cancer screenings, such as mammography and breast examination for breast cancer and colonoscopy for colon cancer, may help catch these cancers at their early stages when they are most treatable. Some people at high risk for developing certain cancers can take medication to reduce their risk. 

Lung Cancer-Definition, Causes

Lung cancer is cancer that begins in the lungs, the two organs found in the chest that help you breathe.
The lungs are made up of areas called lobes. The right lung has three lobes; the left lung has two, so there's room for the heart. When you breathe, air goes through your nose, down your windpipe (trachea), and into the lungs where it spreads through tubes called bronchi. Most lung cancer begins in the cells that line these tubes.
There are two main types of lung cancer:
  • Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type of lung cancer.
  • Small cell lung cancer makes up about 20% of all lung cancer cases.
If the lung cancer is made up of both types, it is called mixed small cell/large cell cancer.
If the cancer started somewhere else in the body and spread to the lungs, it is called metastatic cancer to the lung.

Alternative Names

Cancer - lung

Causes, incidence, and risk factors

Lung cancer is the deadliest type of cancer for both men and women. Each year, more people die of lung cancer than breast, colon, and prostate cancers combined.
Lung cancer is more common in older adults. It is rare in people under age 45.
Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer.
The more cigarettes you smoke per day and the earlier you started smoking, the greater your risk of lung cancer. There is no evidence that smoking low-tar cigarettes lowers the risk.
However, lung cancer has occurred in people who have never smoked.
Secondhand smoke (breathing the smoke of others) increases your risk of lung cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 3,000 non-smoking adults will die each year from lung cancer related to breathing secondhand smoke.
The following may also increase one's risk of lung cancer:
  • High levels of air pollution
  • High levels of arsenic in drinking water
  • Radon gas
  • Asbestos
  • Family history of lung cancer
  • Radiation therapy to the lungs
  • Exposure to cancer-causing chemicals such as uranium, beryllium, vinyl chloride, nickel chromates, coal products, mustard gas, chloromethyl ethers, gasoline, and diesel exhaust

Symptoms

Early lung cancer may not cause any symptoms. Many times, lung cancer is found when an x-ray is done for another reason.
Symptoms depend on the specific type of cancer you have, but may include:
Additional symptoms that may also occur with lung cancer:
These symptoms can also be due to other, less serious conditions, so it is important to talk to your health care provider.
For more information, see:

Signs and tests

The health care provider will perform a physical exam and ask questions about your medical history. You will be asked if you smoke, and if so, how long you have smoked.
When listening to the chest with a stethoscope, the health care provider can sometimes hear fluid around the lungs, which could (but doesn't always) suggest cancer.
Tests that may be performed include:
In some cases, the health care provider may need to remove a piece of tissue from your lungs for examination under a microscope. This is called a biopsy. There are several ways to do this:
For more information, see:
  • Small cell lung cancer
  • Non-small cell lung cancer

Treatment

Treatment depends on the specific type of lung cancer. Each type is treated differently. Chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery may be needed.
See the individual articles on the different types of lung cancer:

Expectations (prognosis)

How well a patient does depends on the following:
  • Type of lung cancer
  • Whether or not the cancer has spread
  • Your age
  • Your overall health
  • How well you respond to treatment
The earlier the cancer is found, the better the chances of survival. Lung cancer is a deadly disease. Nearly 60% of people with lung cancer die within a year. However, some people are cured and go on to live many years.

Complications

The cancer may spread to other parts of the body (metastasis). Cancer treatment can cause significant side effects.

Calling your health care provider

Call your health care provider if you develop symptoms of lung cancer (particularly if you smoke).

Prevention

If you smoke, quit. It is never too late to stop smoking. You should also avoid breathing in the smoke from other people's cigarettes, cigars, or pipes.
Eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables may help prevent some cases of lung cancer.












Hypertension, Not Blood Pressure Drugs, Linked to Birth Defects




Although pregnant women who have high blood pressure face a higher risk that their baby will be born with birth defects, new research indicates that the medications typically used to treat the condition will not raise that risk any further.
The finding suggests that the widely used class of high blood pressure medications known as angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors are safe to use during the first trimester.
Published online Oct. 18 in the BMJ, the study results fill in a piece of the puzzle regarding the use of such medications, given that prior research had indicated that ACE inhibitors can be toxic to a fetus if used in the second and/or third trimester of pregnancy.
"Our finding suggests that it is likely the underlying hypertension, rather than use of antihypertensive drugs in the first trimester, that increases the risk of birth defects in offspring," the study authors, led by Dr. De-Kun Li of the Kaiser Foundation Research Institute in California, said in a news release from the journal.
The authors came to their conclusion after analyzing data collected between 1995 and 2008 on nearly 466,000 pairings of mothers and their children living in northern California.
The bottom line: pregnant women with high blood pressure bore a similar risk that their baby would be born with some type of birth defect whether or not they were prescribed an ACE inhibitor, another kind of high blood pressure control medication or nothing at all.
The authors noted that having high blood pressure during the first trimester did raise the birth defect risk relative to pregnant women with no high blood pressure. But their analysis pointed to the condition itself, rather than the treatment, as the primary cause for concern.
Dr. Arun Jeyabalan, an assistant professor in the division of maternal-fetal medicine in the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of Pittsburgh's Magee Women's Hospital, described the findings as "reassuring" yet "limited."
"The finding that there is a lack of increase in birth defects associated with [high blood pressure] medications is certainly reassuring," she noted. "But although the study is large, which is a strength, they don't have complete data on other medications that were used or on other conditions that are associated with, or may have caused, the hypertension," she added.
"So, I would say that there are some pieces of information that are missing," Jeyabalan cautioned. "And that would make me hesitate to come to the blanket conclusion they make. More research is needed, that will have more detail about the other underlying medical issues and maternal characteristics, as well as of all the medications that have been used or not used during the pregnancy."

What is Hypertension?

A medical condition where ones blood pressure is chronically high is called hypertension or what is also commonly known as high blood pressure. Acquiring hypertension is a serious condition that may then lead to coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke, kidney failure, as well as other health related problems.
Generally, diagnosing hypertension is based on the persistence of high blood pressure. The diagnosis will usually require three separate measurements, which are at least taken one week apart. In exceptional cases though, if the elevation is very extreme, or end organ is already damaged then the diagnosis may be applied and treatment should be administered immediately.
As hypertension generally does not manifest any symptoms, having a regular blood pressure monitor is important and to be able to obtain a reliable blood pressure measurements following several rules and understanding the many factors that influence blood pressure reading is very important.
For instance, if measurements to be taken in control of hypertension it should be at least one hour after caffeine, 30 minutes after smoking or strenuous exercise and without any stress.
When taking measurements, the bladder should encircle and cover two-thirds of the length of the (upper) arm. The patient should be sitting upright in a chair and with both feet flat on the floor for a minimum of five minutes before taking a reading. The patient should also not be on any adrenergic stimulants, such as those found in many cold medications.
A systolic pressure is the pressure reading at the onset of the sounds described by Korotkoff (Phase one), while a diastolic pressure is then recorded as the pressure at which the sounds disappear (K5) or sometimes the K4 point, where the sound is abruptly muffled.
Two measurements should be made which are at least five minutes apart, and, if a discrepancy of more than 5 mmHg occurs, a third reading should be made. The readings gathered should then be averaged. The initial measurement should be made with both arms. For elderly patients who particularly when treated may show orthostatic hypotension, measuring BP while in lying sitting and standing position may be useful.

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