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There is a difference between a tumour and cancer . We can say that every cancer is a tumour but not all tumours are cancer. Tumour is a Latin word that means swelling. Not every swelling is cancer, but we may call a swelling as a tumour. Some also say that human fetus is the fastest growing physiological tumour of human body and fetus is neither cancer nor it is harmful. Burkitt lymphoma is found to be the fastest growing cancer in the human body. This tumour is capable of doubling its size within 14 hours. It is very aggressive. It is the most common childhood tumour of African children. It commonly affects children between 4-20 years of age. It is more common in male children and rarely affect the female child. Lymphoma has two types; Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin. Burkitt lymphoma is of Non-Hodgkin type. It has further two types, endemic and sporadic form. Endemic form is that form which is prevalent in Africa and sporadic form occurs in America and other countries. Most of the cases o...

Breast cancer is the world’s number one cancer that affects women. The two major risk factors for breast cancer are female sex and older age. Those women who are genetically predisposed may get breast cancer in earlier ages, that is 30-40 years. But breast cancer after menopause can merely be a disease of ageing only. So every woman has a great threat of breast cancer and is present all the time. Breast cancer, if diagnosed earlier is completely curable. Surgery, chemo, and radiotherapy have proven 100% results. But all this only work if you caught your cancer early. Do You Know? Pink ribbon is used to represent breast cancer. It is a symbol of breast of cancer and pink is the color that represents breast cancer. Which country has highest risk of breast cancer in Asia? Click here Today the purpose of writing this article is to educate all the women, especially those who belong to developing countries, about the prevention and protection of themselves against breast cancer. I high...

Breast cancer is the commonest cancer of women all over the world. But in Asia, Pakistan is the country that has the highest incident of breast cancer according to 2014 statistics. According to a study that is done by the doctors of Agha Khan Hospital Karachi, every one out of 9 women has breast cancer in Pakistan. This is the highest in Asia. In Capital Hospital Islamabad, during a weekly academic conference, Dr Naeem Taj, the head of the surgical department, told the audience that breast cancer has high mortality and morbidity in Pakistan because in here, it is diagnosed in late stages. Most of the patients we receive in our general OPD usually have Grade III or Grade IV disease. The main reason for the late presentation is poverty, lack of facilities, illiteracy, lack of information, lack of interest of the government in the health sector and women’s shyness. For example, if a woman has a lump and present to a secondary level hospital that doesn’t have the facility of breast c...

Case History: A 61-year-old male patient presented in the outpatient department of medicine in Capital Hospital Islamabad, complaining of severe epigastric pain that had been increased in intensity since last 15 days. The onset of pain was sudden, burning and pinching in character, aggravated by intake of food and relieved by strong painkillers and pain radiated to back. The patient also had low-grade fever since last 10 days and generalized weakness. Pain starts a few minutes after taking a meal. There was no history of dysphagia, melena, shortness of breath, cough, chest pain or discomfort, food regurgitation, vomiting, hematemesis, altered bowel habits and burning or difficult micturition. There was no significant past medical or surgical history. The patient was a non-smoker, had decreased appetite and sleep disturbance. There was no history of Diabetes mellitus , hypertension, heart diseases , asthma or cancer in the family. On examination, his pulse rate was 76 and blood ...

Stomach cancer usually presents with the symptoms of indigestion, abdominal fullness, burping, loss of appetite and heart burn. Late symptoms include, hemoptysis, melena, weight loss, weakness or fatigue, and pain after eating. Obstruction of gastric outlet, gastro-esophageal junction and pleural effusion are also late symptoms. Usually it is difficult to catch the gastric cancer in its early stages because patients of gastric cancer usually present with the similar symptoms as those of Peptic Ulcer Disease . So patients keep on getting treatment of peptic ulcer disease while cancer continue to grow. At the time of diagnosis, usually cancer has already been reached to advance stages.   In Capital Hospital Islamabad, a 61 year old male patient presented in emergency department complaining of difficulty in swallowing, unable to eat any thing, food regurgitation, vomiting, nausea, lack of appetite, epigastric pain, easy fatigability and significant weight loss. Sometime he also notice...

