Cancer Care: Causes, Staging, Treatment, and Side Effects

Introduction to Cancer

In recent years, cancer has developed into one of the leading causes of death across the globe. The disease can be described as the uncontrolled growth or development of abnormal cells in the body; these abnormal cells are also known as malignant cells. Since cells are the building blocks of humans and other living organisms, cancer develops out of normal cells within the body. Typically, normal cells multiply when needed by the body and die when the body no longer requires them. When the growth of cells is out of control and cells divide too rapidly, cancer occurs. Cancer also develops when cells in the body lose the ability to die naturally.

Causes and Symptoms of Cancer

There are many kinds of cancer because the disease can develop in nearly every tissue or organ, including the skin, bones, colon, lungs, nerve tissue, and breast. As a result of this diversity, cancer has many known causes, including obesity, excessive exposure to sunlight, excess alcohol consumption, viral infections, radiation, genetic problems, and environmental toxins. Despite this, the cause of several cancers remains unknown. According to the National Library of Medicine, the most common cause of cancer-related deaths is lung cancer (Dugdale & Zieve, 2010).

The symptoms of cancer are largely dependent on the location and type of the disease, and certain types may not exhibit any symptoms at all. For instance, chest pain, shortness of breath, and coughing are symptoms of lung cancer, while colon cancer typically causes constipation, diarrhea, and blood in the stool. In some cancers, such as pancreatic cancer, symptoms do not usually appear until the disease has reached an advanced stage. Some of the most common symptoms across many types of cancer include fatigue, chills, malaise, fever, loss of appetite, weight loss, and night sweats.

Diagnosis and Staging of Cancer

While the signs of cancer vary depending on the location and type of tumor, the most common diagnostic tests include biopsy of the tumor, complete blood count, bone marrow biopsy, blood tests, CT scan, MRI scan, and chest X-ray. Most cancers are diagnosed by biopsy, which may be a straightforward procedure or a more complex operation depending on the location of the tumor. Many patients also undergo CT scans to determine the precise size and location of the tumor or tumors.

During the diagnosis process, it is important for the patient to discuss the size, type, and location of the cancer with the doctor, as a cancer diagnosis can be difficult to cope with. Patients are encouraged to ask about treatment options along with their associated risks and benefits. Given the emotional difficulty of receiving a cancer diagnosis, patients may benefit from having a trusted person present to help them navigate the conversation and ask questions when needed.

Cancer staging is the process by which doctors determine how much cancer is present in a person's body and where it is located. Doctors use information from staging to plan the course of treatment and to assess a patient's prognosis. Cancers at similar stages tend to share comparable outlooks and are generally treated in similar ways. Staging describes the severity of an individual's cancer based on the extent of the primary tumor and whether the disease has spread to other parts of the body.

In addition to guiding treatment planning and prognosis estimation, cancer staging is important for identifying appropriate clinical trials for individual patients. It also helps healthcare providers and researchers exchange information using a common terminology, evaluate the outcomes of medical trials, and compare results across studies. Staging is based on knowledge of how the disease progresses and incorporates several key elements: the site of the primary tumor, tumor size and number, the presence of metastasis, lymph node involvement, and cell type and tumor grade ("Cancer Staging," 2010).

The most commonly used staging system is the TNM system, which is based on the extent of the tumor (T), spread to the lymph nodes (N), and the presence of distant metastasis (M). In this system, a number is added to each letter to indicate the size of the primary tumor and the extent of cancer spread. Although the type of cancer determines which tests are used for staging, common procedures include physical exams, laboratory tests, imaging studies, surgical reports, and pathology tests.

Complications of Cancer

For cancer patients, the complications associated with the disease can be inconvenient, painful, life-changing, and even fatal. These complications vary depending on the patient's overall health and the stage of the tumor. Because of this variety, many adjuvant therapies and alternative medications focus on reducing complications — particularly by minimizing the physical and emotional distress they cause. These complications can be broadly classified into three major categories: physical, mental and emotional, and metastatic complications.

Among physical complications, the most common source of distress is pain, which originates from the growth and spread of the tumor into surrounding tissues and the pressure it exerts on nearby nerves. Physical pain in cancer is classified into three categories: somatic pain, which affects the skin, bone, or muscle; visceral pain, caused by damage to organ tissue; and neuropathic pain, which originates from injury to the central nervous system ("Cancer Complications," n.d.). Other physical complications include fever, hypercalcemia, lymphedema, nausea and vomiting, malignant pleural effusion, sexual dysfunction, and pruritus. While some of these complications improve with treatment, others may require additional medication or therapy.

Mental and emotional complications arise in response to both the diagnosis and the treatment of cancer. Cancer patients face an increased risk of developing mood disorders such as anxiety and major depression. Some patients develop mood disorders that require professional treatment when their emotional difficulties begin to interfere with their ability to lead a productive life or adhere to their treatment regimen.

Metastasis is among the most dangerous complications of cancer. It involves the spread of cancerous cells through the lymphatic system or bloodstream from one part of the body to another. This complication is responsible for the majority of cancer-related deaths due to its impact on vital organs such as the bones, lungs, brain, and liver. Metastatic cancer is increasingly difficult to treat and significantly reduces the likelihood of complete recovery.