Interesting articles
What is buccal cancer?
Oral cancer occurs on the lips (generally, in the lower), inside the mouth, on the back of the throat, in the tonsils or in the salivary glands. It most frequently affects men than women, and mainly people over 40 years of age. Smoking in combination with strong alcohol intake constitutes key risk factors.
Late detection of buccal cancer can involve surgery, radiant therapy and chemotherapy. Also, it can be fatal with a five-year survival percentage for approximately 50% of cases. * That negative prognosis is partly due to the lack of identification of the first symptoms of the disease, therefore, the early detection of oral cancer is fundamental for the success of treatment.
What are the symptoms of buccal cancer?
You will not always be able to identify the first signs of alert, hence the importance of regular dental and medical reviews. Your dentist has the necessary training to identify oral cancer warning signs. However, in addition to regular controls, you should visit your dentist if you observe any of the following anomalies:
a sore on the lips, on the gums or inside his mouth that bleeds easily and does not heal
A bundle or thickening on the cheek that you can perceive with the tongue
loss of sensations or numbness somewhere in the mouth
white or red spots on the gums, tongue or inside the mouth
Difficulty chewing or snoring food
Pain, without any explanation, in the mouth or feeling of stake in the throat
Very strong swelling of the jaw, causing the prosthesis to do not fit properly
Change in the voice
How to prevent buccal cancer?
If you do not smoke or chew tobacco, do not start doing it ever. 80 or 90% of the cases of buccal cancer are due to smoking.
Smoking: The relationship between smoking, lung cancer and heart disease has been extensively proven. Smoking is detrimental to your health in general and makes it difficult to fight your immune system against infections or the recovery of wounds and surgeries. Among young adults, smoking can produce atrophies in growth and development difficulties. A large number of smokers say they do not smell or taste food as before. Smoking also involves risks of bad breath and stained teeth.
Your oral health also gets at risk every time you turn on a cigarette. Smoking cigarettes, pipe or cigars considerably increase the chances of developing cancer of larynx, throat and esophagus. Like most people do not know or ignore the first symptoms, oral cancer is spread before its detection.
Tobacco chewing: Chronic users of smokeless tobacco have 50 times more risks of developing buccal cancer than others.
The best thing is not smoking cigarettes, cigars or pipes, or chew tobacco or take rapper. People who stop taking tobacco, even after many years of use, significantly reduce the risk of oral cancer. Chronic or intense alcohol consumption also increases the risk of cancer, and alcohol combined with tobacco constitutes an especially high risk factor.
How is oral cancer treated?
After diagnosis, a team of specialists (includes buccal surgeon and a dentist) develop a treatment plan that adapts to the needs of each patient. Usually you need to perform surgery and then chemotherapy applies. It is important to visit the dentist because he knows the changes that these therapies will cause in his mouth.
What are the collateral effects of X-ray therapy?
When a radiant therapy is used on the head and neck, a large number of people suffer from irritations in the mouth, dryness, difficulties in swallowing and changes in taste. X-rays also increase the chances of caries, so it is especially important to care for teeth, gums, mouth and throat during treatment.
Check with the cancer specialist about the bucket problems that can be raised during or after X-ray treatment. Consult your dentist before starting an X-ray therapy on head and neck, ask him what he can do before , during and after treatment to avoid oral collateral effects.
How do I keep oral health during therapy?
Brush your teeth with a soft brush after meals and cleaned them with a dental floss. Avoid spices and thick foods such as raw vegetables, crackers and nuts. Avoid the consumption of tobacco and alcohol. Engine or chewing chewing gum or candy without sugar to keep the mouth wet.
Before starting X-ray therapy, inform your dentist and attend a query to perform a complete exam. Ask your dentist to communicate with the oncologist responsible for radiant therapy before starting treatment.
How to identify a melanoma?
The most dangerous form of skin cancer is melanoma, which can be a serious illness if it extends to the internal organs; For this reason it is very important to know how to identify a melanoma and its early detection, paying special attention to polka dots, brown spots and skin growth.
Risks of a melanoma
The increased risk of the appearance of a melanoma depends on several factors, such as exposure to the sun, family history or the number of polka dots that appear on the skin among others.
UVA and UVB rays are dangerous for skin, and can cause skin cancer, including melanoma, especially solar burns with appearance of ampoules in early childhood.
Also people who have the clearest skin have more risk of suffering from skin cancer and those who have suffered a melanoma suffer more risk of recurrence, and those with a first-degree relative with diagnosis of melanoma have 50% more of probabilities of developing the disease than those who do not have a family history.
Recognize a melanoma
Self-examins can help identify early skin cancers, and so that self-examination is successful, it is necessary to know what is being looking for. As a general rule, to detect any melanoma, special attention must be paid to the following alarm signals:
New polka dots or growth.
Any type of existing tumors that begin to grow or change.
injuries that cause itch, bleed, or who do not heal.
