What cancer can women have? The most dangerous types of cancer. Classifications and stages

Why do people fly into space, entangled the entire planet with communication and create digital universes, but have not learned how to properly cure some stupid disease.

Matvey Vologzhanin

Let's dot the i's: we will all die of cancer - except for those who do not have time to live to see it. Now, enriched with this soothing knowledge, let us turn our gaze to that gloomy valley where souls dwell, tormented by terrible claws. Well, that is, let's try to understand why cancer has become such a black seamy side of our happy life in the 21st century.

Where does the cancer come from?

Sometimes there is a feeling that the cancer has broken off the chain. Everyone is sick with it: movie stars, governors, athletes, top bloggers and your own classmate. This was not the case before: in childhood and early adolescence, you did not know a single person with this diagnosis, in books and movies, heroes died from anything - from tuberculosis, a broken leg, explosions in space and being bitten by poisonous chipmunks, but none of them got sick cancer. In any case, he did not admit it. What is happening now is some kind of tent of the plague, in which everyone is sick.

In social networks, half of the feed is full of re-posts with requests for help; any obituary seen on the news tells of how a celebrity fought this damn disease; a rare show does without a character with a shaved head on a skinny neck and droppers sticking out of all other parts of the body. Inevitably, you begin to think about the spoiled ecology, harmful cell phones and all this chemistry in cutlets.

In fact, oncological diseases have always been one of the main causes of natural deaths - both in humans and in most higher animals. Cancer will soon come out on top in the top causes of death in the world, but only because now they are much better than before, they are able to cope with its main competitor - cardiovascular diseases. And those who did not die of a stroke or heart attack will be able to survive to cancer.

Such a miserable, absolutely disproportionate presence of this disease in the cultural and intellectual life of mankind until the beginning of the 21st century is explained by a single reason, which, however, can be called differently. Fear. Disgust. Doom. Until now, cancer is, in a large number of cases, a death sentence with a short delay in execution.

People just didn't want to read and watch too much about him. The USSR went farthest in this matter.

For all the love of the Soviet ideology for death in its military and heroic incarnations, oncological problems were deemed to be slanderous, untimely and, using the official term of the Soviet censorship, had “uncontrollable implications”. That is, the public, reading about a sick girl, can uncontrollably create in their head a subtext that life in a socialist state has not become better for everyone and is not always more fun. So the word "cancer" was absolutely forbidden. Solzhenitsyn's Cancer Ward, in which the writer talks about his experience in fighting the disease, was considered anti-Soviet no worse than the Gulag Archipelago. But the Soviet children's writer Anatoly Aleksin in a book about doctors "Call and Come" boldly described the forbidden disease - however, he called it exclusively "the same" and "this", for the whole story he never called it by name. By the way, the character who was ill with “the same” just turned out to be “not that”. It turned out to be a legitimate happy ending *.

People just didn't want to read and watch too much about him. The USSR went farthest in this matter. At the same time, oncology in the USSR developed quite actively, research was carried out, the effectiveness grew, the most interesting articles were published. But only these articles were usually stored in closed sections of medical libraries, where admission was mainly by passes, especially if there was a lot of statistics in the work.

Cancer buildings were hiding behind high fences, the sick were fenced off from the healthy, and the healthy could ride like serene sheep on the lawn, not guessing what the sound of a cleaver being sharpened from behind the fence meant.

Even publicity did not influence the situation too much for the reason described above: the vast majority of people did not want to think about cancer. And then everyone had to think about cancer.

There were two reasons:

a) the Internet;

b) the prohibitive cost of many types of new drugs and equipment.

And cancer patients, instead of quietly but habitually staying out of the public eye, went to beg around the world. Ask for help. Demand money. Keep diaries with stories: "In the morning I was preparing for the eleventh chemistry, and my son asked:" Dad, you won't die before my birthday? " Sobering reading. They burst here with an army of pale horses of the apocalypse - emaciated children and bald singers, one-breasted Amazons and criminal Walter Whites. And the world shuddered at the scale of the problem.

And you shuddered with him. And so it doesn't get much cancer anymore. But also less, unfortunately.

Cancer statistics

■ Every fiftieth inhabitant of our planet currently has cancer. 80% of these people will die within five years. 20% will recover, but they will wait for a relapse all their lives. Although, of course, the statistics vary enormously from one diagnosis to another: there are types of cancer with almost one hundred percent probability of cure, and there are those with a probability that is slightly different from zero.

■ The most common type of cancer is lung cancer. In second place is stomach cancer. The third place is shared by the prostate in men and the mammary gland in women (the most important thing beats, infection!).

■ Although adults and children, and even unborn embryos, have cancer, the likelihood of the disease increases with age, and after sixty we enter the zone of maximum risk. True, older people often develop cancer more slowly than younger people, and in a situation where a young man would be devoured in a few months, an older person can slowly crawl towards his sad goal for years, or even decades.

■ There are spontaneous cases of self-healing from cancer. Extremely rare. Doctors do not consider this a miracle. Doctors consider this to be a genetically determined ability of this particular immunity to destroy tumor tissues at a certain stage of the disease.

■ Cancer is getting younger. Mainly because it is better learned to diagnose it in the early stages, the population now walks to be tested more actively than twenty years ago.

■ Recently, a version has appeared, supported by some statistics, that people with the first blood group are more resistant to cancer than representatives of other groups. So far, proven research on this topic exists only in relation to pancreatic cancer, which was carried out for several years at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Boston, USA). The results were published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Indeed, among the sick people with the first blood group were disproportionately rare. The researchers attribute this to the fact that the genes responsible for the first blood group, apparently, simultaneously regulate the work of antitumor mechanisms.

What is cancer

To begin with, there is no cancer at all. This is a fictitious, incorrect, harmful term (the equivalent of which, however, is found in many other languages). We use it because we are an irresponsible entertainment magazine that, for some reason, undertook to write about cancer. That is, about these ... oncological diseases. Although this is also not true. In fact, malignant neoplasms are hundreds of different diseases. And we, perhaps, completely in vain consider them as something unified and because of this greatly inhibit their study.

