Skip to main content
  • Cancer
    Cancer is a group of diseases characterised by out-of-control cell growth. There are more than 100 different types of cancer. The cancer is named after the area of the body or organ where it originates.
Submitted by Dr S. Patel on 1 June 2014

Cancer is a group of diseases characterised by out-of-control cell growth. There are more than 100 different types of cancer. The cancer is named after the area of the body or organ where it originates. For example, if the cancer starts in the breast and spreads elsewhere, it is still called breast cancer.

Cancer occurs when the body’s normal cell division and regeneration process goes awry. Normal cells in the body follow a sequence of events - growth, division and death. This programmed cell death is called apoptosis. In cancer, this process breaks down and cells do not experience programmed death. This leads to out-of-control cell growth and division to form a mass of abnormal cells, ie, a tumour.

All tumours are not cancerous and all cancers do not form tumours. One example is leukaemia, which is cancer of the bone marrow.

Tumours can be categorised as:

  • Benign tumour
  • Malignant tumour

Tumours are called benign when they remain localised. Benign tumors are not cancerous and cells from such tumours do not spread to other parts of the body. Benign tumours are easy to remove by local surgery.

Malignant tumours are cancerous and grow faster than benign tumours. They can invade and destroy adjacent structures and spread to distant sites. The spreading of cancer is called metastasis.

Cancer cells spread because they do not make the substance that normal cells secrete to make them stick together. Thus, cancer cells float through the blood stream or lymphatic system to affect other parts of the body. This is called metastatic cancer, ie, cancer that has spread from its place of origin to affect another part of the body. However, the name of the cancer remains the same. If breast cancer spreads to the liver, it is metastatic breast cancer, not liver cancer.

Community
Condition

Stories

  • Life after cancer
    By Geetha Paniker, a survivor of triple negative cancer with double mastectomy. A believer of being positive against all odds who pens, all that the mind can reason with the heart. A teacher, turned home maker, she loves reading, writing and handicrafts.  Life after cancer teaches us to look at how we want to live in the future. Some may want to do things they’ve often thought about but never got a chance to do in the rat race of life, perhaps visit places they’ve…
  • To tell or not to tell - the caregiver's dilemma
    Breaking bad news to patients can be daunting and difficult, especially for caregivers.  Maya Ramachandran narrates her experience when she and her husband were caught in such a catch-22 situation.   My husband’s close relative was experiencing sudden onset of bleeding after almost 25 years post-menopause, at the age of 75! Fearing that it could be cancer, she had shied away from meeting doctors. After a whole year of having struggled with this almost alone, she …
  • A wish for no one to endure unnecessary pain
    Harmala Gupta traversed the journey from being a cancer survivor to founding CanSupport, a home based Palliative Care service in Delhi and NCR. CanSupport also runs out-patient clinics. Harmala Gupta shares her views with PatientsEngage on Palliative Care. PE: According to the ACHEON study ("The non-interventional, anonymous, non-biased ACHEON survey was the first and largest cross sectional evaluation of physicians’ and patients’ perspectives on cancer and non-cancer pain management…
  • The case for Palliative Care
    An awareness film made by Indian Association of Palliative Care based on excerpts from over 200 interviews conducted with working and retired nurses across India  
  • Bone Marrow Donation is as simple as a blood donation
    Jane Prior of the Bone Marrow Donor Programme, Singapore takes a closer look at the myths and misconceptions surrounding the impact bone marrow donation may have on your own health.  First, we need to understand why we need to donate blood stem cells. Certain diseases destroy bone marrows or cause it to not function normally. As bone marrow is crucial in the production of blood, this may lead to the endangerment of one’s life if the bone marrow is not working properly.  Myth 1:…
  • Only 2 out of 10 children survive Childhood Cancer in India
    Cuddles Foundation is one of the few NGOs in India that provides holistic nutritional support to impoverished children so that they can survive the trauma of cancer. In an interview founder-member Purnota Dutta Bahl stresses the need to fight malnutrition to save lives.  How important is nutrition in the fight against childhood cancer? 50,000 children are diagnosed with cancer every year in India. Only 22% of these even make it to the hospital for treatment. 4 out of 10 children…
  • Spinal Tumour patient Deepa Malik first ever paraplegic Indian biker, swimmer, car rallyist, entrepreneur on a wheelchair
    From Spinal Tumour Patient to Wonder Woman
    Three spinal tumour surgeries could not stop Deepa Malik from being the first ever paraplegic Indian biker, swimmer, car rallyist, entrepreneur who doubles up as a very successful motivational speaker as well. Read this amazing woman's journey: “The common perception might be that she is like a man in a man’s world. But I think I am a perfect woman who has learnt beautifully the task of multitasking. I am a wonderful wife, a wonderful mother, a home maker, I keep a…
  • Cancer Survival Predictors and Importance of Screening
    "Early stage diagnosis and Screening affect survival rates in top 3 cancers" Preet K. Dhillon, PhD, MPH, Epidemiologist, Senior Scientific Officer, Public Health Foundation of India in her interview with PatientsEngage Which cancers are easy to detect at an early stage ? What is their contribution to the total number of cancer malignancies? At what rate is this growing? Of the most commonly occurring cancers in India, breast, cervix, oral and colorectal cancers are amenable…
  • How to be a Cancer Thriver Video
    While the global cancer statistics are deadly and chilling, it is easy to forget that the thousands of people around the world, who have not only 'survived' but actually become 'cancer-thrivers'. These rare folks have turned a traumatic experience into a springboard for their personal growth. Their stories are not only remarkable, but also remarkably similar, as Vijay Bhat (a Mumbai-based thriver and author of "My Cancer Is Me") shares in this video. Vijay's insights are based on his own…
  • Throat cancer patients can get back their voice for Rs. 50
    Head and neck cancer specialist Dr. Vishal Rao has recently invented the Aum Voice Prosthesis is to help throat cancer patients speak and eat properly after surgery. The device, especially pioneered for the poor, costs only INR 50 (<1 USD). An interview with Dr. Vishal Rao: Tell us about your brain child – Aum? The realization of not being able to speak, first dawned on me, when I had a throat cancer patient from a village visit my clinic. He had already been …