Most important signs to take into account in the polka dots
Asymmetry: The lunar is always benign when it is symmetrical; That is, if you draw an imaginary line by means, the two parties match, if the two halves do not match, it means that it is asymmetric and will be a warning signal for melanoma.
Borders: A benign lunar presents soft edges, unlike melanomas, which tend to be uneven, scalloped or present notches.
Color: Most benign polka dots appear from the same color, often with a single tone of brown, or can present a variety of colors, such as black, different shades of brown, reddish, White or bluish is another warning sign of a possible melanoma.
Diameter: Benign polka dots usually have a diameter smaller than malignant tumors, since melanomas generally measure more than 6 mm., but sometimes they can be smaller when they are detected by first time.
Evolution: Common benign polka dots have the same look over time, from there to maintain caution when a lunar begins to change somehow; Therefore, any change in terms of size, color, shape, elevation, or any new symptom, such as bleeding, itching or occurrence of crust, you must consult it urgently with your doctor.
I hope this post we have helped you know how to identify a melanoma. Although as I always say to the signal under alarm you should go to a professional so you can diagnose it correctly
What it is colorectal cancer?
Colorectal cancer is a term used for cancer that originates in the colon or rectum. These cancers can be referred to separately as colon cancer or rectal cancer (rectal) depending on where it originates.
Both colon cancer and rectal cancer share many common characteristics. Both types of cancer are discussed together in this document, except for the section about treatment, where they will be analyzed separately.
The normal digestive system
The colon and rectum are parts of the digestive system, which is also called gastrointestinal or GI system (see figure below). The first part of the digestive system (stomach and small intestine) processes food for energy while liquid absorbing end (colon and rectum) part to form solid waste (feces or stool) that then leave the body. To understand colorectal cancer, it helps to know a little about the normal structure of the digestive system and how it works.
After chewing and swallowing food, they move through the esophagus to the stomach. Hence, partially they decompose and pass into the small intestine. It is called small intestine because it is narrower than the large intestine (colon and rectum), but actually the small intestine is the longest segment of the digestive system (around 20 feet). The small intestine digests food and absorbs most nutrients.
This intestine joins the large intestine in the lower right abdomen. Most of the large intestine consists of the colon, a muscular tube about 5 feet long and salt water absorbing food and serves as a storage area for the waste matter.
The colon has four sections:
The first section is called the ascending colon. Start with a small bag (blind) where the small intestine to the colon joins and extends upward on the right side of the abdomen. The cecum is also where the appendix is attached to the colon.
The second section is called transverse colon as it extends through the body of the right side to the left side in the upper abdomen.
The third section, the descending colon continues down the left side.
The fourth and final section is known as the sigmoid colon because of their shape & ldquo; S “ or form & ldquo; sigmoid “.
The waste material remaining after passing through the colon is known as feces or stool, which passes the rectum, the final part of the digestive system whose length of 6 inches, where it is stored until it passes out of the body through the anus.
The wall of the colon and rectum is composed of several layers (see illustration in section on staging). Colorectal cancer originates from the innermost layer and can grow through some or all other layers. It is important to know something about these layers, since the stage or stage (extent of spread) of colorectal cancer depends largely on how deep in these layers grows. For more information, see the & ldquo; & rdquo How colorectal cancer is staged;?.
abnormal growths in the colon or rectum
Most colorectal cancers develop slowly over several years. Before a cancer develops, usually a tissue growth or tumor that is noncancerous polyp of the colon lining or rectum is formed. A tumor is abnormal tissue which may be benign (noncancerous) or malignant (cancerous). A polyp is a non-cancerous benign tumor. Some polyps (not all) can become cancer, and the probability of becoming cancer depends on the kind of polyp: The two main types of polyps are:
Adenomatous polyps (adenomas) are polyps that can be transformed into cancer. Because of this, adenomas are called a precancerous condition.
Inflammatory polyps and hyperplastic polyps, usually, are not precancerous. But some doctors believe that some hyperplastic polyps can become precancerous or can be a sign of an increased risk of adenomas and cancer, particularly when these polyps grow in the ascending colon.
The dysplasia is another kind of precancerous condition. Dysplasia is an area in the colon or rectum coating where the cells look abnormal (but not as real cancer cells) when they are observed with a microscope. These cells can be transformed into cancer with the passage of time. In general, dysplasia is presented in people who have had diseases, such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease, for many years. Both diseases cause chronic inflammation of the colon.
Principle and propagation of colorectal cancer
If cancer is formed inside a polyp, over time, you can start growing in the thickness of the colon wall or the rectum. When cancer cells are on the wall, they can grow towards blood vessels or lymphatic vessels. The lymphatic vessels are thin and tiny channels that transport waste material and liquid. The waste and liquid material first reaches the adjacent lymph nodes, which are structures that contain immunological cells that help fight infections. Once the cancer cells propagate to the blood vessels or lymphatic, they can move to the adjacent lymph nodes or the distant parts of the body, such as the liver. When the cancer propagates at different parts of the body is called metastasis.
