CANCER

Cancer refers to a group of illnesses that result from cells in the body growing abnormally. These cells divide and produce new cells in an uncontrolled way that can spread through out the body and cause damage to essential organs. In the past 150 years, we have been misguided to think that cancer is a localized disease of dysfunctional cells. In reality, cancer represents a generalized dysfunctional state with local manifestations.

The study of cancer, called oncology, is the work of countless doctors and scientists around the world whose discoveries in anatomy, physiology, chemistry, epidemiology, and other related fields made oncology what it is today. Technological advances and the ever-increasing understanding of cancer make this field one of the most rapidly evolving areas of modern medicine.

Normal body cells grow, divide, and die in an orderly fashion. During the early years of a person's life, normal cells divide more rapidly until the person becomes an adult. After that, normal cells of most tissues divide only to replace worn-out or dying cells and to repair injuries. Cancer cells, however, continue to grow and divide and can spread to other parts of the body. These cells accumulate and form tumors (lumps) that may compress, invade, and destroy normal tissue. If cells break away from such a tumor, they can travel through the blood stream or the lymph system to other areas of the body. There, they may settle and form "colony" tumors. In their new location, the cancer cells continue growing. The spread of a tumor to a new site is called metastasis.

In spite of good advancements for diagnosis and treatment, cancer is still a big threat to our society. This is the second most common disease after cardiovascular disorders for maximum deaths in the world. Cancer will soon overtake heart disease as the world's top killer by 2010, according to WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer. Rising tobacco use in developing countries will be a huge reason for the shift, particularly in China and India, where 40% of the world's smokers now live. So is better diagnosis of cancer, along with the downward trend in infectious diseases that used to be the world's leading killer. New cancer cases will likely mushroom to 27 million annually by 2030, with deaths hitting 17 million. By 2050, there could be 75 million people living with cancer around the world, a number that many healthcare systems are not equipped to handle.
The treatable if diagnosed at an early stage. However, recently many new technologies have been invented which can be applied to patients who have been diagnosed at late stage of cancer. The three most common treatments are: i) Surgery, ii) chemotherapy and iii) Radiotherapy.
The modern practice of treatment is available at big cities, cost effective and having many side effects but in last few decades much attention has been given on medicinal plants which are applied in tribal people. The advantage of traditional medicine is availability in close surrounding, less costly and no side effects.
Under the supervision of Dr. H.P. Sharma many medicinal plants have been identified and proved to be anti-cancerous through experiments on cancer cell lines. However, further scientific study is essential before approval of medication.