Quite simply, cancer is an independent behavior of a group of cells that begin to play against the rules. Sharing uncontrollably. They grow outside of any framework. Produce offspring throughout the body. They become immortal and invulnerable. Make friends with viruses that should have been kept out of the door. And so on, depending on the type and type of disease.

As a result of this self-activity, the body receives such damage to all organs and tissues that it ceases to function.

Why this happens is generally understandable. Cells generally love to multiply, many of them still recall with nostalgia about their independent existence outside the colonies. And only brutal genetic laws and the immune police can somehow keep them in check. But not all and not always.

There are many reasons why such riots occur, and only in recent decades have scientists stopped looking for a common theory of origin for all cancers at once.

Here they can play a role in various combinations:

■ genetic disorders;

■ heredity (well, many rats are destined to die of cancer at 3 years old, dogs - at 15, and people - at 70);

■ viruses or bacteria;

■ various chemicals entering the body in excessive or insufficient doses;

■ mechanical and chemical damage to tissues;

■ metabolic disorders ...

■ and devils in a mortar.

Studying all this is excitingly interesting, but in a practical sense, it is not unrestrainedly effective, because there is no simple and intelligible answer (cancer is caused by green peas and the cries of seagulls) and will not be.

Precisely because the reasons for any case are always more complex, enormous and varied than, for example, the reasons for the Syrian conflict. The good news is that people are a little better at treating cancer than at solving tangled geopolitical problems.

All methods of treatment, one way or another, are reduced to the following scheme.

■ Kill all crazed cells. They are usually far more vulnerable to poisons and radiation than docile loyal cells — such is the price to be paid for independence.

■ Remove semi-dead tumor if needed.

■ Finish off refugees, possibly rushing about the body in search of a new home. And all this time, make sure that this organism does not order to live long from such treatment.

Cancer and speculation

Just as there is no way to avoid cancer, there are no guaranteed ways to get it. Even radiation sickness after a powerful dose of radiation may not lead to the appearance of malignant neoplasms. What can we say about smoking, stress, sunburn and unhealthy diet. The greatest predicted risk (if you do not take the same radiation sickness) is the presence in the closest family history of oncological problems on both sides, but even here you can stay with your nose and die in a hundred years from boring peritonitis without a history of chemotherapy. However, even the most impeccably healthy lifestyle, to be honest, does not give serious statistical bonuses.

So, if they scare you with cancer, do not really believe, but also do not believe in a panacea for healthy lifestyles. On the other hand, if, fleeing from cancer, doing gymnastics, monitoring diet and exercise and minimizing bad habits, then you can definitely win on a much more predictable cardiovascular exchange, as well as hit the jackpot in the form of reducing the risk of diabetes tenfold. ...

Why are drugs so expensive?

Not because they are made from the tears of castrated hummingbirds collected at dawn in the Andes. The most expensive thing in drugs is the cost of their development, which can go up to a billion dollars per drug (and it still risks being unsuccessful and not reaching the consumer at all). The development basically looks like this: hundreds of people who receive a salary, for several years, go through tens of thousands of variants of molecules, checking their behavior in different environments, conditions and organisms. And yes, once the molecule has already been identified and synthesized, it can be stolen and stamped in India or Bangladesh without giving a damn about all patent systems and quality control. Or you can buy an inexpensive patent with as few options as possible and start brewing in vats a potion more or less similar to that described in the patent.

The latter two pathways are significantly less expensive and can be nearly as effective as the original. Or they may not. They are called "generics". The WHO announced in 2014 that it will support the production of generics by all means, since in poor (or not very rich) countries, only they can save people. But in developed and civilized countries it is not customary to spit on patents, and if generics are used there, then only after the expiration of the legal period of patent protection, and even then only high-quality, proven generics are allowed to be used.

It is this complexity in drug development that puts people with rare forms of cancer in a difficult position. Neither private companies nor even state research institutes are ready to invest millions and billions in creating a medicine that will be needed by only a few hundred people a year all over the planet. Therefore, funds for such research are collected by charitable foundations. But even if funds are collected, a rare disease will be studied for a longer time and the effectiveness of the drug will be lower than in the case of a popular diagnosis, simply because with a small number of patients, the basis for statistics and research is small.

So it turns out that a patient with some kind of exotic purple-spotted turnip tumor of the heel will first sell everything, starting from the apartment and ending with relatives, and then for his own money they will be sophisticatedly tortured in the research center, where he will be for a short, but painful time serve as a laboratory rat. There is no fairness here, but this is how it works today. But in ten years, you see, and the purple-spotted heel will cease to be a death sentence.

Does it make sense to be tested for tumor markers every six months?

No, there is no point in that. Testing for tumor markers is assigned, as a rule, to those patients who, according to the results of other research methods or for some other reason, have a suspicion of the presence of a tumor, or those patients who already have an oncological diagnosis (then tumor markers can help determine, for example, with treatment tactics at different stages of the disease). Only a few tumor markers have “predictive value”, for example PSA for prostate cancer. It makes sense to monitor it regularly from the age of 50.

Now - and twenty years ago ... Have we made any progress in the treatment of these diseases?

Undoubtedly! And how! The most striking example is the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children. This is a malignant blood disease, and the long-term survival rate for it in Russia in the early 90s was no more than 5–7%, and now it is 70–90%! In addition, the level of modern medicine is such that many tumors in adults can be, if not cured, then converted into a "chronic" form, that is, to heal for a long time, sometimes for many years, without worsening the quality of life of patients. This is an important aspect, because most often the treatment of oncological diseases is accompanied by various troubles like side effects. And the doctor's task is not only to prescribe effective drugs, but also to be able to manage their toxicity, to prescribe competent accompanying therapy (painkillers, antiemetics, etc.). It works much better today than it did twenty years ago. And this is also a huge success.

