-Constipation, diarrhea that doesn’t go away

-Frequent bleeding that comes with excrement

-Constant belly pain 

-Weight loss, fatigue

1: Diagnosis - see how far the cancer has spread (staging) and the size of the cancer.

Being obeese and inactive could cause Colorectal cancer. Over consumption of red, processed meat and alcohol can also cause colorectal cancer. Smoking is another major cause of colorectal cancer. People who have inherited gene changes (people who have a family history of colorectal cancer are also more likely to have it.)

The simplest treatment is to have the tumor surgically removed. This is effective in the early stages of colorectal cancer. However, if the cancer has spread, radiation or chemotherapy would have to be used. 

Surgical removal of the tumor is usually successful. However, it doesn’t guarantee the cancer wouldn’t come back. Therefore patients would still have to have regular checkups after the tumor has been removed. 

Stage 1 survival rate: 80-90%

Stage 2 survival rate: 65-75%

Stage 3 survival rate: 40%

Stage 4 survival rate: 10%

For chemo: Hair loss, loss of appetite, fatigue

For drugs: Potential nerve damage

Links: 

Image 3: https://www.msdmanuals.com/professional/gastrointestinal-disorders/tumors-of-the-gastrointestinal-tract/colorectal-cancer

Image 2:

Image 1:

Source: 

https://www.cancer.org/cancer/colon-rectal-cancer.html

Common early warning stages of breast cancer:

What are the causes?

Breast cancer can happen such as in increasing age, lifestyle, radiation exposure, obesity or passed on from family hereditary. The Breast cells in the milk-producing ducts or the lobules grow abnormally. The cells ignore the regulatory hormones and start dividing more than an average healthy cell would, forming a lump around the breast area. 

Best treatments

You can go to:

https://brcaonline.hkbcf.org/bchkonline/index.php/en/ 

If you have signs of breast cancer 

Effectiveness of treatment/statistics to support if available

Side effects/drawbacks/risks of treatments:

o   Blood or blood clots in the urine

o   Pain or burning sensation during urination

o   Frequent urination

o   Feeling the need to urinate many times throughout the night

o   Feeling the need to urinate, but not being able to pass urine

o   Lower back pain on 1 side of the body

§  90% of men and 85% of women survive Stage 1 bladder cancer for five or more years after diagnosis. This is when the cancer has started to grow into the connective tissue beneath the bladder lining.

o   Stage 2

§  45% of men and 30% of women survive Stage 2 bladder cancer for five or more years after diagnosis. This means the cancer has grown through the connective tissue layer into the muscle of the bladder wall. 

 

o   Stage 3

§  30% of men and more than 15% of women survive Stage 3 cancer for five or more years after diagnosis. This is when the cancer has grown through the muscle to the fat layer, and may have spread outside the bladder to places near it.

o   Stage 4

§  10% of men and women survive Stage 4 cancer for five or more years after diagnosis, This is when the cancer has spread to the wall of the abdomen or pelvis, or other parts of the body like the bones or lungs.

o   Tobacco use

§  People who smoke are 4 to 7 times more likely to develop bladder cancer than people who don’t.

o   Age

§  More than 70% of people who are diagnosed with bladder cancer are older than 65.

o   Gender

§  Men are four times more likely to get bladder cancer, but women are more likely to die from it.

o   Race

§  White people are two times as likely to get bladder cancer, but black people are two times as likely to die from it. 

Side effects of BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guerin, most commonly used type of immunotherapy for early-stage bladder cancer) are frequent needs to or pain when urinating, blood in urine, urinary tract infections, and flu-like symptoms (like fever or tiredness). Side effects of chemotherapy include irritation caused by its residue, and increasing the chance of having a child with birth defects, nausea, vomiting, hair loss, lack of appetite and tiredness. Side effects of radiotherapy may include diarrhoea, inflammation of the bladder (cystitis), infertility, tiredness, and difficulty passing urine.

 

Jaundice, abdominal pain, back pain, bloating, vomiting.

Medications, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgery (early stage)

Smoking and genetic mutations

Surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, 

Treatment of those in Stage I and II with a surgery have a 20-30% chance of living for 2.5 years after diagnosis.

Stage III and Stage IV have a 1 percent chance of living for five years after diagnosis.

Chemotherapy -

Prognosis at various stages: 

Causes:

Treatments:

Most effective treatment:

Side Effect of treatments:

Pictures
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Sources: 

Prognosis

Causes

Side effect of treatment

Treatment

Lung cancer doesn’t typically display symptoms in early stages. Instead, they appear during more advanced stages. Some examples of symptoms are excessive coughing, coughing blood, shortness of breath, chest pain, hoarseness in throat and voice, loss of weight, bone pain, and headaches.

Smoking and vaping are the leading cause of lung cancer through both firsthand and secondhand smoke, but lung cancer can also appear in people who have never smoked before, in which case, there is no clear cause for lung cancer.

Treatments for lung cancer are similar to other cancers:
- Surgery, in which a doctor cuts out the cancer from the lung
- Chemotherapy, injecting medicine that cause cancerous cells to shrink or die
- Radiation Therapy, using radiation to kill cancerous cells
- Targeted Therapy, using drugs to block the growth and spread of cancerous cells 

Up until 2019, the five year life rate has been about 17.2%, but since then, the five year life rate has been 21.7%, which is a 26% improval. This means lung cancer treatments over long term have been improving but the complete cure for lung cancer is rare and mostly in stage one cancer, which is hard to identify due to the lack of symptoms in the lower stages.

Some side effects of treatment for lung cancer include accidental harm of regular cells, nausea and vomiting, hair loss, and blood clots. Using treatments like chemotherapy that is meant to kill cancerous cells, there is also no way to prevent chemotherapy treatments from attacking regular cells too. Hair loss is caused by chemotherapy, but after the treatment, hair usually grows back 2-3 months after. Although you may experience nausea and vomiting, there are ways to treat them.

What are the symptoms

Statistics 
- 9,500 people in the US are diagnosed with skin cancer every day 
- five year survival rates for regional stage melanoma is 64%
- five year survival rate for distant stage melanoma is 23%

Prognosis

It is difficult to predict an outcome when someone has leukemia. There are many factors that may affect chances of surviving and recovering from leukemia, including genetic mutations, age and the patient’s general health.

 

Causes

Leukemia is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow, where rapid growth of abnormal cells takes place in the bone marrow of bones. These abnormal cells then spill into the bloodstream, taking over space inside the bone marrow. Unlike other cancers, leukemia generally doesn’t form into a tumour that can be seen in imaging tests such as X-rays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chance of Recovery

 

Types of Leukemia | ALL | AML | CLL | CML
  |   |   |   |  
5- year survival rate* | 68.60% | 28.30% | 85.10% | 69.20%
Number of deaths per 100,000 persons | 0.4 | 2.8 | 1.2 | 0.3
Death is highest among those aged | 65-74 | 65+ | 75+ | 75+

ALL- Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia AML- Acute Myelogenous Leukemia

CLL- Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia    CML- Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

 

Treatments and Risks

 

All these methods may end up harming normal cells as well, so targeted therapy is also an option. This treatment uses drugs that focus on the specific features of leukemia cells. They block the ability of leukemia cells to multiply and divide, cut off the blood supply needed for the cells to live, or kill the cells directly. This option is less likely to harm other cells.