The human body has cells designed to reproduce and replace older cells as our body grows or ages, and there are mechanisms in these cells that ensure that this process is carried out without errors. When there are errors in this process, cells can multiply uncontrollably and that is how cancer develops. There are multiple specific risk factors for a certain type of cancer, although in most cases environmental and genetic factors are involved; that is, the different carcinogens are generally not capable of generating cancer on their own, but genetic predisposition is also required. A very palpable case is tobacco. There are people who smoke all their lives without developing cancer, while other people will develop one of the many neoplasms associated with smoking, only after having smoked for a few years.
Cancer is the third cause of death in the country and one in eight deaths is caused by this disease, according to the Inegi. The malignant tumors with the highest mortality in men are prostate, lung and colon, while in women they are breast, cervical and colon cancer.
Early detection and treatment are the only chance to completely cure cancer. There are various programs for the early detection of cancer (prostate, colon, breast and cervical uterine), see your family doctor for more information, especially if there is a history of cancer in your close family.
As always, the best medicine is prevention, avoiding tobacco, excessive alcohol and being overweight is a fundamental part of cancer prevention. Other strategies, such as vaccination against the human papilloma virus or hepatitis B, have also been shown to be very useful in cancer prevention.
There are other types of neoplasms for which there are no detection programs and therefore when they are diagnosed they are already in advanced stages and cure is very unlikely. In addition to chemotherapy and radiation therapy, drugs that help the immune system defend itself against cancer are currently available or in the testing phase, and the future of the fight against cancer is bright. The Greeks used the word karkinos or carcinus (meaning crab) to describe cancer because of the resemblance crabs had to prominent blood vessels in certain tumors.
#immortality #crab