Description, Diagnosis, and Staging of Cancer The Description of Cancer

Description, Diagnosis, and Staging of Cancer The Description of Cancer

While there are different types of cancer, they have a similar process of genesis. According to Roots Analysis (2018), “fundamentally, cancer is the result of the accumulation of a number of harmful mutations in the genetic code of cells, leading to the formation of abnormal cells” (p. 35). These abnormal cells, which may contain about sixty different mutations, divide uncontrollably, and create tumors. The researchers note that about five hundred cancer cells are permanently present in the human body (Roots Analysis, 2018). The immune system controls the number of existing cancer cells and their proliferation by detecting and eliminating them. However, specific accumulated mutations allow cancer cells to avoid immune system detection mechanisms.

The Diagnosis of Cancer

Cancer diagnosis includes many different screening methods nowadays. Diagnostic methods include lab tests, imaging tests, and biopsy. Lab testing is a procedure during which a specialist takes a sample of bodily fluids or tissue to find tumor markers that are indicatives of the condition (“How cancer is diagnosed,” 2019). Specialists determine a tumor’s presence and where it is located through imaging testing (“How cancer is diagnosed,” 2019). There are a number of different methods for scanning the human internal organs, such as x-rays, MRI, and ultrasound. A biopsy is one of the most often-applied testing approaches for cancer cases. It is important to note that “a biopsy is a procedure in which the doctor removes a sample of tissue” for further microscopy analysis and pathology report (“How cancer is diagnosed,” 2019, para. 23). The doctors use these diagnostic methods depending on the patient’s condition and type of cancer.

Staging of Cancer

The conventional cancer tumor staging system is called The TNM Classification. T stands for tumor; this parameter is used to describe the original tumor’s size and the adjacent tissue affected. N stands for lymph node and is “used to describe regional lymph node involvement of the tumor” (Rosen & Sapra, 2020, para. 4). M means metastases and is applied by doctors to indicate metastases presence outside the original tumor. These three parameters form a five-stage descriptive model, where Stage 0 is the possibility of cancer, and Stage IV is metastatic cancer.