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June 21, 2011

Trying To Avoid Cancer Of The Lungs

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 3:23 pm

Cancer is the main or second biggest killer in most countries in the world in spite of the fact that there has been a blitz on smoking. There are not that many countries left in the Western world where there are not some restrictions on smoking. This is hardly surprising actually, we all know what smoke and pollution is doing to the world’s atmosphere and to the world’s foliage – it’s lungs – so why would it not be doing the same to us? In spades, even?

Cancer is a state where cells start growing out of control, as most of us already know. The majority of people affected are over forty rears old and it affects women smokers equally as much as men smokers. By tradition, more men smoked than women, but that ratio is changing.

These days, it is more common to see women smoking than men. This is normally because women strive to use smoking as a hunger suppressant – in other words an aid to dieting.

Smoking is the foremost reason for cancer and so it is thought that during the following decades, that there will be a higher percentage of women dying of lung cancer than men for the first time in history.

An off-shoot of smoking is passive smoking, which is the condition in which someone breathes the secondhand smoke of a smoker. This used to happen most often in bars and offices, but smoking there has now been banned, so it is expected that most passive smoking now takes place in the home, which puts children most at risk. There are comparable experiences to passive smoking from pollutants from vehicles.

The difficulty with lung cancer is that there is no cure. Your body can repair itself if you give it a fair chance, but it does need a fair opportunity. Many people have been able to do well with a little lung cancer, but you cannot do well with merely a couple of percent of your lungs.

This is why some of the symptoms of lung cancer are coughing, wheezing, blood in the phlegm that smokers cough up, being out of breath and having chest pains. Heavy smokers who are developing lung cancer are frequently under weight as well.

Unfortunately, chemotherapy and radiotherapy do not have a immense deal of effect on this kind of cancer. The most a sufferer can look forward to is a wheezy life in an oxygen tent. And not a long life at that. Drugs can alleviate the pain and improve breathing, but not much more.

Surgery can help, but you just have so much lung capacity and if that is cut away it will not grow back. You can do fairly well with only one lung, but a full and active normal life is a problem. You would require an inhaler to walk any distance.

The other thing is that blood flows through the lungs to pick up oxygen which it distributes to each part of your body. While it is oxygenating this blood it will also pick up cancerous cells and distribute these over your whole body too. It could well be that it is one of these secondary cancers that will do for you.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a number of subjects, but is now involved with the stages of ovarian cancer. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at Signs and Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer

June 7, 2011

Cancer Prevention And Green Tea

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 5:18 pm

Most people are scared rigid of developing cancer. That is perfectly understandable – who wants to spend a couple of years undergoing chemotherapy only to die a couple of years later? Or even if you recover it is a couple of years out of your life that have been worrying and gruelling. And not just for the patient but for friends and family too.

So, some people do everything possible to reduce the risks of developing cancer. Most of us do not think we know how to do this, others are not certain, but they have heard or read something that sounds ‘around about correct’ and others are convinced that they know how to avoid contracting cancer.

My wife is certain that I may develop cancer from eating burnt toast and others are convinced that they can stave off cancer by saturating their flesh with green tea. It has frequently been pointed out and for decades as well, that countries where green tea is the norm, say the Far East, have a much lower incidence of cancer than we do in the West.

And this is probably true at the moment. But why is it the case? I live in Asia and diabetes is the number one cause of death near me. Do Asians not get cancer as much as we do because they drink green tea or for other reasons?

In fact, where I live in Northern Thailand, I have never seen anyone drink tea or coffee or accept a cup off me, except my wife. People here drink water or alcohol, depending on the time of day. Kids like Cola or Sprite or whatever because they watch as well much TV, but drink a lot of water.

It is said that green tea is an anti-oxidant and it is alleged that anti-oxidants help get rid of free radicals which could cause cancer. If this is true, then the claims for green tea are maybe more substantial.

However, the claims are so all-embracing that it makes me sceptical. I am reading a report just now that claims that green tea will prevent the formation of cancerous cells in the: “… aesophagus, bladder, on the skin, in the ovaries, the pancreas and the prostate”.

That is a very tall order indeed.

