Cancer

• • Cancer is caused by uncontrolled cell growth and division
  • This causes the formation of a tumour - a mass of cells
• • Not all tumours are cancerous, they can be either:
  • Benign - the tumour grows until there is no room and stays in one place - this tumour is not cancerous
  • Malignant - the tumour grows and spreads to healthy tissues - cells can break off and travel to other cells through bloodstream, malignant cells invade healthy tissues and form secondary tumours
  • Malignant tumours are cancers
• Lifestyle risks can increase the chance of cancer:

  • Smoking - lung, mouth, bowel, cervical, stomach cancer
  • Obesity - bowel, liver, kidney cancer
  • UV exposure - skin cancer
  • Viral infection - can be spread through needles, unprotected sex e.g hepatitis B/C
• Genetic risks can also increase risk of certain cancers:

  • Faulty genes can be inherited to make you more susceptible to cancer
  • e.g mutations in the BCRA gene have been linked to increase chance of breast/ovarian cancer