Crucial Issues Related to Cancer, Examination of the Disease, Diagnosis, and Treatment

Approach to Care
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Approach to Care
While there may be countless diseases around the globe, there are a few diseases that hit the headlines every few days. They have special departments in nearly all hospitals and medical universities. They are a nightmare to every individual, institution and government. A lot of resources in terms of funds and time are spent in efforts to mitigate their occurrences and manage existing cases. Among such diseases is cancer. Cancer is defined as the uncontrolled division of cells (Hosking & Goh, 2010, p.56). Unlike cancer cells, normal cells remain nearly constant in the count through cell division and differentiation process. Cancer cells are malicious and lead to adverse effect in the operations of other cells leading to detrimental health implications. There has been a global call for the fight against cancer, with a number of organizations leading in research and funding of the projects. In an effort to contribute to the world fight against cancer, this paper addresses crucial issues that relate to cancer. The discussion is subdivided into various stages starting from the examination of the disease, diagnosis and treatment.
Examination is defined as the identification of the specific nature of a disease through the analysis of symptoms. In many instances, abnormal results are obtained when an illness is diagnosed. To counter this problem, doctors often use a series of tests such as laboratory tests, screening and x-rays, test the presence or absence of cancer cells. However, the mere presence of cancer symptoms does not necessarily mean that the patient has cancer. Upon screening and detection of cancer cells, doctors conduct further investigations to ascertain the presence of the disease. This is mainly done by interrogating the life history of the patient or their family lineage (Fawcett & McQueen, 2011, p. 58).
Laboratory tests are among the examinations carried out on a patient. This involves testing the patient’s body fluids, such as blood or urine, for certain signs that are common in cancer patients. Other procedures that may be carried out on patients include imaging procedures such as CT scan, nuclear scan, ultra sound, PET scan and x-rays (Pories, Moses & Lotz, 2009, p. 89). With the nuclear scan, a radioactive material is injected into the patient and allowed to collect in some parts of the body such as bones. As the body gets rid of them, observations are made to detect any abnormalities. Another procedure that may be carried out on a patient is a biopsy treatment (Fawcett & McQueen, 2011, p. 58).
The other important aspect of cancer is staging. Staging may be defined as a way in which the extent of the damage caused by cancer by the time of diagnosis is explained. There are many ways that cancer is described, but the most common ways are in situ, localized, regional, distant and unknown cancer. In situ cancer implies that cancer cells are present but have not spread to nearby cells. Localized cancer means that cancer cells are present in the areas they started and have not shown any sign that they have spread. Regional cancer is used to describe cells that have already spread to nearby lymph nodes, organs or tissues....