dictionary

Your anus is the opening at the end of your large intestine. It is where stool (poop) leaves your body. The anus is formed partly from your outer layers of skin and partly from your intestine. Anal cancer is a type of cancer that forms in the tissues of your anus.

Anyone can get anal cancer, but you are more likely to develop it if you:

• You have an infection with high-risk HPV, especially if you have certain types. Most anal cancers are related to HPV infection.
• Have a weakened immune system, from conditions such as HIV or because of medicines you need to take after an organ transplant.
• Have had vulvar, vaginal, or cervical cancer.
• Have many sexual partners.
• Have anal sex.
• Smoke cigarettes.

The signs and symptoms of anal cancer may include:

• Bleeding from the anus or rectum
• A lump near the anus
• Pain or pressure in the area around the anus
• Itching or discharge from the anus
• A change in bowel habits, such as narrower stools, having to go more often, or bowel incontinence

To find out if you have anal cancer, your provider:

• Will take your medical history, which includes asking about your symptoms.
• Will ask about your family health history.
• May do a digital rectal examination (DRE). A DRE is an exam of the anus and rectum. For the exam, your provider will insert a lubricated, gloved finger into the lower part of your rectum to feel for lumps or anything else that seems unusual.
• May order tests that examine the anus and rectum, such as:
  • An anoscopy, an exam of the anus and lower rectum using a short, lighted tube called an anoscope. There is also a type of anoscopy called a high-resolution anoscopy. It uses a special magnifying device called a colposcope along with the anoscope to view these areas.
  • A proctoscopy, a procedure to look inside the rectum and anus using a thin, tube-like instrument with a light and a lens.
  • An endo-anal or endorectal ultrasound, a procedure in which an ultrasound probe is inserted into the rectum.
• May do a biopsy during an anoscopy or proctoscopy.

The treatments for anal cancer include radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and surgery. Which treatment you get will depend on how advanced the cancer is, your overall health, and your preferences.

You may be able to lower your risk of getting anal cancer by getting an HPV vaccine and not smoking. Contact your provider if you need help quitting smoking.

It is currently not known if using condoms can prevent anal HPV infections. But using latex condoms every time you have sex can help prevent HIV, a risk factor for anal cancer. And they also help prevent other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). If your or your partner is allergic to latex, you can use polyurethane condoms.

If you are an adult with HIV, it's important to get an anal cancer screening every year. The screening checks for anything that seems unusual, such as lumps, burning, and precancer cells (cells that could turn into cancer). The screening will include a digital rectal exam. If anything unusual is found, you will have an anoscopy or high resolution anoscopy.

Tumors are abnormal growths in your body. They can be either benign or malignant. Benign tumors aren't cancer. Malignant ones are. Benign tumors grow only in one place. They cannot spread or invade other parts of your body. Even so, they can be dangerous if they press on vital organs, such as your brain.

Tumors are made up of extra cells. Normally, cells grow and divide to form new cells as your body needs them. When cells grow old, they die, and new cells take their place. Sometimes, this process goes wrong. New cells form when your body does not need them, and old cells do not die when they should. These extra cells can divide without stopping and may form tumor.

Treatment often involves surgery. Benign tumors usually don't grow back.

NIH: National Cancer Institute

The bladder is a hollow organ in your lower abdomen that stores urine. Bladder cancer occurs in the lining of the bladder. It is the sixth most common type of cancer in the United States.

Symptoms include:

• Blood in your urine
• A frequent urge to urinate
• Pain when you urinate
• Low back pain

Risk factors for developing bladder cancer include smoking and exposure to certain chemicals in the workplace. People with a family history of bladder cancer or who are older, white, or male have a higher risk.

Treatments for bladder cancer include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and biologic therapy. Biologic therapy boosts your body's own ability to fight cancer.

NIH: National Cancer Institute

A brain tumor is a growth of abnormal cells in the tissues of the brain. Brain tumors can be benign, with no cancer cells, or malignant, with cancer cells that grow quickly. Some are primary brain tumors, which start in the brain. Others are metastatic, and they start somewhere else in the body and move to the brain.

Brain tumors can cause many symptoms. Some of the most common are:

• Headaches, often in the morning
• Nausea and vomiting
• Changes in your ability to talk, hear, or see
• Problems with balance or walking
• Problems with thinking or memory
• Feeling weak or sleepy
• Changes in your mood or behavior
• Seizures

Doctors diagnose brain tumors by doing a neurologic exam and tests including an MRI, CT scan, and biopsy. Treatment options include watchful waiting, surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy. Targeted therapy uses drugs or other substances that attack cancer cells with less harm to normal cells. Many people get a combination of treatments.

