Perpustakaan Keluarga :
Helmut Todo Tua Simamora dan dr. Olga Y.V Hutapea
Berikut merupakan kutipan ilmiah kedokteran yang sangat bermanfaat bagi Penulis sehingga disusun dan digunakan sebagai referensi pribadi.
Cancer is defined as the uncontrollable growth of cells that invade and cause damage to surrounding tissue. Oral cancer appears as a growth or sore in the mouth that does not go away. Oral cancer, which includes cancers of the lips, tongue, cheeks, floor of the mouth, hard and soft palate, sinuses, and pharynx (throat), can be life threatening if not diagnosed and treated early.
You’ve seen the hype-filled headlines: “The Cancer Prevention Diet!” “Slash Your Risk of Cancer in Half in Just Minutes a Day!” Is it true that you can cut your cancer risk with simple choices you make every day?
Well, there’s nothing magic about cancer prevention, no “killer app” that can instantly keep you healthy. Genetics play a big role in cancer, so even if you try to live a perfectly healthy life, it’s possible that you may develop cancer.
But experts estimate that at least a third of all adult cancer cases are linked to lifestyle, which is within your control.
With every healthy choice you make -- and every unhealthy habit you drop -- you’re chipping away at your cancer risk. Here are eight of the healthiest habits you can develop to help prevent cancer (plus a ninth one that experts are still cautious about).
1. Be Smoke Free.
Lung cancer kills more women and men in the U.S. than any other cancer -- 28% of all cancer deaths, or about 160,000 people every year. The vast majority of those deaths are due to smoking.
And that’s just lung cancer. Smoking has also been linked to more than a dozen other cancers and accounts for 30% of all cancer deaths overall.
That's why many doctors will tell you that the biggest anti-cancer step you can take is to stop smoking, or never start. But even if you’re having trouble quitting entirely, you can reduce your cancer risk significantly by just cutting back.
A study that appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2010 found that smokers who cut back from about 20 cigarettes per day to less than 10 per day reduced their lung cancer risk by 27%. It’s a good first step, but don't stop there; quit completely for your health's sake.
Even if you’re a nonsmoker, don’t assume smoke isn’t permeating your life. About 3,000 cases of lung cancer each year occur as a result of exposure to secondhand smoke, and there are strong indicators that other cancers may be linked to secondhand smoke as well.
“If you’re in a closed bar or nightclub and 100 people in there are smoking, you might as well be,” says Mack Ruffin IV, MD, MPH, a professor in the department of family medicine at the University of Michigan and an expert in preventive oncology. “If you leave a bar and your clothes are smelling of tobacco, you’ve inhaled a lot of cigarette smoke.”
So think twice before spending regular nights out in smoke-filled clubs, or letting your child ride home regularly with someone who smokes in the car.
2. Don't Weight.
Many people probably know that carrying too much weight around isn’t good for your heart, but did you know that it’s a major risk factor for cancer as well? Obesity is the culprit behind some 14% of cancer deaths, and more than 3% of new cancer cases, every year.
“Our No. 1 recommendation for cancer risk reduction is to stay as lean as possible within a healthy weight range. This may be one of the most important ways to prevent cancer,” says Alice Bender, MS, RD, manager of nutrition communications at the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR).
In November 2007, the AICR put out an expert report summarizing how food, nutrition, and physical activity affect cancer and cancer prevention. Being overweight, according to the AICR report, is linked to a wide variety of cancers, including esophageal, pancreatic, gall bladder, breast, endometrial, and kidney cancers.
3. Bust a Move.
All forms of physical activity help to prevent many forms of cancer, according to the AICR Expert Report. You may not get six-pack abs with 30 minutes of moderate exercise every day, but a number of studies have found evidence that just this much physical activity can cut your risk of many common cancers by 30% to 50%.
“It doesn’t matter that much what kind of exercise you do, or when -- just do it,” Ruffin says. “Let’s correlate it to smoking. If you can cut your weight down to a healthy range, increase your physical activity, and increase your fruit and vegetable intake. That’s the equivalent to stopping smoking if you were a smoker. People don’t understand how important these factors are, because they creep up over your life span.”
