Understanding cervical cancer. In many women, infection with certain types of human papillomavirus (HPV) is the first step in the progression from a normal cervix to cervical cancer. Recognized as the main cause of cervical cancer, sexually transmitted HPV induces the growth of abnormal cells that can become malignant.

Some experts feel that these changes are unlikely to progress to cancer in healthy women who don't smoke or have other cervical cancer risk factors.

Precancerous Conditions
It usually takes many years for cancer of the cervix to develop, but the process also can take place in less than 12 months.


As cancer cells form, cells of abnormal size and shape appear on the surface of the cervix and begin to multiply.

Cervical dysplasia is the term used to describe the early growth of abnormal cells on the cervix that could progress to cancer. Cervical dysplasia is usually the first stage of cervical cancer, but women who have cervical dysplasia do not always develop cervical cancer.
"Dysplastic" cells look like cancer cells, but they are not considered malignant because they remain on the surface of the cervix and have not invaded healthy tissue.

Understanding precancerous conditions, these are classified in three ways:

CIN I - This classification involves mild dysplasia, in which abnormal cells are limited to the outer one-third of the surface cell layer (epithelium) that lines the cervix. This classification includes cell changes caused by the human papillomavirus. It is common in young women and appears most often between the ages of 25 and 35.

CIN II - This classification involves moderate dysplasia, in which abnormal cells make up about one-half of the thickness of the surface layer (epithelium).

CIN III - This classification involves severe dysplasia, in which the entire thickness of the epithelium is composed of abnormal cells, but these cells have not yet spread below the surface. This category is also called carcinoma in situ. Severe dysplasia is most common in women between the ages of 30 and 40.

Without treatment, severely dysplastic cells are likely to penetrate deeper layers of the cervix and spread to other organs and tissues. This process, which may not occur until months or years after the abnormal cells first appear, is called invasive cervical cancer.




Understanding Pap Test Classification

The results of Pap tests are often classified by a method known as the Bethesda system. According to this system, the Pap report will state:
Whether the sample is good or not (describing samples as either satisfactory, suboptimal, or unsatisfactory)
Whether the results are normal or abnormal
Abnormal results are divided into three categories:
Atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS)
Low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LGSIL)
High-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HGSIL)

1. ASCUS. This category describes Pap smears in which there are abnormal cells on the surface of the cervix.

2. LGSIL. This category is used to describe Pap smears that show mild dysplasia. In mild dysplasia, abnormal cells are limited to the deepest one-third of the epithelium (surface cell layer) that lines the cervix. Also known as CIN I, this category includes cell changes caused by human papillomavirus (HPV).

3. HGSIL. This category describes Pap smears that show either:
Moderate dysplasia (also known as CIN II), with abnormal cells making up about one-half of the thickness of the surface lining

Severe dysplasia (also known as carcinoma in situ or CIN III), in which the entire thickness of the epithelium is composed of abnormal cells, but such cells have not yet spread below the surface.

The information on Understanding Cancer is only to be used as a guide, please consult your doctor if you have any inquiries.

Understanding Cancer Guide: Life After Cancer

Delores, cancer survivor: "Your last day of treatment is a day to celebrate! When treatment is over it can be difficult sometimes to get back to your normal pre-cancer life. The diagnosis of cancer dominates your life for so long, when treatment is over it takes a while to get back into your regular routine. I think I find my anniversary of being diagnosed a time of mixed emotions. You are thrilled to have made it another year of being cancer-free, yet you are also reminded of the anguish you went through."

When treatment ends, people begin a new chapter in their lives, one that can bring hope, happiness, and maybe fear. The fear of recurrence or relapse is common among cancer survivors and can sometimes be quite intense.

Delores, cancer survivor: "The most difficult thing for me as a survivor is having a 'history' Any aches or pains I have result in numerous tests. I am a runner and I was having pain in my hip. I went to the doctor and after a couple of appointments I had a bone scan followed by an MRI. I was very fortunate that it was not cancer and I just needed a new pair of shoes!"
Follow-up appointments with your doctor and anniversaries of your cancer diagnosis can bring mixed emotions.

Kay, cancer survivor: "I have regular follow-up tests to be sure that I'm cancer-free, which gives me peace of mind and understanding. Even though my dermatologist tells me that she would be comfortable checking me out every 6 months or even annually, she was also very agreeable to seeing me every 3 months at my request--for my own comfort level. I admit that for the first few years, every time my anniversary came around my anxiety level increased, mostly because I went through a battery of tests. To help me through this, I always had someone go with me to the tests. However, the anniversary of my diagnosis is not a special date to be recognized or feared any more. I feel fortunate to be a survivor of many years and I'm grateful for each morning I awake and am able to get out of bed."

Returning to everyday life
Although each person with cancer looks forward to getting back to normal life, the process can be challenging. Everyone deals with these challenges in their own way.
Kay, cancer survivor: "Getting back to the normal activities of life, especially playing sports, was the greatest therapy for me. When I was diagnosed, I just wanted to get the operation and treatment behind me so that I could get on with my life. Although I never dwell on my situation or the possible outcomes, the reality that this disease could come and take me at any time and I have to understand this. I can't keep myself from thinking these thoughts. Still, I do make a conscious effort to think positive, make plans for the future, make sure to have regular follow-up testing for early detection, eat a healthy diet, and get regular exercise."