The problem for me with all these claims is that they are not substantiated – there are no references that you can follow that do not lead to businesses selling green tea. This is a difficulty.

Some will say that the government or the pharmaceutical businesses are suppressing the information because they want to sell more expensive drugs – and this might be the case – grist to the mill for conspiracy theorists and retailers of Chinese tea.

Now that we seem to be entering into a ‘new era’, a more sceptical and more enlightened era (thanks a lot to the Internet), couldn’t someone do some research on green tea and Acai berries and all the rest of the stuff you read of in your junk emails and put an end once and for all to the false dreams, if that is what they are, that we are being sold every day by unscrupulous marketeers looking for a quick dollar?

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a number of topics, but is now involved with the stages of ovarian cancer. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at Signs and Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer

Is Hair Transplant Surgery Good For Women?

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 1:14 pm

Most people associate balding with men and that is not surprising as most western men do go bald sooner or later. Most men really hate going bald. Some take to brushing their hair in a different way, having it cut short or even shaved off completely or they wear a hat. Increasingly, men are seeing balding as a natural process over which they have no control and just get on with their lives. This is a step in the right direction.

However, women go bald as well, or at least they can do. Traditionally western women care more about their looks than their men folk do and so women can take it very badly when or if they begin losing their hair. Some women take to wearing a wig and others try a hair transplant.

The difficulty is that men and women lose their hair for different reasons and hair transplants favour the causes of men’s baldness rather than women’s.

Distinctive male baldness is called ‘male pattern baldness’ and everybody knows men whom it has affected. It means that men lose hair first at the front, a receding hairline, and then on the top; leaving a band of hair running around three sides of the head. The three lower sides in fact have healthy, growing, self-replicating follicles.

It is this hair that is utilized if a man goes for a hair transplant – healthy hair and it has to do with testosterone, the male hormone, as oestrogen is the female hormone.

Female baldness tends to affect the whole of the head at the same time, which means that there is not a crop of healthy hair follicles from which to transplant hair to other regions of the head. This makes most women inappropriate clients for a hair transplant.

Luckily for women up to about retirement age, baldness merely affects a small percentage of them unless it is through illness or the treatment of an illness. On the other hand, just about 5% of women are decent candidates for a hair transplant. Women who have lost their hair due to using rollers for a long period of time, usually have a couple of patches of good hair left that can be utilized for transplanting.

Other women who have a good chance of a successful hair transplant are those who have a form of male pattern baldness and those who have lost hair due to trauma surrounding areas of surgery. Those who have lost their hair due to chemotherapy, will frequently make a full or near full recovery when the chemo sessions are over.

The easiest alternative for older women is to wear a wig. It is not ideal, obviously, but it does restore some confidence to those who could not otherwise go out without hair. Other choices are hats, scarves and turbans, jus like many women wore in the Twenties and Thirties.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a number of topics, but is now involved with the stages of ovarian cancer. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at Signs and Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer

May 30, 2011

Did You Say Ovarian Cancer?

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 10:23 am

Ovarian cancer that accounts for over 25,000 newly diagnosed cases of cancer each year only in the United States Of America is by and large detected in the later stages once it has already spread outside the ovaries. Ovarian cancer or a group of malignant tumors begin in tissues of different sorts in the ovary.

Most cancers of the ovary start in the epithelial or outer layer of cells, with rarer kinds beginning in the egg forming germ cells or the stroma in the ovaries. However it is incorrect to assume that all tumors and cysts could become cancerous, for non-cancerous or benign tumors are more common than cancer of the ovary.

Cancer of the ovary or ovarian cancer is the 7th most common cancer among women in America; with only one out of five cases diagnosed in the early stage when effective treatment can be implemented. However most women might like to know the danger factors for ovarian cancer and take care to go in for early analysis.

It is a good idea to understand that danger does not mean a certainty, it only indicates an increased chance to develop this sort of cancer.

They say that a strong family history of cancer of the breasts, uterus, colon and rectum could expose a woman to cancer of the ovaries also. A family history could include one’s blood relatives like grandmother, mother, daughter or sister, with a family history of cancer at a young age contributing to a higher chance for ovarian cancer. A genetic counselor could suggest genetic tests for you, certain genetic changes indicating an increased risk for cancer of the ovaries.