4. Plant Your Plate.
There are a number of different foods that may help to prevent certain types of cancer. “For example, tomatoes, watermelon, and other foods containing lycopene have evidence showing that they probably reduce the risk of prostate cancer,” Bender says.
But if you’re aiming to slice your risk of many cancers across the board, load your plate with plants, particularly non-starchy vegetables and fruits. That’s why the AICR report’s No. 4 recommendation is to eat mostly foods that come from plants -- at least 14 ounces every day. The Mediterranean diet, St. Tropez diet, and the green diet all are based on a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. Diets that tend to prevent cancer are rich in plant-based foods.
AICR’s “new American plate” plan offers an easy cheat sheet on eating to prevent cancer. Fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains should cover two-thirds of your plate; the other one-third should contain lean meats, fish, and low-fat dairy.
5. Drop the Drink.
When it comes to health, alcohol wields a double-edged sword. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that light alcohol consumption, especially red wine,may be beneficial for heart health.
But on the other hand, it appears that any alcohol consumption can raise your risk of cancer.
“For cancer, there is no safe level of alcohol,” Bender says. “It’s a dose response: The more you drink, the greater the risk, especially for certain cancers like those of the mouth, throat, and esophagus.” And if you smoke, too, the combined effects of drinking and smoking shoot your risk for these up even higher.
What to do? Both the AICR expert report and the American Cancer Society recommend that women limit alcohol consumption to no more than one drink per day, and men no more than two.
6. Shake Off Stress.
“People always want to know if stress can raise your cancer risk,” Ruffin says. “There’s no convincing evidence that, by itself, stress is an independent risk factor for cancer. But what it cando is lead people to engage in unhealthy behavior in an effort to cope with stress. If you’re overeating, drinking, or smoking to self-medicate your stress away, those behaviors all raise your cancer risk.”
So instead, Ruffin recommends finding healthy ways of coping with stress, like exercise (which helps to reducecancer risk), meditation, and journaling.
7. Pull Down the Screens.
Many screening tests for various cancers, like mammograms and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, don’t actually prevent cancer -- they just catch it at a very early stage, when it may be more treatable.
But other tests, like Pap tests and colonoscopies, can help detect precancerous changes that, if left untreated, can turn into cervical cancer or colon cancer.
There are many confusing messages about what screening tests different people should use, and when. Instead of trying to figure it out on your own, Ruffin says, talk to your doctor about your individual situation.
Take screening mammograms, for instance. The question isn’t “Should women under 50 get mammograms?” but “Should I,given my own personal situation and family health history, start mammograms before 50?”
“And don’t think one conversation is enough,” Ruffin says. “Things about your health situation change, and so does our knowledge about cancer and screening. Ask your doctor about it this year, and next year, and the year after that.”
8. Dig Your Roots.
Ruffin advises all of his patients to learn their family health histories in detail. “Family history is where we can really create a personalized strategy for cutting cancer risk and catching it early,” he says. “But it’s a piece I don’t think people bring up nearly often enough.”
So next time you have a family reunion, make it a project to gather information on who’s had what health condition and when. “Gather on Skype or Facebook or face to face and talk about this,” Ruffin says.
The Surgeon General’s Family Health History Initiative lets you create a personalized diagram that you can download to keep on your own computer, or copy and share with other family members to keep the info flowing.
9. Aspirin -- Maybe, and with a Dose of Caution.
Should you take aspirin to prevent cancer? The jury’s still out, but at least some evidence points that way. A large study published in 2010 found that daily use of low-dose aspirin can cut the risk of death due to certain cancers (primarily lung, colorectal, and esophageal cancer) by as much as 21%.
But regular aspirin use can come with side effects, especially stomach bleeding and irritation. Most experts say it’s way too soon to recommend a cancer-fighting aspirin a day.
“We’d all like preventing cancer to be as easy as taking a little pill, but the fact is that you’ll reduce your cancer risk much more by maintaining a healthy weight, exercising, and eating fruits and vegetables than you will by taking aspirin,” Ruffin says.
Talk to your doctor before you start taking aspirin on a regular basis for any reason.
