What is cancer and why does it occur?
Can we all get cancer? Is there a work-type cancer?
Why do we have the idea that now there are many more cases of cancer?
Is there an ‘anti-cancer’ diet? What are the most and least recommended foods?
What diet is the most recommended to reduce the risk of cancer?
How much is hereditary in cancer? Can it arise after a major upset?
Can we prevent cancer?
Cancer is today is the second cause of death of the Spanish population. And all the experts agree that a effective prevention would decrease the incidence figures significantly. It would be necessary to arrive at the slogan of the campaign against colorectal cancer: to arrive on time is to win.
What is the real incidence?
Cancer is not inevitable, although the statistics are staggering. One in four Spaniards dies from this cause. One in three Europeans will suffer from cancer at some point in his life and half of them will die for this reason.
There are data that we must take into account. For example, there are about 500 different types of cancer both in its origin and in its development. Each year 160,000 new cases are diagnosed, and as early diagnosis detects the disease at younger ages, this figure will increase considerably.
The most common in Spain are those of lung, colon and breast. But although the cases of diagnosis increase, the same does not happen with mortality. Of all the deaths that occur in Spain, 26 per 100 are due to cancer. And it should be noted that more than half of patients survive the disease.
Is it true that in Spain it has a lower incidence?
The Spanish situation is enviable. Spain is, together with Portugal and Greece, one of the countries with the lowest incidence of cancer (less than 300 cases per 100,000 inhabitants). The Mediterranean diet seems to be the cause of this lower morbidity. Regarding tumors, the most frequent in Spain are those of lung, colorectal, breast and prostate.
What can we do to reduce mortality?
Without a doubt, the fight against tobacco It is one of the priority objectives. On the one hand, it is necessary to ensure that people gradually abandon their consumption; and on the other, trying to prevent the young population from starting the habit. Lung cancer will end up being the one with the highest mortality in women, above breast cancer.
It is still early, but within a few years, the incidence of these tumors in women will be like that of men. Today he almost smokes more than she does him. And the tobacco bill, it must be said clearly, is inexorable.
If a symptom persists, is it an alarm signal?
Early diagnosis remains one of the keys to prevention. To arrive on time is to win. And one of the caveats is watch for any symptoms that persist. A cough that does not go away or that has been changing, a nodule that appears suddenly, any type of bleeding, continuous hoarseness, a mole that changes shape, color or hurts, unexplained weight loss, fatigue that does not yield. If a symptom persists, you have to look at it.
In most cases it will be something unimportant, but it is the warning of an initial tumor. Remember again: to arrive on time is to win.
Why aren’t specific tests carried out to detect it before it spreads?
The answer is very complex. It is true that there are tumor markers that could indicate the presence of some type of cancer, but unfortunately, in most cases they would not discover an early cancer, but a cancer already installed. The usefulness of the test is thus considerably diminished.
But it is not about looking for complex or very expensive tests. Today, colon or prostate examination is extremely useful for early diagnosis. However, we do not go to them out of laziness or negligence. We have many tests at hand and we are not aware of the preventive power they have.
Other tests to “see” the tumors, such as CT, PET, etc. They are expensive and selective. They should be used for those specific cases when the situation of the patient so advises.
Can there be viruses that cause cancer?
Yeah. In fact there are several types of cancer that are related to viruses. the one of cervix, for example, although it is not directly caused by the papilloma virus, it does seem that infection by this virus is a necessary condition for this type of cancer to appear. Others, like the Kaposi’s sarcoma, it is directly related to the AIDS virus. And some others more.
What are precancerous lesions?
It is a way of understanding each other. Cancer is or is not, so that it is not possible to speak properly that there is something that is going to be a cancer. Having said this, it should be clarified that there are injuries that, indeed, can degenerate into a cancerous process and, for this reason, they demand continuous vigilance.
This is what happens, for example, with moles or nevus. They are not, of course, ‘precancer’, but they must be monitored because some, undoubtedly of a previous cancerous type, can evolve into a malignant tumor. There are many examples of these injuries: colon polyps is perhaps the clearest example, as the chronic smoker’s bronchitis waves repeated sunburns.
