Carcinoma

Carcinoma, cancer that develops in the inner and outer surfaces of the body, such as the skin, the lining of the gastrointestinal tract, the inside of blood vessels, and the lungs. Like all cancers, carcinomas are malignant tumors in which cells grow uncontrollably, eventually crowding out normal cells. Also, like other cancers, carcinomas often spread to other areas of the body or metastasize via the blood or lymphatic system. Different kinds of carcinomas include breast cancer, cervical cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, liver cancer, and skin cancer.

Carcinoma is one of four types of cancer. The other types are cancer in muscle, connective, or bone tissue (sarcoma), cancer in blood forming, or vascular, tissues (lymphoma, leukemia, and myeloma), and cancer in nerve tissues (neuroma, glioma, and neuroblastoma).

Doctors use various methods to diagnose carcinoma, depending on the site of the cancer. Diagnostic techniques include endoscopy (examination of an interior organ with a viewing instrument that has flexible glass or plastic fibers that transmit light); pap test (removal of a small sample of cells from the cervix to be examined under a microscope); blood tests; biopsy (removal of small amounts of suspect tissue for examination under a microscope); and imaging techniques such as X rays, CT scans (X rays that give a three-dimensional image), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and ultrasound imaging.

Doctors prescribe treatment based on the kind of carcinoma, the stage of its growth, whether or not it has metastasized, and the patient's age and general health. Usually, the purpose of treatment is to eliminate all or as much of the cancer as possible. If the cancer is at a very advanced stage, however, the purpose of the treatment may be palliative—that is, aimed at making the patient as comfortable as possible for as long as possible. Cancer treatments may be administered alone, or in various combinations, simultaneously, or one after the other.

The most common cancer treatments are surgery (to remove all or part of the tumor), chemotherapy (various anticancer drugs, given orally or intravenously, usually several drugs in combination), and radiation therapy (aiming high-energy radiation at the tumor site). Since chemotherapy kills some normal cells at the same time that it kills cancerous ones, it can cause many side effects, including hair loss, mouth sores, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and fatigue. People undergoing chemotherapy are especially susceptible to infection because the drugs severely limit the effectiveness of the immune system. Side effects of radiation may include hair loss, nausea, loss of appetite, and moderate to extreme fatigue.

As with all cancers, early detection is the single most important factor in treating and possibly curing cancer. The earlier that cancer is caught, the less drastic the treatment will have to be, and the greater the chance of a full cure will be.