Is it true that the treatment in Russia is not much worse than anywhere in the world?

In Russia there are separate clinics, separate centers, where they treat in accordance with modern international standards. Unfortunately, there are very few such places. The problem is that in our country people who live in different geographic areas or belong to different social groups find themselves, in fact, in unequal conditions, have unequal access to the health care system. Therefore, in general, our country is very far behind developed countries in terms of the level of oncological care, as well as in ensuring the population's access to medical care in general. The reasons are obvious, but there are too many to list here.

How do you feel about the situation when millions are raised for the treatment of an obviously incurable patient and then in some Singapore they milk him to the last?

There have been cases (including those known to me personally) when "obviously incurable" patients recovered. And every year - with the development of anticancer therapy - there are more and more such patients. In addition, in the doctor's understanding, every human life has a value, and if the theoretical probability of survival is, for example, 5 out of 100, then we should spend money on treating everyone, because we do not know in advance who exactly will fall into this 5%. I see no other way out. In any case, it is better to spend billions on the sick than on the war.

It is said that oncologists often refuse treatment. If you received a diagnosis with a very small chance, would you treat yourself or give up?

I read that many doctors "bequeathed" not to reanimate themselves (for example, when the terminal stage of the disease occurs), but this is completely different and applies not only to oncological diseases. As for the massive refusal of treatment by oncologists, I don't think there are any statistics on this score. Personally, I would probably try to use my chance. I will not be cunning: I want to live longer, but in such a way that it does not hurt very much ...

Our bodies are made up of billions of cells. The cells are so small that we can only see them under a microscope.

Cells group together to make up the tissues and organs of our body. They are very similar, but they change in different ways, because the organs of the body are very different. For example, nerves and muscles do different things, so cells have different structures.

We can group cancers based on the type of cell in which they start. There are 5 main types:

• carcinoma - cancer that begins in the skin or in the tissues that build or cover internal organs. There are different subtypes, including adenocarcinoma, basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and transitional cell carcinoma
• sarcoma - cancer that begins in connective or supporting tissues such as bone, cartilage, fat, muscle, or blood vessels
• leukemia - cancer that starts in blood-forming tissue, such as the bone marrow, and causes abnormal blood cells to form and enter the bloodstream
• lymphomas and myelomas are cancers that start in the cells of the immune system. Open the glossary
• brain and spinal cord cancers - These are known as central nervous system cancers.

Carcinoma

Carcinomas begin in epithelial tissues. They cover the outside of the body like skin. They also cover and build all organs within the body, such as the organs of the digestive system. And they will align body cavities such as the inside of the chest cavity and abdomen.

Carcinomas are the most common type of cancer. They account for about 85 out of every 100 cancer cases (85%) in Russia ..

There are different types of epithelial cells and they can develop into different types of carcinoma. These include the following.

Squamous cell carcinoma

Squamous cell carcinoma begins in squamous cells. These are flat, surface-covering cells found in areas such as the skin or the lining of the throat or the food pipe (esophagus).

Adenocarcinoma

Adenocarcinomas start in glandular cells called adenomatous cells. Glankular cells produce fluids for tissue retention.

Transit cell carcinoma

Transitional cells are cells that can stretch as the organ expands. They make up tissues called transitional epithelium. An example is the lining of the bladder. Cancers that start in these cells are called transient cell carcinomas.

Basal cell carcinoma

Basal cells build the deepest layer of skin cells. Cancers that start in these cells are called basal cell carcinomas.

Sarcomas

Sarcomas begin in connective tissues, which are the body's supporting tissues. Connective tissues include bones, cartilage, tendons, and fibrous tissue that support organs.

Sarcomas are much less common than carcinomas. They are usually grouped into two main types:

• sarcomas of soft tissues.

Overall, they account for less than 1 in every 100 cancers (1%) diagnosed each year.

Bone sarcomas

Bone sarcomas from bone cells. As a rule, they form in the long bones. The insidiousness of this tumor lies in the fact that it affects the sarcoma of young people (from 20 to 50 years old).

Another type of sarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma, is common. This tumor only affects young children.

Soft tissue sarcomas

Soft tissue sarcomas are rare, but the most common types begin with cartilage or muscle.

Cartilage cancer

Cartilage cancer is called chondrosarcoma.

Swelling in a muscle

Muscle cell cancer is called rhabdomyosarcoma or leiomyosarcoma.

Leukemias: blood cell cancer

Leukemia is a condition in which the bone marrow makes too many white blood cells. Blood cells are not fully formed and therefore do not work properly. Abnormal cells grow in the blood.

Leukamias are uncommon and account for only 3 out of 100 cancers (3%). But they are the most common type of cancer in children.

There are different types of leukemia.

Lymphomas and myeloma

Lymphomas and myeloma are cancers of the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system is a system of tubes and glands in the body that filters body fluids and fights infection.

Lymphomas

Lymphomas begin as cells in the lymphatic system. Because the lymphatic system runs throughout the body, lymphoma can start from just about anywhere.

Some of the lymphatic systems, white blood cells (lymphocytes) start dividing abnormally and do not die as usual. These cells begin dividing before they are fully grown (mature) so that they cannot fight infection.

Abnormal lymphocytes begin to collect in lymph nodes or elsewhere, such as the bone marrow or spleen. They can then turn into tumors.

Lymphomas account for about 5 out of every 100 cancers (5%) in Russia.

Myeloma

Myeloma is also known as multiple myeloma. It is a cancer that starts in plasma cells. Plasma cells are a type of white blood cell made in the bone marrow. They produce antibodies, also called immunoglobulins, to fight infection.

Plasma cells can become abnormal, multiply uncontrollably and only make a type of antibody that does not work properly to fight infection.

Myeloma accounts for about 1 in every 100 cancer cases (1%) in Russia.