Understanding relationships outside the family
Cancer can change the pattern of relationships outside the family as well as those within. Friends may not keep in touch for a variety of reasons. They may not know how to respond to a change in how you look or may avoid you so they don't have to think about the possibility of your death or be reminded that we all must die someday and understand this. Your cancer may also bring back memories of a loss or death they had in the past. Some people may shy away from you and not know how to talk to you. Still, the fact that your friends don't know how to talk to you right now doesn't lessen the hurt and frustration of being isolated or singled out. Some people may say things that sound insincere, trite, or hurtful. Remind yourself that they are probably trying their best. If you are open to talking about your experience with cancer, they may relax too.

If your career is an important part of your life, going back to work as soon as you are physically able is one way to return stability to your life. If treatment has made you unable to go back to your previous job, look into rehabilitation and retraining programs in your community. When you do go back to work you may find that your relationships with your co-workers have changed. You may feel "back to your old self," but they may not be as comfortable around you as they were before. Some may act like you didn't have cancer, and not talk about that part of your life. Or, they may see you look well and are able to function and underestimate the seriousness of what you've been through. Co-workers may be unsure of what to do or say or may try to protect your feelings.

Understanding Cancer's Do's and Don't's

Parents of cancer kids often find it hard to talk frankly to family and friends. They find that some friends can't understand their situation and never call, they find that someone they hardly knew before becomes their best friend and helper. Family and friends in turn sometimes just don't know the right thing to say to or do for a cancer family. The following is a collection of posts on this topic.

Some ideas of things to do for cancer families

Clean their house for when they come home from the hospital.
Get them a gift certificate for video rentals.
Buy CDs or cassette tapes for the child undergoing chemotherapy. Perhaps even get them a Walkman or Discman if they do not have one. Or, an MP3 player.
Puzzle books, reading books, and activity books, especially for the siblings. Many parents could use help with the other children.
A night or day of babysitting.

Messages from cancer families
(What they want to say to you but probably don't.)

Don't take "no, we don't need any help" from a family as their final response...ask again. Don't say, "Well, call if you need something" - we probably won't call. We are not used to needing help from others and do not know (1) that we need it and (2) how to say yes. If you really mean it when you say you want to help, you must come up with your own ideas... such as "I'd like to mow your grass" or "I will babysit....(the younger sibling if any) this week-end" or "I will be snow-blowing your drive-way for the season." or "Let me stay with you son overnight at the hospital so you can get some rest." And if you make such an offer and we refuse, we may be refusing because we really don't need help like that at the moment, but please call back in a week or two and try again!

What if we told you that a guy with no background in science or medicine - not even a college degree - has come up with what may be one of the most promising breakthroughs in cancer research in years?

Well it's true, and if you think it sounds improbable, consider this: he did it with his wife's pie pans and hot dogs.

His name is John Kanzius, and as correspondent Lesley Stahl first reported last April, he's a former businessman and radio technician who built a radio wave machine that has cancer researchers so enthusiastic about its potential they're pouring money and effort into testing it out.

Here's the important part: if clinical trials pan out - and there's still a long way to go - the Kanzius machine will zap cancer cells all through your body without the need for drugs or surgery and without side effects. None at all. At least that's the idea.

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The last thing John Kanzius thought he'd ever do was try to cure cancer. A former radio and television executive from Pennsylvania, he came to Florida to enjoy his retirement.

"I have no business being in the cancer business. It’s not something that a layman like me should be in, it should be left to doctors and research people," he told Stahl.

"But sometimes it takes an outsider," Stahl remarked.

"Sometimes it just - maybe you get lucky," Kanzius replied.

It was the worst kind of luck that gave Kanzius the idea to use radio waves to kill cancer cells: six years ago, he was diagnosed with terminal leukemia and since then has undergone 36 rounds of toxic chemotherapy. But it wasn't his own condition that motivated him, it was looking into the hollow eyes of sick children on the cancer ward at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

"I saw the smiles of youth and saw their spirits were broken. And you could see that they were sort of asking, 'Why can't they do something for me?'" Kanzius told Stahl.

"So they started to haunt you. The children," Stahl asked.
"Their faces. I still remember them holding on their Teddy bears and so forth," he replied. "And shortly after that I started my own chemotherapy, my third round of chemotherapy."

Kanzius told Stahl the chemotherapy made him very sick and that he couldn't sleep at night. "And I said, 'There’s gotta be a better way to treat cancer.'"

It was during one of those sleepless nights that the light bulb went off. When he was young, Kanzius was one of those kids who built radios from scratch, so he knew the hidden power of radio waves. Sick from chemo, he got out of bed, went to the kitchen, and started to build a radio wave machine.

"Started looking in the cupboard and I saw pie pans and I said, 'These are perfect. I can modify these,'" he recalled.

His wife Marianne woke up that night to a lot of banging and clamoring. "I was concerned truthfully that he had lost it," she told Stahl.