It is important to note that each woman that has a personal history of cancer and has been already afflicted with cancer of the breast, uterus, colon or rectum stands a higher likelihood to get ovarian cancer.

It is to be observed that cancer has the tendency to spread rapidly and chemotherapy and radiation can only treat or remove cancer for some time. In addition to the growth of new cells there is every opportunity for it to spread to other organs of the body also.

It is the case that women that have attained menopause and older women that have never had babies have a higher chance to develop cancer of the ovaries. Postmenopausal use of hormones like hormone replacement therapy for a period of 10 years and more could rise the likelihood of getting ovarian cancer, with estrogen replacement therapy or ERT having the highest danger followed by estrogen-progestin replacement therapy or EPRT. It is also true that obesity and use of talcum powder also create a higher risk factor.

The indications of ovarian cancer after it develops to some extent could be pressure with or without pain and bloating experienced in the abdomen, pelvis, back and legs, feeling of nausea with indigestion, flatulence, constipation or diarrhea and a feeling of tiredness most of the time. In rare cases you could experience shortness of breath, the frequent urge to urinate and heavy periods after stoppage of periods.

However it can be hard to diagnose ovarian cancer and the only one who can do it properly is a doctor.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a number of subjects, but is now involved with the stages of ovarian cancer. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at Signs and Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer

May 18, 2011

Throat Cancer Does Not Really Exist – But You Have To Be Wary.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 4:52 pm

Really there is no such medical illness known as ?throat cancer?, although several sorts of cancer can arise in the throat and neck. The proper medical term for the throat is the ?pharynx?, which can be defined as: ‘the passage that ensures that food and drink go to the stomach and air to and from the lungs’.

The pharynx is made up of three parts: the oropharynx (the back of the mouth, including the soft palate and base of the tongue); nasopharynx (connecting the back of the nose to the back of the mouth); laryngopharynx (connecting the oropharynx and nasopharynx to the start of the gullet (oesophagus) and the windpipe (trachea) via the voice box (larynx)).

The laryngopharynx is occasionally called the hypopharynx. ?Throat cancer? can be cancer of any of these, although the most common form of ?throat cancer? is nasopharyngeal cancer.

Just to render the term ?throat cancer? even more useless and puzzling, some individuals apply it to cancer of the thyroid gland (situated at the front of the base of the neck), cancer of the voice box (larynx), cancer of the gullet or cancer of the windpipe (trachea), which actually falls into the lung cancer group.

Most head and neck cancerous cells are squamous, which is to say that they do not travel far from their origin, although they often have an impact on the lymph nodes. In fact, the first symptom of head or throat cancer is frequently an enlarged neck lymph node, which is also occasionally called throat cancer.

A different sign could be the manifestation of white patches or spots in the mouth that will not respond to treatment. Known as leukoplakia, 33% of them become cancerous. It is estimated that 7,000 Americans die of a throat cancer each year, often because it was detected late. Ethnicity might also play a part, since African American men are 50% more at risk of throat cancer than Caucasian men.

These cancers are quite painless in early stages and can be confused with toothache, earache, sore throat or croakiness. When established however, they develop very quickly, although if caught at an early stage, they can nearly always be effectively removed.

There is a wide variety of reasons why someone can be at a greater risk for a throat cancer, including smoking; chewing tobacco and other things, such as betel nut, gutkha, marijuana or pan; heavy alcohol consumption; poor diet resulting in vitamin deficiencies (worse if this is caused by heavy alcohol intake); weakened immune system; asbestos exposure; prolonged exposure to wood dust or paint fumes; exposure to petroleum, industrial chemicals, and being more than the age of 55 years.

The existence of acid reflux disease (gastroesphogeal reflux disease – GERD) or larynx reflux disease can also be a major factor. In the case of acid reflux disease, stomach acids flow up into the oesophagus and injure its lining, making it more liable to throat cancer.

Because successful therapy depends on early detection, regular oral examination is suggested. Your dentist will have been trained to be on the look out for early signs, making a bi-annual visit to the dentist even more rewarding

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on quite a few topics, but is now involved with the stages of ovarian cancer. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at Signs and Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer

May 13, 2011

Melanoma: Skin Cancer By A Different Name

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 3:46 pm

Melanoma is the most prevalent kind of skin cancer and skin cancer is the most widespread form of cancer in the Western world. It starts in skin cells known as melanocytes.