Brain and spinal cord cancer

Cancer can start in cells in the brain or spinal cord. The brain controls the body by sending electrical messages along nerve fibers. The fibers leave the brain and join together to make the spinal cord, which also receives messages from the body to the brain.

The brain and spinal cord form the central nervous system. The brain is made up of billions of nerve cells called neurons. It also contains special connective tissue cells called glial cells that support nerve cells.

The most common type of brain tumor develops from glial cells and is called glioma. Some tumors that start in the brain or spinal cord are not cancerous (benign) and grow very slowly. Others are cancerous and more likely to grow and spread.

Very often, fast-growing brain tumors are inoperable.

Tumors of the brain and spinal cord account for about 3 out of every 100 cancer cases (3%) in Russia.

Hodgkin's lymphoma

If you are around 25-30 years old, there is a danger of swollen lymph nodes. This happens most often in the chest. A tumor appears, which begins to put pressure on the internal organs and disrupts their full functioning. Over time, it spreads to the liver, spleen, lungs, and bone marrow. Surviving and recovering at an early stage of Hodgkin's lymphoma is real (91% of patients), at a late stage it is also possible (73%).

According to the US National Cancer Institute, people who have had infectious mononucleosis are more at risk of the disease. One of the first signs of an impending illness is persistently swollen lymph nodes in the throat. Cancer may not necessarily be the cause. But this is not a reason to ignore the disease. As soon as you notice, run to the surgeon or hematologist.

Testicular cancer

It affects the tissues that cover the inside of the testicular canals, in which sperm are formed. Later stages can result in metastases in the lymph nodes of the groin, as well as in the liver, brain and bones. At an early stage, up to 99% of patients survive, at a late stage - 73%. Make sure that the testicles descend into the scrotum. Otherwise, the chances of ending up with cancer are 20-40 times greater. How can a disease be detected? Doctors advise not to be shy and feel the organ. Noticed a painless nodule? Quickly to the oncologist.

Brain tumor

A brain tumor is an overgrowth of auxiliary nerve tissue, which begins to press on the entire organ. In most cases, these tumors are malignant. But apart from the brain, they no longer spread anywhere.

Survival:

• at an early stage - 65%;
• late - only 17%.

Constant headache, nausea, lethargy, loss of skin sensitivity, disturbances of consciousness, etc., are tormenting - contact a neurologist and ask for a tomography.

Source: depositphotos.com

Melanoma

Melanoma is the most dangerous form of cancer. Although it begins with the harmless degeneration of the mole, in most cases the process turns out to be malignant. Cancer cells migrate very quickly throughout the body and easily penetrate other tissues, forming metastases. It is possible to recover at an early stage (91%). But if he made it to the last, then only 15% have a chance to survive. This is because melanoma often results in cancer of the liver, lungs, bones and brain.

Basically, the disease clings to ultraviolet lovers. So don't get carried away with sunbathing on the beach or tanning beds. Melanoma is also found in blue-eyed, blondes, redheads, people with large birthmarks and those with many moles on their skin. I noticed some change with my spots (color, size, hair loss), contact a dermatologist.

Colon cancer

This disease usually develops from polyps on the walls of the colon, which are swollen with polyposis. Colon cancer metastases can reach the liver, lungs, and bones. Surviving at an early stage is real (90%), at a later stage it is more difficult (12%). Most often, the disease occurs in those who use a lot of medicines and eat a lot of animal fats. The latter are decomposed in the intestine to carcinogenic substances. Even more susceptible to colon cancer are those who lead a sedentary lifestyle and do not eat foods rich in coarse fiber. You can find out if you have this disease with the help of a gastroenterologist and colonoscopy.

Stomach cancer

The disease occurs on the wall of the stomach. Metastases quickly spread to nearby lymph nodes, affecting the esophagus, liver, pancreas, and lungs.

Survival:

• early stage - 71%;
• late stage - 4%.

The reasons are excessive consumption of too salty and smoked food, starch (potatoes) and alcohol. Also, stomach cancer can occur due to hereditary diseases, gastritis and ulcers. In the early stages, cancer is difficult to distinguish from ordinary poisoning or the same gastritis. We advise you to undergo a gastroscopy once a year. Symptoms: lack of appetite, sudden weight loss, periodic unusual mild abdominal pain.

Source: depositphotos.com

Lung cancer

Most often, the disease develops in the bronchi. The danger lies in the fact that it makes itself known after it has touched neighboring organs or reached the brain with bones. At the early stage, you have 54% to survive, at the later stage - no more than 4%. The main cause of this cancer is smoking. To detect it at an early stage, only a chest tomography or an endoscopic examination called the terrible word fibrobronchoscopy helps.

Kidney cancer

It occurs in the tissues of the canals where urine is formed. Metastases spread to the second kidney, adrenal glands, liver, lungs, brain, bones of the skull, spine and pelvis.

Survival:

• at an early stage - 90%;
• late - 11%.

Reasons: smoking, alcohol, obesity, heredity, constant overdose of analgesics and diuretics. In 25-40% of cases, it is found by chance with ultrasound or computed tomography. One of the characteristic symptoms at a far from early stage is blood in the urine, after which you will run to the urologist even without examinations.

Bladder cancer

It occurs, respectively, in the bladder itself. The first symptoms appear too late: when the disease grows through the wall of the bladder, or the tumor itself has matured and begins to bleed. Metastases can affect the lungs, liver, bones. At an early stage, 98% of patients have a chance of survival, at a late stage - only 6%.

Causes: smoking, inflammation (cystitis), bladder papilloma. It is possible to detect bladder cancer in advance using cytoscopy.

For the average person, a cancer diagnosis sounds like a sentence. In fact, the disease can be very different. Some of its types are easily detected and effectively treated. Others are rare and difficult to define, but if they show up, they will hit for sure.

Science classifies cancers depending on which system or organ they affect. In domestic medicine, cancer is only carcinoma, that is, a malignant tumor of the epithelial cells of internal organs.