If you’ve recently learned you have cancer, you probably have a lot on your mind. Your doctor may have recommended a treatment plan, and you might have concerns about what’s involved and how it will make you feel.
It’s normal to be nervous or afraid. Taking the time to learn as much as you can about the treatment and what to expect afterward can ease some of your worries, as well as give you a sense of control.
Purpose of This Summary This PDQ cancer information summary for health professionals provides comprehensive, peer-reviewed, evidence-based information about the formal ranking system used by the PDQ Editorial Boards to assess evidence supporting the use of specific interventions or approaches. It is intended as a resource to inform and assist clinicians who care for cancer patients. It does not provide formal guidelines or recommendations for making health care decisions. Reviewers and...
You and your doctor will decide what treatment is best for you based on the type of cancer you have, it’s location, and stage.
Some common cancer treatments include the following.
Surgery
Most people with cancer will have some type of surgery. Doctors may do it to diagnose or find out the extent of the cancer. They may also do surgery to remove tumors, tissue, or areas with cancerous cells, such as lymph nodes.
In many cases, surgery offers the best chance of wiping out the disease, especially if it hasn’t spread to other parts of the body.
Certain cancers can be treated with:
- laser surgery (beams of light)
- electrosurgery (electric currents)
- cryosurgery (the use of extremely cold temperatures to freeze cancer cells)
Your recovery from the procedure will depend on things such as:
- the type and stage of your cancer
- the kind of surgery performed
- your overall health
You'll be given medication to block pain and may receive other meds, such as antibiotics to lower the risk of infection during or after your surgery.
Chemotherapy
Chemo uses medications to treat cancer. There are two different ways it can be given:
“Traditional” Chemotherapy
You get most chemotherapy medication injected into a vein.
But some types can be given in the muscle, under the skin, or on the skin as a topical treatment, like an ointment.
The side effects vary from person to person, even if you have the same type of cancer and receive the same treatment as someone else. Some of the most common side effects are:
- fatigue
- vomiting
- nausea
- diarrhea
- hair loss
- mouth sores
- pain
Chemotherapy can sometimes cause long-term side effects, like infertility and nerve damage. Talk to your oncologist about the risks of your treatment plan.
In most cases, you’ll receive your chemotherapy at an outpatient clinic. You won’t know how you’ll tolerate chemo until you’ve had your first treatment. Plan to have someone to drive you home.
Oral (a.k.a. “No Needle”) Chemotherapy
With this type of chemo, you take a drug (in liquid, tablet, or capsule form) by mouth, at home. Oral chemo is as effective as other forms, but not all chemo drugs can be taken by mouth. Some can’t be absorbed by the stomach and others can be harmful if swallowed. Oral chemo can be more expensive than traditional chemo.
Again, the side effects can vary but are similar to those of traditional chemo.
If your doctor recommends oral chemo, it’s important to take it exactly as prescribed. Call your doctor right away if you can’t keep your medication down due to vomiting.
A chest X-ray showing cancer in the right lung
Hundreds of thousands of people are diagnosed with cancer every year in the UK. It is not one disease; there are over 200 different types, each with its own symptoms, methods of diagnosis and treatment.
What is cancer?
Cancer starts when cells in our bodies start to reproduce out of control, forming new, abnormal cells. These abnormal cells form lumps, known as tumours.
If the cells from tumours cannot spread, then the tumours are benign. They are not cancerous and can usually be removed.
If the cells are able to invade nearby healthy tissue and organs, or spread around the body through the blood or lymphatic system causing further tumours to grow, then the tumours are malignant or cancerous. These cancer cells are likely to spread if the tumour is not treated.
What causes cancer?
Every cell in our body contains DNA. It carries our genetic code and contains the instructions for all the cell's actions.
If the DNA inside cells is damaged, these instructions go wrong. In fact damage to the DNA or "mutations" as they are known, constantly occur in our cells as they divide and reproduce. Most of the time, the cells recognise that a mutation has occurred and repair the DNA, or self-destruct and die.