NIH: National Cancer Institute

Breast cancer is a cancer that starts in breast tissue. It happens when cells in the breast change and grow out of control. The cells usually form a tumor.

Sometimes the cancer does not spread any further. This is called "in situ." If the cancer spreads outside the breast, the cancer is called "invasive." It may just spread to nearby tissues and lymph nodes. Or the cancer may metastasize (spread to other parts of the body) through the lymph system or the blood.

Breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer in women in the United States. Rarely, it can also affect men.

There are different types of breast cancer. The types are based on which breast cells turn into cancer. The types include:

• Ductal carcinoma, which begins in the cells of the ducts. This is the most common type.
• Lobular carcinoma, which begins in the lobules. It is more often found in both breasts than other types of breast cancer.
• Inflammatory breast cancer, in which cancer cells block lymph vessels in the skin of the breast. The breast becomes warm, red, and swollen. This is a rare type.
• Paget's disease of the breast, which is a cancer involving the skin of the nipple. It usually also affects the darker skin around the nipple. It is also rare.

Breast cancer happens when there are changes in the genetic material (DNA). Often, the exact cause of these genetic changes is unknown.

But sometimes these genetic changes are inherited, meaning that you are born with them. Breast cancer that is caused by inherited genetic changes is called hereditary breast cancer.

There are also certain genetic changes that can raise your risk of breast cancer, including changes in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. These two changes also raise your risk of ovarian and other cancers.

Besides genetics, your lifestyle and the environment can affect your risk of breast cancer.

The factors that raise your risk of breast cancer include:

• Older age
• History of breast cancer or benign (noncancer) breast disease
• Inherited risk of breast cancer, including having BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene changes
• Dense breast tissue
• A reproductive history that leads to more exposure to the estrogen hormone, including
  • Menstruating at an early age
  • Being at an older age when you first gave birth or never having given birth
  • Starting menopause at a later age
• Taking hormone therapy for symptoms of menopause
• Radiation therapy to the breast or chest
• Obesity
• Drinking alcohol

The signs and symptoms of breast cancer include:

• A new lump or thickening in or near the breast or in the armpit.
• A change in the size or shape of the breast.
• A dimple or puckering in the skin of the breast. It may look like the skin of an orange.
• A nipple turned inward into the breast.
• Nipple discharge other than breast milk. The discharge might happen suddenly, be bloody, or happen in only one breast.
• Scaly, red, or swollen skin in the nipple area or the breast
• Pain in any area of the breast.

Your health care provider may use many tools to diagnose breast cancer and figure out which type you have:

• A physical exam, including a clinical breast exam (CBE). This involves checking for any lumps or anything else that seems unusual with the breasts and armpits.
• A medical history.
• Imaging tests, such as a mammogram, an ultrasound, or an MRI.
• Breast biopsy.
• Blood chemistry tests, which measure different substances in the blood, including electrolytes, fats, proteins, glucose (sugar), and enzymes. Some of the specific blood chemistry tests include a basic metabolic panel (BMP), a comprehensive metabolic panel (CMP), and an electrolyte panel.

If these tests show that you have breast cancer, you will have tests that study the cancer cells. These tests help your provider decide which treatment would be best for you. The tests may include:

• Genetic tests for genetic changes such as in the BRCA and TP53 genes.
• HER2 test. HER2 is a protein involved with cell growth. It is on the outside of all breast cells. If your breast cancer cells have more HER2 than normal, they can grow more quickly and spread to other parts of the body.
• An estrogen and progesterone receptor test. This test measures the amount of estrogen and progesterone (hormones) receptors in cancer tissue. If there are more receptors than normal, the cancer is called estrogen and/or progesterone receptor positive. This type of breast cancer may grow more quickly.

Another step is staging the cancer. Staging involves doing tests to find out whether the cancer has spread within the breast or to other parts of the body. The tests may include other diagnostic imaging tests and a sentinel lymph node biopsy. This biopsy is done to see whether the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes.

Treatments for breast cancer include:

• Surgery such as
  • A mastectomy, which removes the whole breast
  • A lumpectomy to remove the cancer and some normal tissue around it, but not the breast itself
• Radiation therapy
• Chemotherapy
• Hormone therapy, which blocks cancer cells from getting the hormones they need to grow
• Targeted therapy, which uses drugs or other substances that attack specific cancer cells with less harm to normal cells
• Immunotherapy

You may be able to help prevent breast cancer by making healthy lifestyle changes such as:

• Staying at a healthy weight
• Limiting alcohol use
• Getting enough exercisee
• Limiting your exposure to estrogen by
  • Breastfeeding your babies if you can
  • Limiting hormone therapy

If you are at high risk, your health care provider may suggest that you take certain medicines to lower the risk. Some women at very high risk may decide to get a mastectomy (of their healthy breasts) to prevent breast cancer.

