World Cancer Day is celebrated on 4 February every year to raise awareness among people about the scary disease. The purpose of this day is to tell people how to prevent it, its treatments, to provide education, etc. As we all know that cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells anywhere in a body.
Cancer causes cells to divide uncontrollably. Some types of cancer cause rapid cell growth, while others cause cells to grow and divide at a slower rate. Cancerous cells can form tumours, impair the immune system and cause other changes that prevent the body from functioning. There are more than 100 types of cancer, including breast cancer, skin cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, and lymphoma.
Diagnosis
In most cases, doctors need to do a biopsy to diagnose cancer. A biopsy is a procedure in which the doctor removes a sample of tissue. The doctor uses a needle to withdraw tissue or fluid. A pathologist looks at the tissue under a microscope and runs other tests to see if the tissue is cancer or not.
People with suspected cancer are investigated with medical tests which commonly include blood tests, X-rays, (contrast) CT scans and endoscopy.
Treatment
Cancer has majorly 3 types of treatments:
- Surgery
- Radiation
- Chemotherapy
- Palliative care
Cancer-related ribbons
Different colours of ribbons are used to represent different types of cancers:
- Lung cancer: white
- Brain cancer: grey
- Breast cancer: pink
- Liver cancer: emerald green
- Lymphoma: lime green
- Prostate cancer: light blue
- Stomach cancer: periwinkle blue
- Bone cancer: yellow
Image source: medvoyage.az
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