Types of cancer in the colon and the rectum
Various types of cancer can start on the colon or rectum.
Adenocarcinomas: More than 95% of colorectal cancers are a type of cancer known as adenocarcinomas. These cancers begin in the cells that form glands that produce mucus to lubricate the interior of the colon and the rectum. Almost always that doctors talk about colorectal cancer refer to this type of cancer.
Other types of less common tumors can also start on the colon and in the rectum. Among these are included:
Carcinoid tumors: These tumors originate from specialized cells producers of intestine hormones. Carcinoid tumors are discussed in our Gastrointestinal document.
Gastrointestinal stromal tumors: These tumors originate from specialized cells on the wall of the colon called interstitial Cajal cells. Some are benign (non-cancerous), while others are malignant (cancerous). These tumors can be found anywhere in the digestive tract, although these are uncommon in the colon. Stromal Tumors (GIST) are discussed in our Gastrointestinal document.
Lymphomas: These are cancers of the cells of the immune system that are typically formed in the lymph nodes, but that can also start on the colon and the rectum or in other organs. In our document on non-Hodgkin lymphoma information is included on the lymphomas of the digestive system.
Sarcomas: These tumors can start in blood vessels, as well as in muscle and connective tissue on the wall of the colon and rectum. The sarcomas of the colon or rectum are rare, and are discussed in our Sarcoma document: soft tissue cancer in adults.
The rest of this document is concentrated only in the adenocarcinomas of the colon and the rectum.
What is breast cancer?
Breast cancer is the uncontrolled proliferation of the mammary cells. To better understand breast cancer, we must understand how any cancer develops.
Cancer is the result of mutations, or anomalous changes, in genes that regulate the growth of cells and keep them healthy. The genes are in the core of the cells, which acts as the & ldquo; control room “ of each cell. Normally, the cells of the body are renewed by a specific process called multiplication: the new and healthy cells occupy the place of the old cells that die. But with the passage of time, mutations can & ldquo; activate “ Certain genes Y & Ldquo; deactivate “ Others in a cell. The modified cell acquires the ability to divide without any type of control or order, so that it produces more equal cells and generates a tumor.
A tumor can be benign (it is not dangerous for health) or malignant (it is potentially dangerous). Benign tumors are not considered cancerous: their cells have an almost normal appearance, grow slowly and do not invade upcoming tissues or spread towards other parts of the body. Malignant tumors are cancerous. If not controlled, malignant cells can spread beyond the original tumor to other parts of the body.
The term “ breast cancer “ It refers to a malignant tumor that has been developed from mammary cells. Generally, breast cancer originates in the cells of the lobulillos, which are the milk producing glands, or in the ducts, which are the pathways that transport milk from the wobils to the nipple. With less frequently, breast cancer can originate in strumbered tissues, which include fatty and fibrous combined tissues of the breast.
Breast cancer always originates by a genetic anomaly (a & ldquo; error “ in the genetic material). However, only 5-10% of cases are the product of an inherited anomaly of the mother or father. About 90% of cases originate in genetic abnormalities linked to the aging and ldquo process; natural wear “ of life.
While there are steps that every person can follow to keep his body as safe as possible (follow a balanced diet, not smoking, limiting alcohol consumption and exercising on a regular basis), the development of breast cancer does not have guilty . Feeling guilty or thinking that the disease appeared due to something you did or who made another person is counterproductive.
Breast cancer states
Status 0: Cancer cells remain inside the breast duct and do not invade the normal breast tissue that is next.
State I: The tumor has 2 centimeters or less and is limited to the breast (lymph nodes are not affected).
State IIA: There is no tumor in the breast, but cancer cells are detected in the axillary lymph nodes (under the arm) | The tumor measures 2 centimeters or less and has spread towards the Axillary lymph nodes | Tumor measures between 2 and 5 centimeters and has not spread towards the axillary lymph nodes.
IIB State: The tumor measures between 2 and 5 centimeters and has spread towards the axillary lymph nodes | The tumor measures more than 5 centimeters, but has not spread towards the axillary lymph nodes.
State IIIA: No tumor is detected in the breast. Cancer is found in the axillary lymph nodes that are attached to each other or other structures, or is found in the lymph nodes near sternum | The tumor is of any size. Cancer has spread towards the axillary lymph nodes, which are adhered to each other or to other structures, or is found in the lymph nodes near the sternum.
State IIIB: The tumor can be of any size and has spread to the chest wall or the skin of the breast | It may have spread towards the axillary lymph nodes that are agglutinated with each other or adhered to other structures, or the cancer could have spread towards the lymph nodes near the sternum.
Inflammatory breast cancer belongs at least to the IIIB state.
State IIIC: There may be no indications of cancer in the breast or a tumor can be of any size and have spread towards the chest wall or the skin of the breast | Cancer has spread Towards the lymph nodes on or under the clavicle | Cancer may have spread towards the axillary lymph nodes or towards the lymph nodes near the sternum.
State IV: Cancer has spread (metastatized) to other parts of the body.
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