CEA 125 is an antigen that is expressed in the epithelial linings of the female genital tract, respiratory tract, cornea and conjunctiva. It is encoded by the MUC 16 gene (Mucin 16 Gene). MUC 16 protein (CEA), is a complex molecule, heavily glycosylated and easily water soluble, which allows it to keep the epithelial surfaces wet and lubricated. This creates a lubricated barrier against foreign bodies and pathogens. CEA 125 is a tumour marker, it is found to be elevated in dangerous conditions like numerous cancer s. But if it's level comes higher in a patient it doesn’t mean that she or he is definitely suffering from cancer, This is because there are several non-cancerous or benign conditions that may raise the CEA 125 level in blood. Dangerous (Cancerous) causes of elevated CEA 125 level: Dangerous or cancerous causes are those that have the tendency to decrease the life expectancy of a patient unless they are eliminated or controlled. These include numerous cancers including,...

This is the most common question that comes into the mind of every young adult individual. Is cancer Curable? Is there any complete treatment available for cancer? or Can a cancer be cured completely without recurrence? The simple answer to this question is “Yes, cancer is curable if it is detected early” or even in late stages, the lifespan of a cancer patient can be increased considerably. The most common cancer in men is lung cancer and the most common cancer in women in breast cancer. In this article, our main focus will be these two cancers. Let us consider the example of Yuvraj Singh, the famous Indian cricket player, was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2012. The cancer was malignant (dangerous), but it was diagnosed earlier. He underwent chemotherapy in Cancer Research Institute, Boston and a year later he became fit again and resumed his cricket. Breast cancer is also curable if diagnosed earlier, that is in stage 1 or 2 (out of 4). In the last 5 years, I didn’t see any pati...

GYNECOMASTIA - Fibroadenoma – phylloides Tumor Papilloma Breast Disease Disorders that affect the breasts are very prevalent, it may be: congenital, functional and even malignancies. Although the increasing number of cases of breast cancer, benign changes (congenital, inflammatory and proliferative) still represent a group of disorders most frequently encountered in clinical practice. The complaint of breast pain is present in about 70% of women aged 17-45 years. A Cause of enlarged breasts in males is an increased level of circulating estrogens. Estrogens stimulate the breast tissue and result in enlarged breasts in males. 1 - Gynecomastia: Abnormal growth of breast tissue in male patients is called gynecomastia.(enlarged breasts in the male) This event occurs at puberty physiologically and elderly. Some drugs can also lead to gynecomastia such as Digitalis, anabolic steroids, and spironolactone etc. This change can also be caused by some chronic diseases such as chronic renal f...

 Classification Of Breast Tumor/Cancer/Carcinoma Breast cancer arises in its ducts and glandular stroma. It is the number one cause of cancer deaths in females. Classification Of Breast Tumors : 1. Benign Tumors: a) Adenoma         i) Tubular adenoma        ii)  Lactating adenoma b) Fibroadenoma         i) Intercanalicular fibroadenoma

Pheochromocytoma: It is a tumour of the adrenal medulla ( or sympathetic ganglia ) that secretes excess catecholamines ( that is epinephrine and norepinephrine) Adrenal gland has two main layers, cortex and medulla, the cortex is further subdivided into 3 zones and every zone secretes a specific set of hormones. The adrenal medulla secretes epinephrine and norepinephrine. In normal conditions, adrenal medulla secretes catecholamines after the stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system. Hence sympathetic overactivity or adrenal medulla tumour will result in increased secretion of catecholamines. These excessive catecholamines result in symptoms of pheochromocytoma.

Tumour is of two types. Benign Tumor and malignant tumour. A benign tumour doesn't put the life of the person at risk except in some situations, for example, benign tumour at heart valve may compromise cardiac function. on the other hand, a malignant tumour may metastasize, invade and destroy the surrounding tissue and kills the person. The main differences between a malignant and benign tumour are given below. Difference Between Benign And Malignant Tumor Benign Tumor Malignant Tumor 1. It is not encapsulated 1. It is encapsulated  2. It is non-invasive 2. It is invasive 3. It slowly Grows, mitotic bodies are normal 3. A malignant tumour grows rapidly. mitotic bodies are numerous 4. nucleus to cytoplasmic ration is near to normal 4. Nucleus to cytoplasmic ration is 1:4 or more 5. It doesn't metastasize  5. It metastasizes and forms secondary tumours. 6. It doesn't reoccur once removed by surgery 6. It tends to reoccur once removed 7. There...