Actually, the very name of the disease appeared when the ancient sage Hippocrates, studying the causes of the death of some of his compatriots, cut the affected organ and decided that the tumor found there reminded him of cancer (in Greek - karkinos). Later, the ancient Roman physician Cornelius Celsus translated the term into Latin: cancer.

Other types of ailment that do not affect the epithelium are called differently: sarcoma appears in muscles, bones and connective tissue, lymphoma affects lymph, and so on.

Blood cancer, brain cancer - these are common, but imprecise, philistine terms.

There are several dozen types of malignant tumors, if we classify them according to the affected organs and tissues. But only 12 types of cancer make up almost 70% of all oncological diseases in Russia.

Fortunately, the most common doesn't mean the deadliest. Let's talk about the first and the second, focusing on three parameters:

What are the risks of dying from a specific disease in a certain period of time, for example, a year. This rate is called mortality.

>

Open full screen

• Registered: 692,297 people
• Died in a year: 22,098 people
• Lethality: 3.0%

Lumps in the chest are common and are caused by many factors, including tumors. In most cases, neoplasms appear in the lobules of the mammary glands (cells responsible for the formation of milk) and the ducts that connect the lobules to the nipples.

The mammary gland cells, like all others, use receptors to send chemical signals to trigger the desired cellular reactions. How the receptors behave can help identify the type of breast cancer and find the most effective treatment.

Estrogen-dependent tumors

Normal mammary gland cells and some cancer cells contain receptors that can capture and attract estrogen and progesterone into the cell. Receiving hormonal nutrition, the tumor grows.

Those cancers that are formed by such cells respond well to hormone therapy. Certain drugs block receptors that take estrogen and progesterone, hormones stop entering cells, and the tumor stops growing.

Most breast cancers are just like that.

HER2-positive tumors

Other receptors that accept the HER2 (epidermal growth factor receptor) protein also stimulate cell development. The HER2-positive cancer subtype is less common but more aggressive than estrogen-dependent cancers. However, it can also be affected by certain drugs that block the HER2 protein.

In oncology, sensitivity is a good indicator. The more sensitive the neoplasm, the better the body will respond to treatment.

Three times negative subtype

If a tumor does not have any of the receptors listed above, it is called triple negative. This is the rarest of the listed types of neoplasms. These tumors spread quickly and are difficult to treat. They are more common in women with a mutation in the BRCA1 gene, which inhibits the growth of cancer cells.

• Registered: 531 981 people
• Died in a year: 5,258
• Lethality: up to 3.7%

Melanoma is not the most common, but the most dangerous type of skin cancer. In this case, a malignant tumor grows and metastasizes at a tremendous rate.

Other, non-melanoma cancers (basal cell and squamous cell) are much more common, but they are less dangerous, better treatable, and generally have better survival rates.

The best way to recognize skin cancer early is to look for new or discolored or shaped skin lesions.

You need to be especially careful about moles that are unlike others or that have changed their shape.

These signs should lead you to consult a doctor (dermatologist or oncologist):

• asymmetry (one half of the mole does not match the size of the other);
• uneven edges (rough, blurred, jagged);
• color not like others, interspersed with yellow, brown or black in a single mole;
• diameter over 6 mm;
• any changes in size, color, shape.

Superficial spreading melanoma

The most common form of melanoma (about 70% of cases). It looks like a flat or slightly convex area of ​​skin with fuzzy uneven edges that has changed color. May appear at the site of moles.

Lentiginous melanoma

It is similar to the previous type and is formed close to the surface of the skin, often from age spots. It occurs in the elderly and those who spend a lot of time in the sun.

Acrolentiginous melanoma

Appears as a black or brown spot under the nails, on the soles, palms.

Nodular melanoma

A very aggressive form. By the time of detection, as a rule, cancer has already penetrated deep into nearby tissues. This process is called invasion.

• Registered: 238,212 people
• Died in a year: 12,565 people
• Lethality: 5%

Early diagnosis of prostate cancer can be life-saving. But early detection raises a tricky question: Which is scarier - the disease or the side effects of treatment?

The fact is that many prostate tumors develop very slowly and over years, or even decades, may not cause serious problems. However, treatment sometimes leads to unwanted side effects, including incontinence and impotence.

In order not to miss the development of this type of cancer, all men after 50 years of age are advised to consult a doctor and begin an annual examination of the prostate. And if oncological diseases were found in the closest relatives, it is advisable to start regular examinations at the age of 45.

Adenocarcinoma

More than 95% of all malignant tumors of the prostate are adenocarcinomas that form from the epithelium of the gland (the root "adeno" in Greek means "gland"). But within this category, neoplastic cells take on different forms. The WHO classification describes the options: from swollen cells, colloidal, cricoid (nuclei are displaced to the periphery, so that the cells look like rings with stones). And that's not all types.

Oncologists use the Gleason classification, which is based on differentiation (that is, the degree of maturation) of cells.

The less differentiated the tumor cells, the more complex the form of cancer. Such neoplasms are assigned the fifth gradation: they are dangerous and spread quickly. Well differentiated cells receive the first grade. They look almost healthy.

Small cell carcinoma

A rare and aggressive form of prostate cancer that is difficult to detect. Unlike adenocarcinomas, it does not release the signaling marker protein, prostate-specific antigen (PSA), which is usually found in a blood test. The tumor consists of small round cells, hence the name.

Squamous cell carcinoma

This type of prostate cancer is not related to glandular tissue. Squamous cell carcinoma affects the tissues of the squamous epithelium of the prostate, and since PSA levels do not increase, it is difficult to detect it. Carcinoma is very aggressive, the average life expectancy after its detection is just over a year. Fortunately, it is rare: less than 1% of all cases of prostate cancer.

• Registered: 177 755 people
• Died in a year: 8,386
• Lethality: 5%

Almost all cancers begin in the epithelium of the tubules of the nephrons, which are the main cells of the kidneys. Unfortunately, at an early stage, the disease practically does not manifest itself. A tumor can only be detected by ultrasound of the kidney, if for some reason it is prescribed.

