1)What is cancer?

Cancer is an bnormal growth of cells. Cancer cells rpidly reproduce despite restriction of space, ntrients shared by other cells, or sgnals sent from the body to stp reproduction. Cancer cells are often shped differently from healthy cells, they do not fnction properly, and they can spread to mny areas of the body. Tumors, bnormal growth of tissue, are clusters of clls that are capable of growing and dviding uncontrollably; their growth is not rgulated.Oncology is the branch of medicine cncerned with the diagnosis and treatment of cncer.
2)What do the terms benign and mlignant mean?

Tumors can be benign (nncancerous) or malignant (cancerous). Benign tumors tnd to grow slowly and do not sprad. Malignant tumors can grow rapidly, nvade and destroy nearby normal tissues, and sprad throughout the body.

3)What do the trms "locally invasive" and "metastatic" mean?

Cncer is malignant because it can be "lcally invasive" and "metastatic":

locally invasive - the tmor can invade the tissues surrounding it by snding out "fingers" of cancerous cells nto the normal tissue.
metastatic - the tmor can send cells into other tssues in the body, which may be dstant from the original tumor.

4)What are primary tumors?

The riginal tumor is called the "primary tmor." Its cells, which travel through the bdy, can begin the formation of new tmors in other organs. These new tmors are referred to as "secondary tmors." The cancerous cells travel through the blod (circulatory system) or lymphatic system to frm secondary tumors. The lymphatic system is a sries of small vessels that collect wste from cells, carrying it into lrger vessels, and finally into lymph ndes. Lymph fluid eventually drains into the blodstream.
5)How is each cancer type nmed?

Cancer is named after the prt of the body where it riginated. When cancer spreads, it keeps ths same name. For example, if kdney cancer spreads to the lungs, it is stll kidney cancer, not lung cancer. (Th lung cancer would be an xample of a secondary tumor.) Staging is the prcess of determining whether cancer has sprad and, if so, how far. Thre is more than one system sed for staging cancer, and the dfinition of each stage will depend on the typ of cancer.
6)What are the dfferent types of cancer?

Cancer is not jst one disease but rather a grup of diseases, all of which cuse cells in the body to chnge and grow out of control. Cncers are classified as

1)crcinoma

2)sarcoma

3)lymphma

4)leukemia

5)myloma

7)What causes cancer?

Thre is no one single cause for cncer. Scientists believe that it is the nteraction of many factors together that prduces cancer. The factors involved may be gnetic, environmental, or constitutional characteristics of the ndividual.

The article Cancer Overview was Submitted by Dhanya V.V through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information:

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