Cancer

Cancer is a common condition and a serious health problem, both in the UK and across the world. There are around 298,000 new cases of cancer (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) diagnosed each year in the UK. More than one in three people will develop some form of cancer during their lifetime.

There are hundreds of different types of cancer. The most common cancers in the UK are:

breast cancer
prostate cancer
lung cancer
bowel cancer
bladder cancer
uterine (womb) cancer

Breast cancer

In the UK, breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women. More than 45,500 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed every year, usually in women over 50 who have reached menopause. However, it is possible for women of any age to get breast cancer and, in rare cases, the condition can affect men.

White women are slightly more likely to develop breast cancer than are African-American women. African women are more likely to die of this cancer. At least part of this seems to be because African women tend to have more aggressive tumors, although why this is the case is not known. Asian, Hispanic, and Native-American women have a lower risk of developing and dying from breast cancer.

Prostate Cancer

The prostate is a small gland in the pelvis that is found only in men. It is located between the penis and the bladder and surrounds the urethra, the tube that carries urine from the bladder to the penis.

The main function of the prostate is to help in the production of semen. The prostate produces a thick white fluid that is then liquefied by a special protein known as prostate-specific antigen (PSA). The fluid is then mixed with sperm, produced by the testicles, to create semen.

Did you know .

There is an erroneous perception that prostate cancer is relatively rare among black men in Africa. However, as Professor Chris Heyns of Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital argues, race is not a biological or genetic entity and indigenous black Africans are a heterogeneous group. Movement of black African slaves to the New World and later migration to parts of Europe mean that defining black or African race is even more complex, but in spite of this there are many studies that report radical racial differences in the biology of prostate cancer.

Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is one of the most common and serious types of cancer. Symptoms of lung cancer include:

coughing,
unexplained weight loss,
shortness of breath, and
Chest pain.

The lungs

The lungs are a pair of sponge-shaped organs that are located in the centre of the chest. They have two main purposes:

To transfer oxygen into the blood when you breathe in, and
To expel carbon dioxide out of the blood when you breathe out.

The lungs are made up of a series of sections called lobes. The left lung consists of two lobes, and the right lung is larger and consists of three lobes.

Bowel cancer

Bowel cancer is a general term that is used to describe cancer that begins in the large bowel. Depending on where in the bowel the cancer starts, bowel cancer can sometimes be referred to as colon cancer, or rectal cancer.

Symptoms of bowel cancer include blood in your stools (faeces), an unexplained change in your bowel habits, such as prolonged diarrhoea or constipation, and unexplained weight loss. Cancer can sometimes start in the small bowel (small intestine), but small bowel cancer is much rarer than large bowel cancer.

The large bowel

The bowel is part of the digestive system. It has two main purposes:

To absorb energy, water, and nutrients from the food you eat, and
To pass out the remaining waste products from your body in the form of stools.

The large bowel is made up of five sections which are described below.

Bladder cancer

Cancer of the bladder is a fairly common type of cancer. The most common symptom of bladder cancer is passing blood in your urine.

The bladder

The bladder is a hollow, balloon-like organ that is located in the pelvis and is designed to store urine. The kidneys filter waste products out of your blood. The waste products are mixed with water to create urine. The urine is passed out of your kidneys and into your bladder through two tubes that are known as the ureters. When your bladder is full, the urine passes out of the bladder through another tube called the urethra, before then being passed out of the vagina (women) or penis (men) upon urination.

Womb Cancer

The womb

The womb, or uterus, is the place in a woman's body where a baby grows before being born. It is a muscular, pear-shaped organ at the top of the vagina. The lining of the womb is called the endometrium and is shed each month, as a period. These periods stop temporarily during pregnancy, but will normally continue until a woman has the menopause. Cancer that starts in the womb lining is called endometrial or womb cancer, Cancer that starts in the muscle layers of the womb is called uterine sarcoma.

Did you Know

The cervix is the lower part of the womb (uterus) and is often called the neck of the womb. It joins the womb to the top of the vagina. It is possible for your doctor or nurse to see and feel the cervix during an internal (vaginal) examination.

Close to the cervix is a collection of lymph nodes. These are small glands, about the size of a bean. The lymph nodes are part of the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system has two main roles: it helps to protect the body from infection, and it drains fluid from the tissues. It is a complex system made up of organs such as bone marrow, the thymus, the spleen, and lymph nodes. The lymph nodes throughout the body are connected by a network of tiny lymphatic ducts.

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