Categories of Cancer

Cancer
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Introduction
Research indicates that an average of 7.9 million people die from cancer related illness worldwide per year. This consists 13% of the world’s total mortality rate. Cancer is therefore a major healthcare concern that needs to be addressed. This paper looks at the approach to care of cancer, including the diagnosis and staging of cancer, complications of cancer, the side effects of treatment, and methods to lessen physical and psychological effects caused by Cancer.
Cancer is a collection of syndromes exhibited when the human body cells grow out of control. Cancers are classified based normally from the kind of fluid or tissue where cancer originates. There are numerous types of cancer, more than 100 types, including Bone Cancer, Breast Cancer, Brain Tumor, Colorectal Cancer, Childhood Cancer, Head and Neck Cancer, Endocrine Tumor, Lung Cancer, Prostate Cancer, Melanoma, Prostate Cancer and Testicular Cancer among others. This paper will focus mainly on lung cancer because it has the highest mortality rate than any other type of cancer.
Categories of cancer
There are two main categories of Lung cancers depending on the cells type in the tumor. The two types are the small cell lung cancer and the Non-small cell lung cancer. The more common of the two types is the Non-small cell lung cancer which includes large cell carcinoma, Adenocarcinoma and Squamous cell carcinoma. Adenocarcinoma originates from cells lining of the alveoli and is the most common type among the non-smokers, women, and young people. Squamous is the most common among smokers and begins from the thin flat cells of the lungs. Large cell carcinoma also starts from the lungs in the large cells found in the lungs (Nader, 2014).
The small cell lung cancer when viewed through a microscope looks like oats which makes it to be sometimes referred as oat cell cancer. This type of cancer is not common and makes to about 20% total cases of lung cancer cases (Nader, 2014). It includes carcinoid tumors, salivary gland carcinoma and unknown primary cancer. Small cell lung cancer grows rapidly and is virtually cause by cigarrete smoking. It is very important for medical practitioners to identify the type of lung cancer a patient is suffering from so as the correct medication can be provided (American Cancer Society, 2014).
Diagnosis
Cancer particularly lung cancer is suspected after taking an x-ray that portrays a spot. The x-ray is taken after persistent coughing, chest pain, etc. After Cancer is suspected, other advanced tests can be used to determine the presence or absence of cancer in the body. These tests include; CT Scan, Needle Biopsy, Sputum Cytology, MRI and Bronchoscopy. The tests described here can be taken as a combination of two or more tests or can be taken individually. These tests help to identify the location of cancer, appearance of tumor, the size of the tumor, and to which other body organs cancer has spread. A biopsy is used to give details of the kind of cancer, size and its presence of in other parts of the body. Lab tests involve urine and blood as well as more specialized tests to indicate how body organs e.g. liver, are functioning. After determination of the staging of cancer, the medical practitioners can then determine the type of treatment appropriate and pursue it
(American Cancer Society, 2014).
Stages of Lung Cancer
There are four main stages of cancer
Stage 1is where the cancer is confined to the organs where it originates only. For example stage 1 of lung cancer is only detected in the lungs.
Stage 2 and Stage 3- This where the cancer starts to spread to other areas of the body. In the example of lung cancer, the tumors spreads to the chest and invades organs in the respiratory system. Existence of large cancerous tumors other than where the cancer originated from is referred to as stage 3 lung cancer.
Stage 4- This is when the cancer becomes acute because it appears in many body organs and the size of the tumors is large (Roth, et al. 2008).
Treatments for Cancer and their Side Effects
Surgery- to remove tumors, surgery is conducted. Surgery is most common during Stage 1 and 2 of cancer. Types of surgeries for cancer that are common are wedge resection, Lobectomy, Segmentectomy and Pneumonectomy (Dakota, 2010).
Chemotherapy-This involves the use of drugs that are administered to kill and stop the cancerous cells from dividing and growing. Chemotherapy is the most used method of treating lung cancer patients. This methods has several side effects that depend on the drugs the patients is using and the dosage amount the patients is taking. The side effects for chemotherapy include nausea and vomiting, hair loss, fatigue...