Cancerous tumours

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Cancerous tumours

Cancerous tumors

Overview

Illustration de l’appareil de l’homme pour un cancer prostate

Nowadays, advanced techniques are used to produce an extremely accurate diagnosis. In addition, multiple effective therapeutic approaches can halt or slow the progression of the disease. In most cases, the prognosis is encouraging.

Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer in men. It is sometimes indolent, sometimes fatal and it causes little or no symptoms at first. Although it strikes on average around the age of 67, it can affect men in their forties or fifties. In Quebec, nineteen (19) men are diagnosed daily.

Although the incidence of prostate cancer continues to increase, the latest advances in treatment have reduced the risk of death. Indeed, considerable progress has been made in terms of invasive surgeries or specific radiation therapies to treat certain forms of prostate cancer, which in turn has reduced the risk of complications and has allowed for a faster recovery.

The exact causes of prostate cancer remain largely unknown. However, research has highlighted some risk factors.

Facts and figures

Illustration des 3 zones de la prostate de l’homme cancer prostate

Key points

Generally speaking, cancer is characterized by uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells. It can affect any type of cell in an organ, a gland, muscle tissue, blood or the lymphatic system.

Under normal conditions, the cells in our bodies contain all the information they need for their development, function, reproduction and death. Usually, our cells do their work properly and we remain healthy. However, sometimes a few of the cells do not behave normally and begin multiplying uncontrollably, eventually forming a group of abnormal cells. After a while, this group forms a detectable lump known as a tumour.

Over time, the malignant cells in cancerous tumours can invade neighbouring tissue or organs. They may even spread to the rest of the body through the blood or lymphatic system. This stage is known as “metastasis.”

In the case of prostate cancer, the secretory cells are usually the ones that become cancerous. Once the cancer has been diagnosed, treatment is determined depending on the stage of the disease and the overall health of the patient.

Types of prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is a very heterogeneous disease, some progress very slowly while others are more aggressive. In reality, most cases are somewhere between the two. For the moment, science does not have the tools to accurately predict the growth rate of a person’s cancer once it has been diagnosed. Clinicians use a variety of information to estimate the speed of the cancer.

About 14 percent of Canadians suffer from “clinical” prostate cancer, meaning their disease has been detected by a doctor and officially diagnosed. However, studies of autopsy reports have shown that another 30 percent of men have latent cancer, meaning the cancerous cells lie dormant in the prostate. Although present, the cancer does no harm because it does not attack the body. Not all men develop latent prostate cancer, but the probability of doing so increases with age.

According to the current state of knowledge, prostate cancer is one of the few cancers that can remain in latent form for such a long period of time. Researchers are trying to understand why some cancers remain latent while others develop into full-blown diseases. While it is generally believed that risk factors and genes play an important role in the development of clinically significant cancer, the precise mechanism is still unknown.

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