photodynamic

Cancer begins in your cells, which are the building blocks of your body. Normally, your body forms new cells as you need them, replacing old cells that die. Sometimes this process goes wrong. New cells grow even when you don't need them, and old cells don't die when they should. These extra cells can form a mass called a tumor. Tumors can be benign or malignant. Benign tumors aren't cancer while malignant ones are. Cells from malignant tumors can invade nearby tissues. They can also break away and spread to other parts of the body.

Cancer is not just one disease but many diseases. There are more than 100 different types of cancer. Most cancers are named for where they start. For example, lung cancer starts in the lung, and breast cancer starts in the breast. The spread of cancer from one part of the body to another is called metastasis. Symptoms and treatment depend on the cancer type and how advanced it is. Most treatment plans may include surgery, radiation and/or chemotherapy. Some may involve hormone therapy, immunotherapy or other types of biologic therapy, or stem cell transplantation.

NIH: National Cancer Institute

Lung cancer is cancer that forms in tissues of the lung, usually in the cells that line the air passages. It is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women.

There are two main types: small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. These two types grow differently and are treated differently. Non-small cell lung cancer is the more common type.

Lung cancer can affect anyone, but there are certain factors that raise your risk of getting it:

• Smoking. This is the most important risk factor for lung cancer. Tobacco smoking causes about 9 out of 10 cases of lung cancer in men and about 8 out of 10 cases of lung cancer in women. The earlier in life you start smoking, the longer you smoke, and the more cigarettes you smoke per day, the greater your risk of lung cancer. The risk is also greater if you smoke a lot and drink alcohol every day or take beta carotene supplements. If you have quit smoking, your risk will be lower than if you had kept smoking. But you will still have a higher risk than people who never smoked.
• Secondhand smoke, which is the combination of smoke that comes from a cigarette and smoke breathed out by a smoker. When you inhale it, you are exposed to the same cancer-causing agents as smokers, although in smaller amounts.
• Family history of lung cancer
• Being exposed to asbestos, arsenic, chromium, beryllium, nickel, soot, or tar in the workplace
• Being exposed to radiation, such as from
  • Radiation therapy to the breast or chest
  • Radon in the home or workplace
  • Certain imaging tests such as CT scans
• HIV infection
• Air pollution

Sometimes lung cancer does not cause any signs or symptoms. It may be found during a chest x-ray done for another condition.

If you do have symptoms, they may include:

• Chest pain or discomfort
• A cough that doesn't go away or gets worse over time
• Trouble breathing
• Wheezing
• Blood in sputum (mucus coughed up from the lungs)
• Hoarseness
• Loss of appetite
• Weight loss for no known reason
• Fatigue
• Trouble swallowing
• Swelling in the face and/or veins in the neck

Your health care provider may use many tools to make a diagnosis:

• A medical history, which includes asking about your symptoms
• A family history
• A physical exam
• Certain imaging tests, such as a chest x-ray or chest CT scans
• Lab tests, including tests of your blood and sputum
• A biopsy of the lung

If you do have lung cancer, your provider will do other tests to find out how far it has spread through the lungs, lymph nodes, and the rest of the body. This is called staging. Knowing the type and stage of lung cancer you have helps your provider decide what kind of treatment you need.

For most patients with lung cancer, current treatments do not cure the cancer.

Your treatment will depend on which type of lung cancer you have, how far it has spread, your overall health, and other factors. You may get more than one type of treatment.

The treatments for small cell lung cancer include:

• Surgery
• Chemotherapy
• Radiation therapy
• Immunotherapy
• Laser therapy, which uses a laser beam to kill cancer cells
• Endoscopic stent placement. An endoscope is a thin, tube-like instrument used to look at tissues inside the body. It may be used to put in a device called a stent. The stent helps to open an airway that has been blocked by abnormal tissue.

The treatments for non-small cell lung cancer include:

• Surgery
• Radiation therapy
• Chemotherapy
• Targeted therapy, which uses drugs or other substances that attack specific cancer cells with less harm to normal cells
• Immunotherapy
• Laser therapy
• Photodynamic therapy (PDT), which uses a medicine and a certain type of laser light to kill cancer cells
• Cryosurgery, which uses an instrument to freeze and destroy abnormal tissue
• Electrocautery, a treatment that uses a probe or needle heated by an electric current to destroy abnormal tissue

Avoiding the risk factors may help to prevent lung cancer:

• Quitting smoking. If you don't smoke, don't start.
• Lower your exposure to hazardous substances at work
• Lower your exposure to radon. Radon tests can show whether your home has high levels of radon. You can buy a test kit yourself or hire a professional to do the test.

NIH: National Cancer Institute

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States. The two most common types are basal cell cancer and squamous cell cancer. They usually form on the head, face, neck, hands, and arms. Another type of skin cancer, melanoma, is more dangerous but less common.

Anyone can get skin cancer, but it is more common in people who :

• Spend a lot of time in the sun or have been sunburned
• Have light-colored skin, hair and eyes
• Have a family member with skin cancer
• Are over age 50

You should have your doctor check any suspicious skin markings and any changes in the way your skin looks. Treatment is more likely to work well when cancer is found early. If not treated, some types of skin cancer cells can spread to other tissues and organs. Treatments include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy (PDT), and biologic therapy. PDT uses a drug and a type of laser light to kill cancer cells. Biologic therapy boosts your body's own ability to fight cancer.

NIH: National Cancer Institute