If you or someone you know is diagnosed as having cancer it can be traumatic. You want to know how and why this could have happened and if there is
anything you can do to cure the cancer. There is no easy answer to those questions as there are numerous types of cancer and various contributing factors.
At present there are over 200 recognised forms of cancer that affect different regions of the body. It does not necessarily follow that one type of cancer that affects an area of the body will spread to another. The other important point to note is that cancer is caused by a variety of factors and does not usually have any one cause but is often brought about by a combination of them.
There are a number of more common factors that lead to a higher risk of developing cancer and these are age, genetic make up, levels of immunity, diet,
environment and viruses.
Cancer is caused by cells changing over time and therefore the older we are the more susceptible we are to developing the disease.
Our genetic make up can make us predisposed to getting cancer if we were born with cells that are already altered from a normal state which makes them more likely to become cancerous.
Of course our body’s immune system helps us to fend off the development of cancerous cells but if its effectiveness has been reduced by certain medical conditions then we are at a higher risk than average of developing cancer.
Our diet has an impact on our likelihood of getting cancer too. It is no coincidence that people who have a higher fat intake are more likely to end up with the disease than those who have a healthy and balanced diet.
We are also exposed to certain risk factors in our daily lives. Being exposed to tobacco smoke for example is believed to significantly increase our chances of having cancer in later life. Radiation exposure is also a hazard that we often ignore.
The increased use of microwave ovens and cell phones are put forward as contributing to the rising number of cancer cases. People living in the vicinity of nuclear power plants have been trying to prove for years that they are at a greater
risk from cancer than those who live elsewhere.
S. Stammberger is editor of Nurse
Site. This site is dedicated to providing nurses and nursing students with helpful information and links to other resources on the world wide web.
