Cancer is a cluster of loads of associated diseases that begin in cells, the body's essential element of existence. To appreciate cancer, it is obliging to be acquainted with what happens when ordinary cells become cancerous.
The body is made up of a lot of types of cells. Normally, cells produce and split to create more cells only when the body wants them. This arranged procedure help maintain the body vigorous. Sometimes, however, cells keep dividing when new-fangled cells are not required. These superfluous cells form a mass of tissue, called a growth or tumor.
“Tumors can be benign or malignant”. (Willis, 2001) Benign tumors are not cancer. They can often be removed and, in most cases, they do not come back. Cells from benign tumors do not spread to other parts of the body. Most important, benign tumors are rarely a threat to life. Malignant tumors are cancer. Cells in these tumors are abnormal and divide without control or order. They can invade and damage nearby tissues and organs. Also, cancer cells can break away from a malignant tumor and enter the bloodstream or the lymphatic system. That is how cancer spreads from the original cancer site to form new tumors in other organs. The spread of cancer is called metastasis.
Leukemia and lymphoma are cancers that arise in blood-forming cells. The abnormal cells circulate in the bloodstream and lymphatic system. They may also invade infiltrate body organs and form tumors.
Most cancers are named for the organ or type of cell in which they begin. For example, cancer that begins in the lung is lung cancer, and cancer that begins in cells in the skin known as melanocytes is called melanoma.
When cancer spreads metastasizes, cancer cells are often found in nearby or regional lymph nodes sometimes called lymph glands.