Melanocytes are found under the skin, which is made up of two strata: the epidermis on the outside and the dermis below that. To be accurate, melanocytes are found in the lowest levels of the epidermis, but not actually in the dermis.

These cells produce melanin, which has an effect on the epidermis? pigmentation, both natural skin colour and because of exposure to the sun as in tanning.

Sometimes, a group of near-by melanocytes combine with a little local tissue to form a mole (also called a nevus; plural nevi). The typical person has between ten and forty moles, which usually seem before the fortieth birthday. They frequently fade or disappear with age.

Moles are non-malignant (non-cancerous) and can be flat or raised in contour and almost any colour. Usually, they are a little darker than one?s natural skin colour. Dark skinned people are likely to have more moles.

Cancer starts in cells where the normal cycle of decay and replacement by regeneration has been Upset. Under these conditions, cells do not always die when they ought to and new cells are produced needlessly.

This, in turn, creates a growth (also known as a tumor), which can be either benign or malignant (that is to say cancerous or non-cancerous).

Benign tumors can be surgically removed and rarely return. They do not spread or affect surrounding tissue.

Malignant tumors are cancerous and can affect surrounding tissue and organs. In these cases, cancerous cells can break away from the primary tumor and have an impact on other organs or enter the blood stream (lymphatic system), wherein it can spread to other regions of the body (metastasis) very quickly. The rate of metastasis is a deciding factor in how a physician deals with cancer.

Melanoma happens when melanocytes are malignant. It can occur at any age, but the likelihood increase with age. Fair-skinned individuals are more likely to develop it than dark-skinned individuals. In fair-skinned races, men tend to get it on the upper body and neck, whereas women get it on their calves (lower legs).

Dark-skinned people hardly ever suffer from melanoma, but if they do, it is usually under the finger and toe nails or on the soles of the feet or palms of the hands. When cancerous cells from melanoma enter the lymphatic system and affect other organs, it is still attributed to melanoma. For instance, if the liver becomes affected by cancerous cells from melanoma, it is referred to as metastatic melanoma, not liver cancer.

Frequently, the first sign of melanoma is a change in the size, shape, colour, or texture of an existing mole, although it frequently first manifests itself with a new mole or moles. Self-diagnosis is not to be relied on – always seek professional advice if you have any concerns relating to your skin. However, it is wise to keep in mind ?The ABCD of Melanoma?, which goes thus:

Asymmetry: the shape of one side of the mole is not the same as the other side.

Border: the border or edges of the mole are not plainly defined; a bit ragged or the colouration ?leaks? into the adjacent skin.

Colouration: the mole is not uniformly of one colour, although it is not so vital what that colour is.

Diameter: there is a modification in size or a new mole gets larger than 5mm in size.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a number of subjects, but is now involved with the stages of ovarian cancer. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at Signs and Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer

Thyroid Cancer

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 1:24 pm

Thyroid cancer (cancer of the thyroid gland) comes in four variations: papillary, follicular, medullary and anaplastic. Papillary and medullary are slow-growing and sometimes return, but respond well to treatment in patients under middle age.

Medullary also reacts well to therapy, if it has not already spread. Anaplastic developes quickly and responds badly to therapy. The spread of these kinds of cancer is not uniform throughout the world, but is roughly: 78% for papillary; 17% for follicular; 4% for medullary and 1% for anaplastic.

Normally, the first symptom of a problem is the growth of a nodule or nodules in the neck in close proximity to the thyroid gland. However, just 5% of these are malignant. Occasionally an early warning sign is discomfort or even pain; occasionally, the lymph nodes swell, the voice changes or there is hypo- or hyper- thyroidism.

Diagnosis usually takes place after a nodule is discovered during a (routine) physical examination. The patient is then referred to an endocrinologist or a thyroidologist, who will arrange an ultrasound test or a biopsy. Using a thin needle enough cells can be taken to perform an accurate test on the precise state of the thyroid and whether the nodules are cancerous.