Post Breast Cancer Therapy Pain Syndrome (PBTPS):-                                                                      It is defined as typical pain and associated symptoms (oedema, numbness, dysesthesia etc) located in the chest wall, arms, axilla, shoulder and persists beyond the period of three months. It affects 10 to 30 % of women who have undergone breast surgery. ( Breast Cancer ) Causes:-                Following are the causes of PBTPS 1. Injury to the nerves during surgery 2. Radiation and Chemotherapy further aggravate the injury It is believed that PBTPS results from injury to nerves during surgery and  Radiation and chemotherapy further aggravate the injury. Because of multi-variant causes, PBTPS encompasses many symptoms which can range from mil...

The Term metastasis means spread of cancers cells to distant sites away from the site where cancer has first appeared. Breast Cancer can be metastasized. Breast cancer can be speared to axillary lymph nodes and grows in size there.  Breast cancer can spread to almost any part of the body but the most common sites are bones followed by lungs and liver. Symptoms of metastatic breast cancer may include: Bone pain (possible indication of bone metastases) Shortness of breath (possible indication of lung metastases) Lack of appetite (possible indication of liver metastases) Weight loss (possible indication of liver metastases) Neurological pain or weakness, headaches (possible indications of neurological metastases) These symptoms are sometimes but not always associated with metastatic breast cance r, and having one or more of these symptoms does not necessarily mean a woman has metastatic breast cancer. Most women whose breast cancer has metastasized do not show sympto...

It is proved scientifically that a low dose of aspirin daily reduces the risk of cancer remarkably. The evidence is so strong that scientists recommend one dose of aspirin daily for people who are over 40 years of age. The risk of increased bleeding is still a side effect of aspirin use that limits its intake. This risk of a bleed is so small compared to the benefits , Yes, okay, it's a tragedy if a person is rushed into hospital and given a transfusion (because of a stomach bleed) but in relation to the things we are preventing, that is trivial In a study of eight trials involving 25,570 patients, researchers found that cancer deaths among those who took aspirin in doses as low as 75 milligrams a day were 21 %  lower during the studies and 34 %  lower after five years. Aspirin protected people against gastrointestinal cancers the most, the study found, with rates of death from these cancers around 54 %  lower after five years among those who took aspirin compare...

Research by British Experts suggests that cancer is a modern, man-made disease caused by lifestyle factors such as diet and pollution. Experts did for them for the first time recognize cancer in one Egyptian mummy. but it was the only example in all they examined. This suggests that the disease was very rare. The scientist did not found any descriptions of operations of Breast or other cancers that were done before the 17th century. but found some descriptions of nasal cancers that were occurred in snuff users in 1761. Scientist concluded that Cancer is a modern disease caused by lifestyle. Those people who work in industries Cancer is the second most common cause of death in them after Cardiovascular diseases. many diets and medicines are carcinogenic. those who work in radiology get cancer commonly. In a nutshell, cancer has been made by the man some 200 years ago.

Now we know that Cancer is caused by continuously dividing cells. sometimes a cell from the cancerous mass detaches from the actual mass and enter the bloodstream and reaches other parts of the body through blood.  This detached cell then entrapped at another site of the body and start to grow there. this cancerous growth is not at the site where the actual cancerous  cell first appeared.  So this second growth is called Metastatic Growth, a nd this process is called metastasis. sometimes this metastasis has occurred before surgery but is not visible or felt by the patient or by the doctor either.  so when the doctor has removed the initially appeared mass, there is a chance of emergence of another doubtful mass long time after previous surgery. and sometimes a part of cancerous material left unmoved and emerges afterwards.   

nowadays breast cancer is becoming common among women. the mothers who feed their babies with their own milk save themselves from getting breast cancer. contraceptive use greatly increases the risk of breast cancer. the two reason which can tell you why modern young women are easily attacked by this disease :) What is Cancer our body is made of cells. every organ is made of the cell. cells have the ability to divide. but certain growth-promoting factors and growth inhibiting factors check the dividing ability of cell. when an organ or part of the body reaches the appropriate length and width the inhibitory factors become active and block the further growth and dividing of cells. sometimes a cell escapes this prohibitory mechanism and divides without check and form an undifferentiated mass of cancerous tissue. these cells continue to divide and invade and destroy the surrounding tissue. this state is called CANCER. cancer is commonly named according to the place where the abnormal ...