It's also important to get regular mammograms. They may be able to identify breast cancer in the early stages, when it is easier to treat.

NIH: National Cancer Institute

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

You have many choices to make about your cancer treatment. One choice you might be thinking about is complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). CAM is the term for medical products and practices that are not part of standard care. Examples of CAM therapies are acupuncture, chiropractic, and herbal medicines.

People with cancer may use CAM to:

• Help cope with the side effects of cancer treatments
• Ease worries of cancer treatment and related stress
• Feel that they are doing something more to help their own care

CAM treatments do not work for everyone. Some methods, such as acupuncture, might help with nausea, pain and other side effects of cancer treatment. Talk to your doctor to make sure that all aspects of your cancer care work together.

NIH: National Cancer Institute

Cancer chemotherapy is a type of cancer treatment. It uses medicines to destroy cancer cells.

Normally, the cells in your body grow and die in a controlled way. Cancer cells keep growing without control. Chemotherapy works by killing the cancer cells, stopping them from spreading, or slowing their growth.

Chemotherapy is used to:

• Treat cancer by curing the cancer, lessening the chance it will return, or stopping or slowing its growth.
• Ease cancer symptoms by shrinking tumors that are causing pain and other problems.

Chemotherapy does not just destroy cancer cells. It can also harm some healthy cells, which causes side effects.

You may have a lot of side effects, some side effects, or none at all. It depends on the type and amount of chemotherapy you get and how your body reacts.

Some common side effects are:

• Mouth sores
• Fatigue
• Nausea and vomiting
• Pain
• Hair loss

There are ways to prevent or control some side effects. Talk with your health care provider about how to manage them. Healthy cells usually recover after chemotherapy is over, so most side effects gradually go away.

You may get chemotherapy in a hospital or at home, a doctor's office, or a medical clinic. You might be given the medicines by mouth, in a shot, as a cream, through a catheter, or intravenously (by IV).

Your treatment plan will depend on the type of cancer you have, which chemotherapy medicines are used, the treatment goals, and how your body responds to the medicines.

Chemotherapy may be given alone or with other treatments. You may get treatment every day, every week, or every month. You may have breaks between treatments so that your body has a chance to build new healthy cells.

NIH: National Cancer Institute

Cancer is a group of related diseases. In all types of cancer, some of the body's cells begin to divide without stopping and spread into surrounding tissues.

Normally, new cells form as you need them, replacing old cells that die. Sometimes, this process goes wrong. New cells form when you don't need them, and old cells don't die when they should. The extra cells can form a tumor. Tumors can be benign or malignant. Benign tumors aren't cancer. Malignant tumors are cancer, and the cancer cells can spread to nearby tissues. They can also break away and spread to other parts of the body.

Children can get cancer in the same parts of the body as adults, but there are differences. Childhood cancers may happen suddenly, without early symptoms. Some types can often be cured. The most common children's cancer is leukemia. Some of the other more common types of cancer in children include brain tumors, lymphoma, and soft tissue sarcoma.

Symptoms and treatment depend on the type of cancer and how advanced it is. Treatments may include:

• Surgery
• Radiation therapy
• Chemotherapy
• Stem cell transplants
• Targeted therapy, which uses drugs or other substances that attack specific cancer cells with less harm to normal cells

NIH: National Cancer Institute

The cervix is the lower part of the uterus, the place where a baby grows during pregnancy. Cervical cancer is caused by a virus called HPV. The virus spreads through sexual contact. Most women's bodies are able to fight HPV infection. But sometimes the virus leads to cancer. You're at higher risk if you smoke, have had many children, use birth control pills for a long time, or have HIV infection.

Cervical cancer may not cause any symptoms at first. Later, you may have pelvic pain or bleeding from the vagina. It usually takes several years for normal cells in the cervix to turn into cancer cells. Your health care provider can find abnormal cells by doing a Pap test to examine cells from the cervix. You may also have an HPV test. If your results are abnormal, you may need a biopsy or other tests. By getting regular screenings, you can find and treat any problems before they turn into cancer.

Treatment may include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or a combination. The choice of treatment depends on the size of the tumor, whether the cancer has spread and whether you would like to become pregnant someday.

Vaccines can protect against several types of HPV, including some that can cause cancer.

NIH: National Cancer Institute