Papillary thyroid cancer more frequently takes place in women and often in the 30-40 year old age group and is frequently characterized by bulging eyes. If the growth is less than 1cm in size a partial thyroidectomy or hemithyroidectomy would probably be recommended.

Above 1cm and a full thyroidectomy is preferred. Some surgeons prefer a full thyroidectomy anyway because the cancer cannot come back then.

Follicular thyroid cancer is more common in women over 50 years of age. Therapy is most often full thyroidectomy as the threat of recurrence of this aggressive form is quite big for partial surgery.

Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) starts in the cells that produce the hormone calcitonin. Higher degrees of calcitonin in the blood are a reasonable indication of MTC, although these increased degrees of calcitonin are probably not injurious in themselves.

Mutations in the DNA concerned in cell growth and development are responsible for nearly all cases of hereditary or familial medullary thyroid carcinoma. Hereditary medullary thyroid cancer is inherited as a 50/50 probability from each affected parent. DNA analysis makes it feasible to identify children who carry the mutant gene.

Surgical removal of the thyroid in children who carry the mutant gene is effective if the whole thyroid gland is removed at an early age, before there is a spread of the tumor. Hereditary MTC accounts for around 25% of all cases of MTC. The other 75% of cases are known as sporadic MTC and normally occur in older patients.

Frequently the disease is well advanced in these cases as there has been no screening as in hereditary MTC. The first sign is often diarhoea. The likelihood of surviving MTC seem to be linked to the rate at which the patient?s post operative calcitonin levels double.

Anaplastic thyroid cancer is highly aggressive and likelihood of survival are almost zero. It is resistant to all known cancer medications and invades nearby tissue rapidly.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on quite a few subjects, but is now involved with the stages of ovarian cancer. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at Signs and Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer

May 9, 2011

Some Basic Information On Breast Cancer

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 3:40 am

The official phrase for breast cancer is ‘malignant breast neoplasm’. Breast cancer originates most frequently in the inner lining of the milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. The general term for cancers that originate in ducts is ‘ ductal carcinomas’ and the term for cancers originating from the lobules is ‘lobular carcinomas’.

Successful treatment depends greatly on the kind of cancer, staging and the age of the patient, however the figures vary from 10% to 98%. Worldwide, breast cancer accounts for just more than 10% of all cancers in women, which makes it the second most common form of cancer in women after skin cancer.

In 2004 (the latest figures available at the moment), breast cancer caused almost 520,000 deaths worldwide, which is 7% of all deaths by cancer and 1% of all deaths. One more interesting statistic is that women are 100 times more likely to get breast cancer than men, but women have a far higher likelihood of recovery (usually due to more frequent screening).

October has been nominated as ‘Breast Cancer Awareness Month’ and the symbol used (not only in October) is the ‘Pink Ribbon’. It has become a worldwide symbol of breast cancer awareness.

However, some companies have been criticized for putting the pink ribbon on the labels of their products (see Kentucky Fried Chicken and some alcoholic drinks). The lesson to be learned is to check out how much that firm actually donates to malignant breast neoplasm awareness and research.

If Breast Cancer Awareness month is to do any good, the one thing it ought to concentrate on is making women aware that this form of cancer is not a death sentence, because if it can be treated early the survival rate is very high. Even cancers that have been diagnosed ‘a little late’ can be treated successfully although the treatment will almost certainly be much more harsh.

All women ought to go for frequent screening by a professional – at least once a year – but they ought to also learn how to test their breasts themselves and get into the habit of doing the self-test every day whilst washing in the shower. You could also get a friend to lend a hand by incorporating it into foreplay.

The information necessary for self-testing is widely accessible all year round (not only in October) at your doctor’s surgery or at your gynecologist’s. It is also available in libraries, clinics, some schools and on Net. One of the foremost factors that you ought to take in to account when deciding on your plan for counteracting the threat of cancer is whether any other members of your family have had breast cancer or any other form of cancer for that matter.

One anxiety that many people in the know have is that breast cancer research is getting too high a proportion of the whole amount available for funding for cancer research. This means that more patients are dying of other kinds of cancer than should be.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on quite a few topics, but is now involved with the stages of ovarian cancer. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at Signs and Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer

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