As the cancer progresses, symptoms appear. They usually include blood in the urine (it may be present and disappear), pain in the peritoneal region, and a lump in the kidney area that can be felt.

Kidney cancer has long been considered insensitive to chemotherapy, but researchers are gaining more and more success with drug treatments.

Until recently, any kidney cancer was classified as renal cell carcinoma. Now the disease has been divided into subcategories.

Clear cell carcinoma of the kidney

The most common type, it accounts for up to 85% of cases. It is difficult to diagnose it early on.

Papillary renal cancer

This category, in turn, is divided into two subtypes. The first accounts for up to 5% of all kidney cancer cases, the second - up to 10%. They differ in the size of the affected cells and the risk of metastases: in the first case, these cells are small, in the second - large, and more often lead to metastasis to other organs.

The first subtype is often hereditary. A mitogen (a gene that causes a tumor) is passed from parents through germ cells - gametocytes.

• Registered: 167 585 people
• Died in a year: 1,117 people
• Lethality: 0.6%

Thyroid cancer responds well to treatment. Sometimes it is found after the appearance of a lump on the throat (this is how the enlarged thyroid gland makes itself felt), sometimes - when the patient complains of difficulty swallowing, breathing, or manifested hoarseness.

Only 5% of thyroid tumors develop aggressively and threaten other organs.

Many neoplasms grow so slowly that recently they have even ceased to be considered malignant.

Most thyroid tumors do not respond to chemotherapy, but some new developments are encouraging. For example, kinase inhibitors help block an enzyme present in the formation cells. They also inhibit the growth of new blood vessels.

Differentiated tumors

About 90% of thyroid cancers are highly differentiated tumors. They are subdivided into subgroups: papillary, follicular. They are more common in women and young people and have favorable prognosis.

Medullary cancer

Sometimes it is caused by the inheritance of a mutation in the RET proto-oncogene. Patients with this condition are often advised to remove the thyroid gland. Otherwise, the chances of successful treatment are greatly reduced.

Anaplastic cancer

The most aggressive type of thyroid carcinoma. Such neoplasms grow rapidly, respond poorly to treatment, and actively metastasize to other organs.

• Registered: 128 264 people
• Died in a year: 4,946 people
• Lethality: 5.3%

Lymphoma is any malignant process that begins in the lymphatic system. Most often, the lymph nodes are affected - small oval organs that cleanse the body of debris such as viruses, bacteria and cancer cells. The nodes are connected by vessels through which not blood flows, but lymph. It is a liquid containing white blood cells called lymphocytes.

The lymphatic system removes fluid and waste products from the bloodstream. Lymphomas weaken the immune system and increase the risk of infections.

If you have swollen lymph nodes, see your doctor as soon as possible. This does not have to be lymphoma: other diseases can manifest in this way.

The lymphatic and circulatory systems are interconnected and permeate the entire body. These are the pathways that cancer uses to spread metastases.

The lymphatic system is complex, so lymphomas are complex diseases. There are a great many of their categories and subcategories, significantly different from each other.

Hodgkin's lymphoma

It starts with lymphocytes. The most common form is the classic form of Hodgkin's lymphoma, which is characterized by the appearance of giant lymphocytes. They are called Reed - Berezovsky - Sternberg cells. In 5% of cases, malignant cells are histiocytes that look like popcorn.

Most cancer cells are sensitive to DNA destruction. This is what chemotherapy is aimed at.

With the help of special substances, doctors destroy DNA strands. Affected cells cannot multiply and die.

The first FDA-approved chemotherapy for Hodgkin's lymphoma was administered in 1949. Used nitroiprite - an analogue of the chemical warfare agent mustard gas.

Other drugs are used in chemotherapy today. Moreover, they are used successfully: according to statistics, 9 out of every 10 people recover.

Non-Hodgkin lymphomas

These forms are much more varied. Many subgroups are more aggressive than the Hodgkin form. If the cells stick together, the lymphoma is called follicular (from the Latin folliculus - "sac"). Cancer cells can spread within the lymphatic tissue evenly without clumping together. In this case, it is said that the lymphoma develops in a diffuse manner.

A promising new treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphomas is based on the use of T lymphocytes. These are immune cells that are present in the blood. Geneticists work on them in laboratories to place special chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) on their surfaces. These CAR-T lymphocytes can recognize proteins by which tumor cells hide from the patient's immune system. This is a fundamental principle of immunotherapy in general: to identify cancer so that the immune system can attack it.

• Registered: 113 182 people
• Died in a year: 6,094 people
• Lethality: 4.5%

Blood in the urine is a characteristic and often the first symptom of bladder cancer. This occurs in 8 out of 10 cases of the disease, most often affecting men.

Bladder cancer often spreads to other parts of the urinary system, including the kidneys, ureters, and urethra.

And this happens even after the course of treatment.

About 95% of bladder cancers develop in the cells that line the organ from the inside. These cells - urothelium - are constantly in contact with urine and, more importantly, with substances that it removes from the body, and these are carcinogens. For example, chemical compounds contained in tobacco smoke or exhaust gases can thus trigger the development of malignant neoplasms.

This type of cancer quickly adapts to medication. Therefore, it is important to choose new treatments. For example, one of them - gene therapy - uses modified viruses that act specifically on bladder tumors. As a result, cancer cells are marked with a hormone that signals the immune system: here is the danger, this cell must be attacked and destroyed.

• Registered: 86 129 people
• Died in a year: 7,208 people
• Lethality: 6%

Most types of leukemia - as it is correct to call blood cancer - begins in hematopoietic stem cells. These cells are responsible for blood formation and are located in the bone marrow.

At an early stage, leukemia can hint at itself with signs related to blood characteristics:

• The appearance of purple and red spots on the skin. Most often, these punctate hemorrhages (petechiae) form on the chest, back, arms. The spots are small, often mistaken for a rash and ignored.
• Unusual bleeding. For example, the smallest scratch can bleed for a long time.

