Tag Archives: cancer diagnosis

Cancer

A young woman exhales cigarette smoke in Shanghai, China. The People’s Republic of China is both the world’s largest producer and largest consumer of tobacco, which has led to an impending cancer epidemic in the most populous country on Earth.

Cancer is a disease that begins as a renegade human cell over which the body has lost control. In order for the body and its organs to function properly, cell growth needs to be strictly regulated. Cancer cells, however, continue to divide and multiply at their own speed, forming abnormal lumps, or tumors. An estimated 6.7 million people currently die from cancer every year.

Not all cancers are natural-born killers. Some tumors are referred to as benign because they don’t spread elsewhere in the body. But cells of malignant tumors do invade other tissues and will continue to spread if left untreated, often leading to secondary cancers.

Cancers can start in almost any body cell, due to damage or defects in genes involved in cell division. Mutations build up over time, which is why people tend to develop cancer later in life. What actually triggers these cell changes remains unclear, but diet, lifestyle, viral infections, exposure to radiation or harmful chemicals, and inherited genes are among factors thought to affect a person’s risk of cancer.

Lung cancer is the world’s most killing cancer. It claims about 1.2 million victims a year. Most of those victims are smokers, who inhale cancer-causing substances called carcinogens with every puff. Experts say around 90 percent of lung cancer cases are due to tobacco smoking.

Breast cancer now accounts for almost one in four cancers diagnosed in women. Studies suggest the genes you inherit can affect the chances of developing the illness. A woman with an affected mother or sister is about twice as likely to develop breast cancer as a woman with no family history of the disease. Lifestyle may also have an influence, particularly in Western countries where many women are having children later. Women who first give birth after the age of 30 are thought to have a three times greater risk of breast cancer than those who became mothers in their teens.

Geographical Distinctions

There are also stark geographic differences, with incidence rates varying by as much as thirtyfold between regions. In much of Asia and South and Central America, for example, cervix cancer is the most deadly in females. However, in North America and Europe another kind of gynecological cancer, ovarian cancer, is a more serious threat.

Among males, southern and eastern Africa record the second and third highest rates of oesophageal, or gullet, cancer after China, but western and central regions of Africa have the lowest incidence in the world. Differences in diet may explain this.

Nevertheless, the reasons why many cancers develop remain elusive. Brain cancer, leukemia (blood cancer), and lymphoma (cancer of the lymph glands) are among types that still mystify scientists.

Treatments

Yet ever more people are surviving diagnosis thanks to earlier detection, better screening, and improved treatments. The three main treatment options are surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Radiotherapy, also called radiation therapy, involves blasting tumors with high-energy x-rays to shrink them and destroy cancerous cells. Chemotherapy employs cancer-killing drugs.

Even so, future cancer cases are predicted to climb, since the world’s population is aging. The proportion of people over age 60 is expected to more than double by 2050, rising from 10 percent to 22 percent. This will add an estimated 4.7 million to the cancer death toll by 2030.


No treatment ‘not an option’ for ailing mum

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No treatment ‘not an option’ for ailing mum

Palmerston North’s Tarsh Stanton has run out of free options in her fight against cancer, and is looking for help to get to Melbourne to take part in a potentially lifesaving trial.

Within a year she has gone from being an active mother of two girls to what she describes as a steroid-puffed “blowfish”.

She’s in hospice care but determined to overcome stage four relapsed lung cancer that has spread to other organs.

She’s still working full time as ACC and non-residents co-ordinator at the MidCentral District Health Board, but chemotherapy and radiation treatment have failed to deliver on the 15 to 20 per cent chance of beating the cancer.

Only ever having had a few social puffs on cigarettes years ago, she said her cancer diagnosis came as a shock after what was either a lucky or unlucky cold.

She came home from a school camp at Whakapapa with her daughter Jazmin with an illness that became worse and made breathing difficult. Elder daughter Chelsea took her to the doctor, and the roller-coaster ride began.

Her heart beat was way too slow, and she was transferred to Wellington. She had a heart block that had to be corrected with a pacemaker last September.

X-rays showed shadows that were diagnosed as lung cancer adenosquamous non-small cell carcinoma. She was 36.

She’s had chemotherapy and radiation treatment, which has shrunk the cancer, but not stopped its spread to her other lung and bronchial tube, liver and stomach lining.

Reluctantly agreeing to be referred to the hospice team to fast track the process when she needs help with symptoms, such as the pain caused by the fluid building up between her ribs and lungs, she’s not ready to give up.

“The hospice is where you go to die, and I’m not going there,” she said.

“I’m quite relaxed. It’s not denial. I know what I’ve got, and I’m fully informed.

“I don’t like it much, but I can’t change it, and there’s no point in being sad and unfocused.”

Supported by a group of well-wishers led by her cousin Kelly Retter, Mrs Stanton has researched her options all of which cost money.

“No treatment is not an option.”

Her best hope in New Zealand is the unsubsidised drug Tarceva, which works like a sort of cling wrap encasing and constricting cancer cells, and offers a 40 per cent hope for patients who respond well. It costs about $28,000 a year.

But even more attractive is a phase II clinical trial at the Peter MacCullum Cancer Centre in Melbourne that combines Tarceva with a new biological ingredient that doesn’t even have a name yet.

Although participation is covered by drug company Roche, Mrs Stanton faces travel and accommodation costs for herself and a caregiver to travel to Melbourne for 25 appointments over two years.

Moving to Australia, where Tarceva is subsidised, is not an option.

“I’m a Kiwi. I live here, I work here, and I want to keep working. Time is precious, that’s one of the things this teaches you.

“If you only have so long to live, why would you want to spend it in Australia?”

At the moment Mrs Stanton is back in chemotherapy at Palmerston North Hospital because her cancer is too advanced to do nothing.

But once she gets the all-clear for the trial, she has to be chemo-free for a month before starting.

It’s a balancing act, as she has to be sick enough to qualify, yet well enough to tolerate the travel and treatment.

She’s hoping for Christmas in Palmerston North with husband Darren, and the girls, now aged 13 and 17, but if the trial schedule demands she be in Melbourne, she will be.

It’s a course she’s setting out on full of optimism.

“Eighty-six is my goal. It’s just a good number for sitting back in your rocking chair, drinking vodka.”

Her fundraising team is organising an October concert and a November auction to help pay for the $60,000 travel and expenses bills she’s likely to face.

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