Transcript CANCER

CANCER
• The word cancer means
“crab” in latin and even
today it still means the
same and is the name of a
constellation.
• Cancer also names a
disease, one that threatens
human health.
What is Cancer?
• Cancer is a disease in which cells grow and
divide uncontrollably and damage the parts of
the body around them.
• Cancer is not just one disease, there are over
100 types of cancer.
• It can occur in almost any part of the body and
is often named by the place where it began in
the body
How cancer begins
• Scientists believe that it begins when DNA is
damaged and causes a mutation.
• This damage or mutation, causes the cells to
function abnormally.
• Cancer disrupts the cell cycle, causing cells to
divide in an uncontrolled way.
• As the cell divides over and over a tumor is
formed.
Tumors
• This is a mass of
abnormal cells that
develop when cancerous
cells divide and grow
uncontrollably.
• They can take years to
form, and sometimes
parts break off and travel
through the blood to
other parts of the body.
This is how cancer can
spread to other parts of
the body.
Treating Cancer
• There are 3 common ways to treat cancer
– Surgery
– Radiation
– Drugs (chemotherapy)
• Scientists continue to look for new ways to
treat cancer and even ways to stop cancer
cells from multiplying