Added: 02/06/2006 |
Cancer symptoms and signsCancer symptoms can be different depending most of all on its type and where it is located. For example, symptoms of a gastric cancer will definitely differ from lung or breast cancer symptoms. Still, there are still common signs for all types of cancer. Cancer symptoms can be divided into local and systematic symptoms. Local symptoms are included in the signs that refer directly to the cancerous formation. It can be characterized by bleeding, swelling, ulcers, and much more.
Some cancers many provoke specific symptoms of depression. Local symptoms are specific for different kinds of cancer. For example, breast cancer can be locally characterized by a firm lump in the breast that is usually painless and swelling skin on the breasts or on the underarms, prominent veins on the breast, inverted nipples, changes in your skin texture, specific discharge, and sometimes a depression can be detected in many people dealing with any type of cancer.
Other types of cancer don't provoke any exterior changes from the beginning. For example, colon caner affects the large intestine on different levels. The main symptom of this disease is constipation that sometimes becomes diarrhea. Sometimes, when the cancer doesn't have too much volume, it can show no symptoms for a long period of time. Symptoms only start to appear when the formation obliterates the intestinal lumen.
Systemic cancer symptoms include general signs which are usually characteristic for all types of cancer in the last stages of their evolution. These include weight loss, cachexia, weakness, excessive sweating, and more. Pain is seldom present in the insipient stages of the disease. But, there are certain types of aggressive cancer with several ulcers and hemorrhages that can be very painful. Also, the pain is very specific to voluminous tumors that are compressing neighbor tissues, nerves, and organs.
When the cancer begins to spread, local and systemic symptoms are associated with metastasis symptoms. The symptoms of metastasis are dependant on their location. Mostly metastasis is affecting, liver, lungs, bones, lymph nodes, and the brain. Therefore, the signs and the symptoms will depend on the spread site. Liver metastasis can cause a large liver, yellow skin, and sclera. It can also cause a loss of appetite, excess fluid in the abdomen, and much more. Lung metastasis can provoke a cough, chest pain, blood in the sputa, shortness of breath, and much more.
Bone metastasis is characterized by bone pain, a pathological fracture of the affected bone, anemia, and leucopenia. The metastasis of the brain can create a great number of specific symptoms that are neurological disorders such as: dizziness, headaches, weakness, visual disorders, speech impairment, and much more depending on the portion of the brain that was affected and the stage the disease is in, and much more. Therefore, you can see that there is much information to be gotten from learning about cancer signs and symptoms.
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