Cancer is usually classified according to the tissue from which the cancerous cells originate, the primary tumor, as well as the normal cell type they most resemble. Cancer is actually a term used for diseases in which a group of cells display the characteristics of uncontrolled growth, that is growth and division beyond their normal limits, invades other cells and destroys them, and sometimes spread to other locations in the body. These three malignant properties of cancers and differentiate them from normal tumors, which are self-limited and do not invade or spread to other parts of the body.
There are a few types of cancer that are commonly seen in humans, these include, prostate cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, skin cancer, pancreatic cancer, testicular cancer, cervical cancer and leukemia or better known as blood cancer. Cancer may affect people at all ages, even fetuses, but risk for the more common varieties tends to increase with age. Cancer causes about 13% of all deaths. According to the American Cancer Society, 7.6 million people died from cancer in the world during 2007.Cancer can be treated by surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, monoclonal antibody therapy or other methods. The choice of therapy depends upon the location and grade of the tumor and the stage of the disease, as well as the general state of the patient.
Removal of the cancerous cells without damaging the rest of the body is the goal of the surgical procedure that follows the diagnosis of the cancer. But since cancer has a tendency to spread throughout the body, surgery's effectiveness is limited. Radiation therapy and chemotherapy after surgery ensures. Chemotherapy is most effective in this case to eliminate cancerous cells from the body but is limited by the toxicity to the other tissues of the body. Radiation to the cancerous parts of the body is the most effective way to treat cancer but it still causes damages to the surrounding healthy tissue. Cancer treatment has come a long way and with proper research future treatments are going to be more efficient and more effective.
Even through the glitz and glamour of stardom many high profile people were diagnosed with cancer recently and one of the most prominent was Lance Armstrong. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer even before he won the Tour de France. The first lady of the United States, Laura Bush was diagnosed with melanoma also known as skin cancer, and is now fighting the disease. Iconic musician Bob Marley even died of skin cancer at quiet an early age. Famous cartoonist Walt Disney died of lung cancer in 1966. Even though this person have contributed to the world in various ways and has touched and changed the lives of millions, they were merely human beings.
Cancer can affect anybody at anytime so it is necessary to be cautious and stay clear of the factors which influence cancer. And even though cancer is an extremely dangerous disease but with the proper treatment done at the proper time, even cancer can be cured.
The study was made on patients with asymptomatic metastatic hormone refractory prostate cancer (HRPC) and was designed for observing if the disease progression will be delayed and patients will survive longer.
Scientists said that the rate of survival increased by four and a half months in those who were administered the cancer vaccine compared with those who got the placebo.
The vaccine was well tolerated by patients and the side effects were mild: fever and chills. This is good news because chemotherapy gives a lot of unbearable side effects.
Scientists did not find out for how long the treatment will hold the cancer in check, but Jamie Bearse of the National Prostate Cancer Coalition said that as long as there are so few options regarding treating prostate cancer, this is quite an encouraging result and hope still exists.
In US, prostate cancer is quite common and more than 200,000 new cases are discovered every year. Most of the patients can follow a treatment based on surgery, radiation and hormone therapy, but asymptomatic metastatic HRPC is known to be resistant to hormone therapy and every year more than 30,000 men die because and no other treatment is effective against the disease.
Philip Kantoff of the Dana-Farber Cancer Center in Boston was delighted to hear about the discovery but said that the findings need to be confirmed.
In order to do so, Dendreon Corp. of Seattle (the developer of the vaccine) has begun another study on 98 men with advanced prostate cancer and so far the results seem to be confirming the discovery, said Mitchell H. Gold, the company's president and chief executive. If in the end the results are promising, the company could ask for the approval of the FDA. The company wants to see the treatment's effects on patients with earlier stages of prostate cancer too, declared Mitchell Gold.
This vaccine does not shrink the tumor yet, but as long as it generates a good enough immune response it can be very useful to patients. This trial was an important one because it opened the way to other treatments regarding prostate cancer.
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