"She felt sorry for me," Kanzius added.

"I did," Marianne Kanzius acknowledged. "And I had mentioned to him, 'Honey, the doctors can't-you know, find an answer to cancer. How can you think that you can?'"

That's what 60 Minutes wanted to know, so Stahl went to his garage laboratory to find out.

Here's how it works: one box sends radio waves over to the other, creating enough energy to activate gas in a fluorescent light. Kanzius put his hand in the field to demonstrate that radio waves are harmless to humans.

"So right from the beginning you're trying to show that radio waves could activate gas and not harm the human-anything else," Stahl remarked. "'Cause you're looking for some kind of a treatment with no side effects, that's what's in your head."

"No side effects," Kanzius replied.

To read the rest of the story click here

Cancer is a group of many related diseases that begin in cells, the body's basic unit of life.

Normally, cells grow and divide to produce more cells only when the body needs them. Sometimes, however, cells become abnormal and keep dividing to form more cells without control or order, creating a mass of excess tissue called a tumor. Tumors can be malignant (cancerous) or benign (not cancerous).The cells in malignant tumors can invade and damage nearby tissue and organs. Cancer cells can also break away from a malignant tumor and travel through the bloodstream or lymphatic system to form new tumors in other parts of the body.Most cancers are named for the organ or type of cell in which they begin. For example, cancer that begins in the lung is lung cancer, and cancer that begins in cells in the skin known as melanocytes is called melanoma. When cancer cells spread (metastasize) from their original location to another part of the body, the new tumor has the same kind of abnormal cells and the same name as the primary tumor. For example, if lung cancer spreads to the brain, the cancer cells in the brain are actually lung cancer cells. The disease is called metastatic lung cancer (it is not brain cancer).Use the links below to find information on specific types of cancer, including treatment options, expertise at The James, clinical trials, and frequently asked questions.

Common Cancers
Bone Cancer
Brain Cancer
Breast Cancer
Endocrine Cancer
Gastrointestinal Cancer
Gynecologic Cancer
Head & Neck Cancer
Leukemia
Lung Cancer
Lymphoma
Multiple Myeloma
Prostate Cancer
Skin Cancer
Soft Tissue Sarcoma

Understanding How Cancer is Diagnosed?

Cancer, also called malignancy, is characterized by an abnormal growth of cells.

There are more than 100 types of cancer, including breast cancer, skin cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, and lymphoma.Cancer symptoms vary widely based on the type of cancer.

Cancer treatment includes chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. If you’re considering complementary treatments for cancer, discuss this with your doctor as they may interact with other cancer treatment.
What Is Cancer?

Cancer is the general name for a group of more than 100 diseases in which cells in a part of the body begin to grow out of control. Although there are many kinds of cancer, they all start because abnormal cells grow out of control.
Untreated cancers can cause serious illness and even death.
How a normal cell becomes cancer

Normal body cells grow, divide, and die in an orderly fashion. During the early years of a person's life, normal cells divide more quickly until the person becomes an adult. After that, cells in most parts of the body divide only to replace worn-out or dying cells and to repair injuries.

Cancer cells develop because of damage to DNA. This substance is in every cell and directs all of the cell's activities. Most of the time when DNA becomes damaged, either the cell dies or is able to repair the DNA. In cancer cells, the damaged DNA is not repaired. People can inherit damaged DNA, which accounts for inherited cancers. Many times though, a person’s DNA gets damaged by things in the environment, like,chemicals, viruses, tobacco smoke or too much sunlight.
How cancers differ

Cancers can begin in many different parts of the body. But, different types of cancer can act very differently. For example, lung cancer and breast cancer are very different diseases. They grow at different rates and respond to different treatments. That's why people with cancer need treatment that is aimed at their particular kind of cancer.

How cancer spreads (metastasis)
Because cancer cells keep growing and dividing, they are different from normal cells. Instead of dying, they outlive normal cells and continue to grow and make new abnormal cells.
Cancer usually forms as a tumor (a lump or mass.) Some cancers, like leukemia, do not form tumors. Instead, these cancer cells involve the blood and blood-forming organs, and circulate through other tissues where they grow.

Cancer cells often travel through the bloodstream or through the lymph system to other parts of the body where they begin to grow and replace normal tissue. This spreading process is called metastasis.

Even when cancer has spread to a different part of the body it is still named for the place in the body where it started. For example, breast cancer that has spread to the liver is metastatic breast cancer, not liver cancer. Prostate cancer that has spread to the bone is called metastatic prostate cancer, not bone cancer.

Remember that not all tumors are cancerous. Benign (non-cancerous) tumors do not spread to other parts of the body (metastasize) and are very rarely life-threatening.

How common is cancer?

Half of all men and one-third of all women in the US will develop cancer during their lifetimes. Today, millions of people are living with cancer or have had cancer. The risk of developing most types of cancer can be reduced by changes in a person's lifestyle, for example, by quitting smoking, limiting time in the sun, being physically active, and eating a better diet. The sooner a cancer is found and treated, the better the chances are for living for many years.