Sometimes people don’t even think about the history of the origin of certain terms that are familiar to us. For example, a disease called cancer that causes tremors all over the body in people with carcinophobia. There is a deep meaning in history, because there is a reason why cancer was called cancer.
The times of Hippocrates
The great Hippocrates described over a thousand diseases that have come down to us. His eye did not pass over cancer patients, in particular women suffering from neoplasms in the mammary gland. However, why is cancer called cancer?
History says that the great doctor gave the name because of the characteristic compaction, which, according to Hippocrates, resembled arthropods. In Latin, cancer is called cancer, which is why cancer is called cancer. Since then, the disease was considered incurable, this continued until the beginning of the formation and development of surgery, when finally the doctors were able to remove the malignant formation.
The mechanism of tumors
The science that studies the causes, as well as the treatment of tumors, is called oncology. The causes of the disease can be listed for a very long time, however, scientists agreed that the uncontrolled process of cell division is caused by their mutation. Substances that cause changes in the DNA of a cell are called carcinogens. Any substances act as carcinogens, everything depends on the individual genotype individually.
The viral theory of cancer is also proven. According to her, there are certain viruses that can act on cells in such a way that they "cut out" a place in the DNA molecule that is responsible for apoptosis (cell death). These viruses include:
- human papillomavirus;
- hepatitis B and C. viruses
Numerous studies have proven the relationship between ionizing radiation and cancer. This is justified because radioactive isotopes damage a DNA molecule, destroying its bonds.
Food plays a significant role in human life, because no living organism can do without nutrients. It is known that some products can activate the oncological process in an individual.
Treatment prospects
The most terrible part of medicine is oncology, the reasons for this lie in the prevalence and regular death of people. It is believed that every eighth inhabitant of the planet dies from this terrible disease. No one is safe from this, therefore the main investments of rich people are directed to projects that can find a panacea for cancer. It is known that a cancer cell behaves very aggressively, and it is almost impossible to save a person in the later stages, which is why cancer was called cancer. Indeed, most often doctors manage to detect the development of the process in the third stage.
Today, medicine can cure absolutely any cancer in its early stages. There is an effective treatment for cancer patients, giving a positive effect, even true cancer (melanoma), scientists managed to overcome in the initial stage, until the tumor spread to the organs.
The problem in the medical world is the fact that cancer cells in the human body are formed every minute. True, the immune system and programmed cell death can independently stop the process. However, in some people, a malfunction occurs in the body when the immune system stops fighting atypical cells.
How to diagnose a disease?
The first criterion that pushes people to visit a doctor’s office is bulging or pain in various parts of the body. Ignoring the planned medical examination leads to the fact that doctors discover a tumor at a late stage. Early stage carcinoma gives common clinical manifestations:
- fatigue;
- reduced ability to work;
- general malaise;
- pallor of the skin;
- discomfort in the body.
Some tumors are manifested by a specific clinic, it all depends on the histological structure of the neoplasm, localization. That's why cancer is called cancer, because it is the only disease that does not have pronounced clinical manifestations, slowly killing a person. To make sure that it is cancer, it is necessary to conduct a biopsy, and only this study can fully indicate what kind of neoplasm is.
In addition, as the DNA molecule was deciphered, scientists were able to detect oncological genes, which they called tumor markers. They allow you to verify a predisposition to a specific type of cancer.
Preventive measures
Prevention is the future of medicine. Mankind has learned to prevent dangerous diseases through vaccination. Unfortunately, this could not be achieved with cancer cells, since here there is a completely different, more complex, development mechanism that requires innovation in genetic engineering. It was possible to create a vaccine against cervical cancer, but it is at the stage of a clinical trial and does not fully guarantee that the disease will not affect a woman.