When a number of mutations have occurred in the DNA of a cell, control of cell growth may be lost and the cells do not die. Instead they start to follow abnormal instructions that make them reproduce and grow, producing more and more of these mutated cells - this is the start of a cancer.
Many factors such as smoking or too much exposure to the sun can also trigger DNA damage - leading to a faster accumulation of the mutations which lead to cancer.
A family history of cancer can also increase chances of getting the disease, because it usually means that person starts their life already having inherited some of the DNA mutations that take them down the path to cancer.
Even when in remission, those who have had the disease have a higher risk of it developing again. In most cases however, the exact cause or sequence of events by which cancer develops, is not yet known
A recent study has found that there are more than 80 genetic markers (i.e. mutated genes) that can increase the risk of developing breast, prostate or ovarian cancer, for example. Scientists believe the results could soon lead to widespread use of DNA profiling for these cancers, though individual genetic testing for those likely to be at increased risk - such as when there is a strong family history of a type of cancer - is already in use.
Why is it so deadly?
Cancer cells are able to invade other parts of the body, where they settle and grow to form new tumours known as secondary deposits - the original site is known as the primary tumour. The cells spread by getting into the blood or lymph vessels and travelling around the body.
For example, if bowel cancer has spread through the wall of the bowel itself, it can start growing on the bladder. If cells enter the bloodstream they can travel to distant organs, such as the lungs or brain. Over time, the tumours will then replace normal tissue.
The process of cancer cells spreading is called metastasis. Once a cancer has started to spread, the chances of a cure often begin to fall, as it becomes more difficult to treat for a variety of reasons.
Cancer harms the body in a number of ways. The size of the tumour can interfere with nearby organs or ducts that carry important chemicals. For example, a tumour on the pancreas can grow to block the bile duct, leading to the patient developing obstructive jaundice. A brain tumour can push on important parts of the brain, causing blackouts, fits and other serious health problems. There may also be more widespread problems such as loss of appetite and increased energy use with loss of weight, or changes in the body's clotting system leading to deep vein thrombosis.
Why is it so hard to stop?
Cancer is an extremely complex condition. Each type of cancer is biologically different from any other type. For example, skin cancer is biologically different from the blood cancer called lymphoma, of which there are then many different types.
That is then coupled with genetic differences between individuals and the often random nature of the DNA mutations that cause cancer.
All this makes it difficult to identify the way the particular cancer cells are behaving and how they are likely to spread or damage the body. Without a full understanding of the physiology of the cancer, effective treatments are hard to develop.
Early surgery to remove tumours can work. But the cancer can return if any cells are left behind. It can also return if cells have broken away from the primary tumour and formed microscopic secondary tumours elsewhere in the body before an operation to remove the primary.
And because cancer cells are our own body's cells, many treatments to destroy them also risk destroying our healthy cells.
One controversial theory of why cancer is so hard to stop is that it is rooted in the ancient traits of our genes.
Prof Paul Davies from Arizona State University believes cancer may use tried-and-tested genetic pathways going back a billion years to the dawn of multicellular life, when unregulated cell growth would have been an advantage.
He argues that this tendency was suppressed by later, more sophisticated genes, but lies dormant in all living organisms. Cancer occurs when something unlocks these ancient pathways.
Other scientists disagree, saying that these pathways would not have survived millions of years of evolution.
One thing is for sure - our genes hold the key to understanding cancer and how to treat it.
The future of cancer research
The field of cancer research is moving away from defining a cancer by where it is in the body, as one type of breast cancer can have more in common with an ovarian cancer than another cancer in the breast.
Instead scientists are looking deeper at what is going wrong inside cancerous cells - a tumour can have 100,000 genetic mutations and these alter over time.
By pinpointing the mutations that can cause certain cancers, doctors hope to personalise treatment - choosing the drug most likely to work on a particular type of tumour.
Scientists are creating targeted cancer therapies using their latest insights into cancer at a molecular level. These treatments block the growth of cancer by interfering with genetic switches and molecules specifically involved in tumour growth and progression.
Clinical trials using gene therapy are also underway. This experimental treatment involves adding genetic material into a person's cells to fight or prevent disease.
Sumber : Media Online tentang Kesehatan
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