Basics of Cancer: Prognosis and Diagnosis

Cancer is a disease characterised with uncontrolled cell growth and proliferation. Cancer is the second leading cause of death after cardiovascular diseases. Cancer is a very complex disease which can affects any organ or cell of the body. Cancer precedes with the formation of cell mass referred to as tumour. There are two types of tumours, viz., benign and malignant. There are several types of cancers which are broadly classified into carcinomas, sarcomas, leukemia and lymphomas, which are further subclassified into several other types. Staging of cancer is very important since it acts as a marker of prognosis. Staging of cancer also follows different systems of classification of which majorly used in clinical practice is TNM staging system. Diagnosis involves laboratory, imaging, specific and surgical procedures, of which confirmatory diagnosis being biopsy (surgical technique). Treatment of cancer includes one or more modalities depending on the stage, location and type of the cancers. Various modalities of treatment available for cancer are surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, endocrine therapy, hypothermia and cryotherapy, immunotherapy, stem cell therapy and gene therapy. The current chapter helps in understanding the basics of cancer taken from the definition, types, classification of stages based on various system, various diagnostic techniques available along with different modalities of cancer treatments. Efforts are made to simplify the complex medical topic into easy understandable context.