How Cancer Develops?

There are many theories of the development of cancer. In the simplest form, cancer is the recurrent injury to the cells in a tissue over a long period of time. The injury causes death of some cells, requires increased cell division, and increases the chance of an error in that cell division so that a malignant (death-causing) cell line is borne. With age, the immune surveillance system that usually destroys such malignant cells becomes less effective, allowing the malignant cell line to grow. As the cancer grows, it may directly interfere with local tissues or, commonly, may metastasize (spread) to other parts of the body. Cancer causes about 20 percent of deaths in the United States.

Cancer problems are related to the location of the main tumor but also include pain, weight loss and problems at distant sites of the body. Complications of radiation treatment, surgery, or chemotherapy add to illness burden. Prevention is best. Current estimates state that about two-thirds of cancers can be pevented with current knowledge! You can reduce your predicted likelihood of getting cancer by two-thirds!