If these symptoms are accompanied by other signs - decreased immunity, unexplained weight loss, swollen lymph nodes, fatigue, weakness, a visit to a therapist is required.

Leukemias are classified as acute and chronic. Acutes spread quickly, chronic ones do not. Many types of chronic leukemia are well controlled and patients can live with them for years or decades.

The number of oncological diseases that can be called chronic is only growing. There are more people living with cancer today than at any other time in history.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)

It affects lymphocytes - white blood cells responsible for fighting infections. This is one of the most common blood cancers.

Recurrent CLL is difficult to get rid of: tumors become insensitive to previous treatments, especially chemotherapy.

The new type of medication should slow the spread of the disease. It aims to identify specific mutations that increase resistance to chemotherapy.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)

Children suffer from this disease more often. Standard treatment includes chemotherapy, and the five-year survival rate in juveniles is significantly higher than in adults (85% versus 50%).

>

Open full screen

• Registered: 19 837 people
• Died in a year: 18,020 people
• Lethality: 39.9%

There is no error in the numbers: the death rate from pancreatic cancer is indeed almost equal to the registered number of cases. But this speaks not so much about the aggressiveness of the disease (although it should not be written off), as about a significant underestimation of primary patients. That is, cancer is so asymptomatic that it is diagnosed either at the final stage, when it is no longer possible to help a person, or even posthumously.

Chronic pancreatitis, pancreatic adenoma or cyst can facilitate early diagnosis. These diseases can be the harbingers of cancer.

Pancreatic cancer develops slowly. It takes about 10 years for the first degenerated cancer cell to start growing aggressively. But even after that, it takes another 5-7 years for a definable tumor to form.

As soon as the first metastasis appears, the process accelerates: from that moment to the death of the patient, an average of 2.7 years pass. Unfortunately, the chances of recovery or stopping the development of the disease are small.

Adenocarcinoma

Doctors count five forms of pancreatic cancer. Adenocarcinoma, which forms from ductal epithelium, is the most common of these. It occurs in 80–85% of cancers.

Acinar cell carcinoma

In this case, neoplasms develop from cells that produce digestive enzymes - acini.

Squamous cell carcinoma and others

Squamous as well as undifferentiated cancers and cystadenocarcinomas are much less common. Like other forms of pancreatic cancer, they have a poor prognosis.

• Registered: 8 590 people
• Died in a year: 9 859 people
• Lethality: 38.4%

In this case, the situation with the diagnosis is even darker. Liver cancer is often determined either posthumously or already at the final stage, when the patient has only a few months or even weeks left.

The reason for this is the same as for pancreatic cancer. Oncological diseases of the liver most often develop almost asymptomatically.

This means that the person is not worried about anything. And when pain appears in the right side and other signs appear, medicine is already powerless.

Depending on the origin, malignant neoplasms of the liver are divided into two types.

Primary liver cancer

This type includes primarily hepatocellular carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This is the name of a malignant tumor that develops directly in the liver cells - hepatocytes.

Less common are the other three types of disease:

• cholangiocarcinomas (cholangiocellular cancer) - tumors that develop from the epithelium of the intrahepatic bile ducts;
• mixed hepatocholangiocarcinomas - they affect cells of both the liver and intrahepatic bile ducts;
• fibrolamellar carcinoma.

These types of cancer are called primary because the oncological process begins in the liver itself, and does not come into it from other organs.

Metastatic liver cancer (secondary)

Such tumors penetrate the liver with metastases - from other diseased organs. Secondary cancer occurs much more often than primary cancer, since metastases to the liver are capable of spreading almost all organs.

• Registered: 13 820 people
• Died in a year: 6,903 people
• Lethality: 29.9%

Like all the most dangerous types of cancer, this one has no symptoms in its early stages. Malignant neoplasms, developing, narrow the lumen of the esophagus. It doesn't hurt and is almost invisible. So, some difficulties with swallowing - first dense and solid food, then - semi-liquid, and later - even water and saliva.

These difficulties are growing gradually.

When a person realizes that something is wrong with him and goes to the doctors, the cancer has already reached the 3-4th stage.

Unfortunately, almost incurable.

Depending on the place where the tumor appeared, cancer of the thoracic region (in its upper, middle and lower third), cervical and abdominal esophagus is isolated.

Adenocarcinoma of the esophagus

This tumor develops from the cells of the inner membrane - the mucous layer of the esophagus and spreads deep into its wall. Adenocarcinoma usually forms in the lower esophagus, near the stomach.

Squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus

This type of malignant neoplasm appears in the flat cells lining the lumen of the esophagus. Squamous cell carcinoma most often occurs in the upper and middle parts of the esophagus.

Other malignant primary tumors of the esophagus

Less common, but still occurring: spindle cell carcinoma (poorly differentiated variant of squamous cell carcinoma), verrucous carcinoma (highly differentiated variant of squamous cell carcinoma), pseudosarcoma, mucoepidermoid carcinoma, glandular squamous cell carcinoma, cylindroma (carcinoma cystic cell carcinoma) carcinoid and primary malignant melanoma.

Metastatic esophageal cancer

Occasionally, the oncological process in the esophagus is triggered from the outside - by metastases from other organs. Most often these are metastases of melanoma and breast cancer. In addition, tumors of the head and neck, lung, stomach, liver, kidney, prostate, testicle, and bone tissue metastasize into the esophagus.

Metastases usually spread in the connective tissue stroma surrounding the esophagus, while primary esophageal cancer grows from the mucous membrane or submucosa of the esophagus itself.

• Registered: 144,010 people
• Died in a year: 50,176 people
• Lethality: 21.9%

In Russia, this type of cancer is especially deadly. Every second patient diagnosed with the disease dies within a year - this is called a one-year mortality.

