How to understand different types of cancer

Before a person can understand the various types of cancer, they must first know what cancer is. Cancer is a medical term used to describe a disease when abnormal cells divide and invade other tissues of the body. The cancer cells are spread throughout the body through either the blood or the lymph node system.

Cancer is quite hard to understand since it is actually not one disease but several different diseases. There are over 100 types of cancer, which are all different. The main ways in which the various types of cancer are defined are related to the organ or the type of cell they begin. Examples of these would be cancer that starts out in skin in the basal cells is known as basal cell carcinoma whereas cancer found in the colon is known as colon cancer.

There are various ways in which to group cancer, which include categories such as carcinoma, which is a type of cancer that starts in the lining of an internal organ or the skin. Sarcoma, which starts in the fat, muscle, cartilage, bone or other connective tissue and even supportive tissue. Leukemia begins in the tissue that creates the blood like the blood marrow. Lymphoma or myeloma are cancer that start in the cells of the immune system. Central nervous system cancers start in the tissue of the spinal cord and brain.

Carcinoma

Carcinoma is often seen on the lining of the stomach, liver, and even the skin. These are often tumors; however, the abnormal cells that created the tumor can and do spread to organs and create other tumors often called spots. A few of the most common carcinoma cancers include epithelial, carcinoma of the prostate, renal cell carcinoma, adenoma, and gastrinoma to name a few.

Sarcoma

Sarcoma is similar to carcinoma as to the way in which this type of cancer is named due to the location of the cancer. Since this category of cancer is derived in the bone, cartilage, or soft tissue, some of the names given to the cancer include chondrosarcoma since it starts in the cartilage, osteosarcoma begins in the bone, and leiomyosarcoma starts in the smooth muscle. A few of the common types of sarcoma include Lymphosarcoma, Askin's Tumor, and fibrosarcoma along with the ones mentioned above.

Leukemia

The four types of leukemia include acute, which is the fastest growing, chronic which worsens slowly, lymphocytic leukemia, which fights the white blood cells that controls the body's immune system, and myelogenous leukemia that attacks the white blood cells in the bone marrow.

Lymphoma

Lymphoma Cancer is another cancer that attacks the white blood cells that controls the body's immune system but in a different way than leukemia. This type of cancer often begins in the lymph nodes instead of the bone marrow. A few of the lymphoma cancers include true histiocytic lymphoma, peripheral T-cell lymphoma, and mantle cell lymphoma.

Central Nervous System

In most cases, cancer cells develop tumors in the brain or the spinal cord. These are often referred to as brain tumors.