Cancer Essays - RTT, Infectious Causes Of Cancer, Prostate Cancer

Cancer Essays - RTT, Infectious Causes Of Cancer, Prostate Cancer Cancer Introduction According to Mollet, cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. Estimates for 1982 indicate that 430,000 Americans will have died of some form of cancer. If national trends continue, some fifty-three million Americans now alive will contract cancer sometime during their lifetime. Of this inverse number, approximately one-half will die of cancer despite a medical effort to cure and prevent cancer (300). Although 45 percent of the detected cases of serious cancer are curable, an increase of 5 percent in the last ten years, it is obvious that measures can be taken to increase the cure rate and also prevent onset of various cancers. Clark suggested that several types of cancer have cure rates that could improve by detection and treatment at an early stage before "regional involvement" occurs; that is before the disease spreads to lympnodes systems in the area of the original tumor. After cancerous cell have dispersed into other regions of the body, the control or termination of cancer is made more difficult, if not impossible (56). The Most Prevalent Cancers and Their Causes. Effects, and Cures. According to Miller, lung cancer was first clearly described about 150 years ago and at the turn of the century this disease was still considered a rarity. The incidence of this disease has changed dramatically since then; lung cancer is now the leading cause of death for both men and women. The failure to detect lung cancer early, however, remains just as dramatically unchanged and the majority of patients with lung cancer have extensive diseases at the time of diagnosis (77). Symptoms Roth states that lung cancer has no specific symptoms and after foreign respiratory elements. In fact, in the earliest stages of the disease there are usually no symptoms. Only ten per cent of lung cancer patients have been diagnosed from routine chest x-rays as a part of a physical examination or during the investigation of another compliant (301). Dodge asserts that the problem of lung cancer is largely one of prevention and early diagnosis. The treatment available are most effective when the cancer is small and the individual is still healthy. The quality and length of life for patients with lung cancer is small and the individual is still healthy. The quality and length of life for patients with lung cancer have been improved by increased understanding of the biology of the disease and the valuable information, even the form of negative results, obtained from experimental programs (15). According to Brown, approximately 138,000 Americans develop cancer of the large bowel- the lowermost portion of the gastrointestinal tract, which is made up of the colon and rectum. Large bowel cancer is a leading cause of death among both sexes, exceeded only by cancer of the lung in men and of the lung and breast in women. At present half of these patients can expect to be cured, a figure that could be greatly improved by more diligent attention to established methods of screening for bowel cancer (341). Anyone with persistent symptoms that could be caused by a problem in the large bowel should see a doctor promptly. The most common symptom of a large bowel cancer is a change in bowel habits, usually either diarrhea, which is typical of a rectal cancer, or constipation, which is typical of a cancer in the left colon. If the tumor has extended beyond the wall of the colon and spread elsewhere in the body, symptoms might include enlargement of the liver, abdominal bloating, pain in lower neck, as noted earlier, is another common early symptom, but this is not always apparent without a test for occult, as hidden blood. Any recent change in bowel habits, as rectal bleeding as lower abdominal pain that does not subside promptly is a clear indication that medical attention should be sought. As noted earlier, the present cure rate for colon cancer could be greatly improved by earlier detection and treatment of the disease . A wide ranging study by the American Cancer concluded that all persons do a digital rectal examination annually. This examination is easily performed and, while it may be embarrassing for the patients, it involves no discomfort. The doctor gently inserts a rubber-gloved finger into the rectum. The doctor