This is partly because the complex structure of the lungs makes it difficult to detect and start treating the tumor in time. It grows, metastases to the bloodstream, lymphatic system and other organs.

More than 80% of neoplasms are found precisely at this stage, when it is almost impossible to help the patient.

Small cell (oat cell) cancer

Small cell neoplasms often form in the bronchi (airways) and are very aggressive: metastases appear quickly. This type of cancer is more common in smokers.

Non-small cell carcinoma

More than 90% of lung cancers are non-small cell neoplasms, and about 40% of them are adenocarcinomas.

From 25 to 30% of non-small cell lung cancer forms on the inner surface of the bronchi - these are squamous cell carcinomas. The rest of the tumors are grouped into the "large cell carcinoma" category.

• Registered: 139 591 people
• Died in a year: 28,512 people
• Lethality: 14.4%

Stomach cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in Russia (and in the world). A malignant tumor develops from the cells of the inner mucous membrane of the stomach.

Depending on the place where the neoplasm is located, there are:

• cancer of the upper (proximal - close to the esophagus) parts of the stomach;
• cancer of the middle sections - the body of the stomach;
• cancer of the lower (distal - closer to the duodenum) sections.

However, this classification is incomplete: the tumor can spread into two or more departments and capture the entire stomach.

Like other malignant neoplasms, stomach cancer can grow deep into the organ wall, as well as into other organs and tissues.

For example, it can spread along the digestive tube to the esophagus, duodenum, pancreas, liver ... Tumor cells can be carried through the bloodstream to distant organs, such as lungs and bones.

The main problem is that stomach cancer is often asymptomatic in its early, curable stages. Or it disguises itself as other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract - the same gastritis, pancreatitis, colitis or ulcers. The tumor is discovered by chance: for example, when a patient is prescribed an endoscopic examination due to strange sensations in the abdomen.

But often stomach cancer is detected only when it has already manifested itself with distinct symptoms, metastases and has become incurable.

Adenocarcinoma

This type of cancer forms in the glandular epithelium of the stomach. Adenocarcinoma can be:

• highly differentiated (high columnar epithelium is formed);
• moderately differentiated (flatter, cubic-like cells);
• poorly differentiated (video-altered cells almost do not rise above the surface of the epithelium).

From the point of view of cell shape, perhaps the most aggressive type of adenocarcinoma is signet ring cell carcinoma of the stomach.

Squamous cell carcinoma

The least common type of tumor. It arises between the layers of the glandular epithelium of the stomach from flat cells.

Glandular squamous cell carcinoma

This tumor combines elements of adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.

Neuroendocrine carcinoma

It is a rare but extremely malignant form of stomach cancer. As a rule, it gives a lot of metastases.

Undifferentiated cancer

This is a tumor, the cells of which have different sizes: they can be both small and large (respectively, we are talking about small- or large-cell cancer), as well as polymorphic - in this case, all transitional forms of cells are present.

• Registered: 383 510 people
• Died in a year: 40,543 people
• Lethality: up to 8.1%

The intestine has two sections: the small intestine and the large intestine. The main section of the latter is the so-called colon with a total length of up to 1.5 meters. It is her cancer that affects most often.

Intestinal cancer mortality is relatively low. But because of its prevalence, it is second only to lung cancer in the number of deaths.

Tumors affecting the intestines can grow for a long time, up to 15–20 years. Sometimes neoplasms develop from polyps - these are abnormal growths of tissue over the mucous membranes. Every third or even every second has them, but few people notice them. Less than 10% of polyps degenerate into malignant tumors.

Cancer cells can invade the veins and arteries of the intestine, as well as the vessels of the lymphatic system (this process is called lymphovascular invasion). Blood and lymph wash over the entire body, which increases the risk of contamination of other organs.

Mucus-forming tumors

These tumors spread rapidly and differ in that they contain a lot of extracellular and intracellular mucus. The latter pushes the nucleus against the cell wall, which makes the cell look like a ring. Signet cancers are less treatable than others.

Important facts about cancer

Tumors are benign. This means that they are stable, surrounded by the tissue from which they are formed, and will not spread throughout the body. They are harmless.

Other tumors invade adjacent tissues. These are malignant neoplasms.

Cancer can be pre-invasive, that is, at the initial stages of development, when tumor cells do not grow into the organ on which they are formed. At this stage, the treatment gives the best result. But over time, as it develops, the cancer invades the surrounding tissues and can metastasize to other organs.

Cancer cells can penetrate into the veins and arteries, as well as into the vessels of the lymphatic system. Blood and lymph wash over the entire body, so the risk of contamination of other organs increases.

By the shape and type of tumor cells, you can determine which treatment will be most effective.

Tumor cells are tested for sensitivity to treatment. The higher it is, the better the forecast. Most cancer cells respond to DNA destruction. It is the destruction of DNA strands that chemotherapy drugs are engaged in.

Tumors often survive and accelerate their growth because they invade the blood vessels that feed them. This process is called angiogenesis.

After treatment, it is important to determine how many affected cells are left in the body. Modern research, such as PCR (polymerase chain reaction), reveals even trace amounts of such cells.

Methods for the treatment of oncological diseases are actively developing. A cancer vaccine is being tested, which is made on the basis of the patient's cells. These cells are trained in laboratories to activate the immune system to fight cancer, and then returned to the human body.

After operations, adjuvant therapy is applied - chemotherapy, which destroys small metastases and mutations that underlie tumors.

Some cancers are inherited. It is possible to identify genes that increase the risk of developing the disease, and prevent or detect the disease at an early stage. This procedure is called genome sequencing.

All oncological diseases do not manifest themselves at first. Therefore, if you develop any unusual symptoms, it is worth consulting with a therapist. And of course, regularly undergo scheduled preventive examinations.

Designers - Oleg Selivanov, Ekaterina Denisenko.

Editor - Alina Mashkovtseva.

Proofreader - Olga Sytnik.

Layout designer - Dmitry Naumov.