Battling Cancer

By Jon Arnold

In today’s world, is it that occurrences of breast cancer are growing much more than it was years ago, or it is just that breast cancer is getting more visibility in the press and medical journals? It appears that the answer is a little bit of both. The population is increasing and therefore the actual number of cases is more, although the actual percentage of people diagnosed with breast cancer is not significantly different (although it is higher) than in years past.

One of the things that many people fail to understand is that anyone can get breast cancer. Although it is thought to be tied somewhat to being hereditary, that does not mean that you will not get breast cancer if there is no occurrence of it in your family history.

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By Declan Kerin

Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is a most lethal cancer. It has unusual characteristics. The more I look at it the more I am convinced it does not behave like a true solid tissue cancer.

• Serosal membranes very rarely become malignant except with Mesothelioma.
• It is not asbestos fiber dose dependent.
• It is not cigarette smoking dose related.
• Probably occurs only in cases where there was prior evidence of a pleurisy (benign) usually with evidence of pleural thickening.
• Latency is different (usually longer) than any other known malignancy.
• 275 day median survival is more in keeping with an uncontrollable infection (all be it a malignant one) than a solid tumor growth pattern.
• Simian 40 virus DNA parts have been found in mesothelioma specimens.
• Rarely if ever found as a distant metastasis (e.g. brain or liver spread).

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By Ingrid Tiessen

Cervical cancer is the second most common type of cancer in women worldwide. It is also one of the most preventable types of cancer.

Cervical cell changes are often caused by a sexually transmitted virus called the human papilloma virus or ‘HPV’. Most HPV infections will clear on their own once the immune system has dealt with it,and not lead to cervical cancer. Often, a woman infected with HPV will never know that she has been infected.

When a woman goes for her annual Pap test, the changes in the cervix are detected. A doctor is not usually alarmed by slight changes, as this can be caused by irritation or inflammation of the cervix, and will recommend retesting in 6 months. If, however, the changes do not revert back to normal, further testing is required to deal with possible precancerous tissue.

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By Donald Saunders

Prostate cancer normally develops within the peripheral area of the prostate gland and this initially small area of cancerous tissue cannot be felt on a digital rectal examination (DRE) but is often picked up through a PSA test or an ultrasound examination. At this point prostate cancer is described as being in Stage I or is described as a T1 cancer.

As the cancerous region grows within the prostate it will create abnormalities which can now be felt during a DRE and, at this point, the disease is said to have progressed to Stage II or become a T2 cancer.

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By Ron Keegan

Learn self-examination of skin cancer, as a way to protect yourself, that is easy and costs you nothing more than a few minutes of your time once every few months.

It’s really a good idea to probe a little deeper into the subject of skin cancer. What you learn may give you the confidence you need to spot, the first signs of skin cancer.

There are five different kinds of skin cancer. All of them are dangerous though some are to be worried about more than others. The most common type of skin cancer is Basal cell carcinoma with over a million Americans developing this cancer each year.

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By Michelle Bery

Cancer – a disease that affects so many around the world and continues to be studied earnestly in order to finally identify a cure. But, in the meantime, researchers, in an effort to take control of the spread of this heinous disease, promote programs of prevention. Diet, exercise, and the avoidance of controllable environmental pollutants are all part of the effort to prevent cancer.

It has been shown that cancer derives from good cells gone bad. Affected by poor diet, environmental factors, and chemical substances, molecules inside the body lose electrons in response. The molecules become free radicals and, as such, they begin their attack on healthy cells to take back electrons. Such begins the battle within the body.

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By Michael Russell

Bladder cancer is not the most common form of cancer, although it can be as deadly as other cancers. Bladder cancer is not a hormone-linked cancer such as breast, ovarian, prostate, or colon cancers. In addition, there is no evidence to support the idea that bladder cancer is inherited; it simply does not run in families. So what seems to be the root cause of bladder cancer? Bladder cancer would appear to be, from the available evidence, a cancer caused by carcinogenic compounds absorbed from outside the body. Bladder cancer is a cancer caused by environmental pollutants, whether they are lifestyle related, such as smoking, or chemicals in the workplace like benzidine.

Smoking is one of the most obvious risk factors that can contribute to bladder cancer. What’s worse, by the time bladder cancer starts to appear, the patient has likely been smoking for what may amount to decades. The ongoing deposit of carcinogens in the lungs and through the lungs into the blood stream has been considerable.

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By JP Saleeby, MD

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer women face second only to lung cancer, however it is the most feared cancer or disease for most women. It occurs in about 12% of women who will live to the age of 90. Several well established factors increase the risk of breast cancer and they include family history, nulliparity (not having had children), early menarche (starting menstrual cycles early), advanced age and a personal history of breast cancer. Other risks include exposure to environmental toxins such as tobacco smoke that increase the chance for cancer growth. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The American Cancer Society has many activities this month to bring this to the public attention.

Early education on self-breast exam and early screening is extremely important in achieving good outcomes. Self-exam and physician examination will detect cancer at a rate between 70 – 80%. Adding screening mammography (mammograms) will increase detection to 96 – 98%. It has been shown that early detection through clinical exam and mammography can reduce breast carcinoma mortality by 20 to 30%. Today’s gold standard for screening (mammograms) will still miss between 10 and 15% of neoplasm.

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I have been posting around the week of the 10th of each month a “THANK-YOU” post, like this one, to all the advertisers from the previous month listed as at month end. That’s a permanent link in this blog, under the category heading which I call .. “Sponsor Appreciation”. I know it’s hard out there trying to figure out where to spend your advertising dollars .. and well .. THANKS for considering the Battling Cancer Blog.

I have compiled a new advertising page for the HART-Empire Network of sites for your perusal.

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By Marcus Stout

Each year more and more research is conducted on how to reduce your risk of developing cancer. For some forms of cancer, it’s fairly simple to understand how to reduce risk.

For example, we know that most lung cancer victims are smokers, and that many cases of skin cancer are caused by unprotected over exposure to the sun. For other cancers, understanding how to reduce our risk is not so simple, because we don’t really understand what causes them.

Even in cancers that we don’t fully understand, scientists are working to determine how our lifestyle might increase our risks. For example, a study was conducted in Nagoya, Japan to help better understand the lifestyle factors that might contribute to the development of urinary bladder cancer.

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