Anyone can be affected by cancer regardless of age and background. Approximately 13 percent of people worldwide die annually from cancer. The most common of these death-causing cancers are lung cancer, stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, liver cancer and breast cancer.

Cancer in the modern age

Men are more prone to prostate cancer, and women to breast cancer. Cheap medical insurance providers often recognise this and provide coverage accordingly. Leukemia is the most common cancer to affect children. The study of cancer is known as Oncology, “onco” referring to tumors. The Latin word from which cancer is derived, means “crab”. The following section first describes what cancer is before the different types of cancers are discussed.

Cancer is the term used to describe cells that change, divide, and multiply abnormally, spreading via the blood and lymph systems to other tissues within the body. For this reason, there are many types of cancer, depending on the cell or organ of origin, causing more than one disease.

Cancer and medical insurance

Modern and sometimes cheap medical insurance is reflecting the newer, improved treatments available for cancer, which can often sustain life for longer in persons who fall ill to the condition. Medical insurance providers can help cancer patients at many stages of their care, often along the lines of heart and cancer medical insurance covers.

Cell function

Cells have function and comprise all living organisms, as the smallest component of life. As human beings, we are numerous types of cells (multi-cellular) approximating 100 trillion. The largest cells are located in the spine, the longest ones in the brain stem, and the smallest in the cerebellum of the brain. Prokaryote cells do not have a nucleus, while eukaryotic cells have a nucleus and are larger. Eukaryotic cells derive from prokaryote cells, containing DNA-bearing organelles. The natural progression of cells in the body for good health is that they grow, divide according to their genetic material, and multiply in a controlled or self-regulated way. Cells get older or damaged and die, being replaced by these new cells that have multiplied.

In Cancer, this controlled process of cell division goes wrong, primarily because the cell’s DNA changes through damage or irregularity, causing the cell to mutate with abnormal growth and division. As a result, the cells that should die and be replaced by new cells that have multiplied do not die. These new cells have nothing to replace and form a mass of tumor tissue. This is the uncontrolled cell growth that is referred to as cancer. Any part of the body can be affected by tumors, and some cancers also do not form tumors, such as when there is uncontrolled cell growth in the blood or bone marrow.