Half of the Deadly Cancer Patients Do This Habit

There is one habit that is carried out by people with deadly cancer.

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — Cancer with unknown primary or Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUP) is often considered a dangerous and deadly case. Although the origin of the cancer is unknown, about half of CUP patients have something in common. The similarity is having a smoking habit.

Reported from BestLife Online, Wednesday (22/6/2022), CUP is basically cancer that has spread to other parts of the body but it is not known where the original cancer started. The original cancer or primary cancer can go unidentified for several reasons.

One of them is the size of the cancer that is too small to be seen. Another reason, the original cancer that appears first may have been defeated by the body’s immune system or removed unnoticed in a surgical procedure performed to treat other problems.

The diagnosis of CUP is considered dangerous because the original cancer is unknown. On the other hand, cancer treatment works by targeting a specific type of cancer. Without knowing the original cancer that triggered CUP, the response to treatment is less effective.

According to Cancer Research UK, CUP is a type of cancer that is often deadly. Life expectancy within one year after the diagnosis of CUP is only around 16 percent.

Although initially unidentifiable, experts found that half of the CUP patients had similar behaviors. The similarity is having a history of smoking.

Smoking habits are often associated with lung cancer. In fact, about 90 percent of lung cancers are related to smoking. However, this unhealthy habit can also trigger cancer in various other parts of the body.

“Smoking may be an important risk factor for CUP. More than half of CUP patients have a history of smoking,” explains the American Cancer Society.

At the time of autopsy studies, many cases of CUP were found to originate from the pancreas, lungs, kidneys, throat, larynx, or esophagus. Smoking, adds the American Cancer Society, can increase the risk for all types of cancer.

QuestDirect’s Senior Medical Director, Jeffrey Dlott MD, explains why smoking can be so detrimental to health. Dlott said cigarettes contain thousands of chemicals, dozens of which are carcinogens or cancer triggers.

Toxins from tobacco smoke can also cause damage or even changes to cell DNA. This condition can trigger uncontrolled cell growth and the occurrence of cancer tumors.

“Toxins in cigarette smoke also weaken the body’s immune system, meaning it is more difficult to kill cancer cells once they have formed in the body,” says Dlott.

Regarding symptoms, please note that CUP is not a single disease. Therefore, CUP can cause very diverse symptoms. Some of the symptoms of CUP that are often experienced by patients are pain, lumps under the skin, changes in bowel movements, cough, urinating more frequently, fever, night sweats, or weight loss.

Dlott recommends that people always pay attention to what happens to their bodies. If you feel something is different or unusual, don’t hesitate to consult a doctor. Dlott also strongly encourages people to have regular health checks to find potential health problems early.