Cancer Research Project

CANCER RESEARCH PROJECT

By Chantal Deller

Cancer is a group of diseases that are cell-related. In the event of cancer, regular body cells begin changing and growing in improper ways. Regular cells grow, divide and eventually die off. Irregular cells (cancerous cells) simply keep growing and divide out of control - they don't die.

Different types of bodily tissues are made up by different types of bodily cells - bone cells make up bone tissue, for example. Because of this, the different types of cells that can become cancerous become different types of cancer - cancerous bone cells become bone cancer, for example, while cancerous breast cells cause breast cancer.

Cancer cells usually group together to form a 'tumour' - an abnormal mass of tissue. The tumour can destroy or invade normal cells situated close to it and cause pressure on and destroy bodily tissue surrounding it.

Cancer cells can break away from the original tumour and travel to other areas of the body. These can clump together again to form new tumours. The act of tumours spreading is called metastasis, and this is how cancer is spread throughout the body: migration of cancerous cells. Cancer can be either primary or secondary - primary cancer is denoted by the first location of the tumour, whereas secondary cancer is any cancerous tumour or tumours that have been spread (or metastasised) from the original tumour.

Cervical cancer is caused by malignant (cancerous) tumours in the cervix. It is the second most common cancer found in women all over the world, and is the third leading killer. The human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is responsible for over 90% of cervical cancers (and is known to be responsible for multiple other types of cancer). Further research has shown that in nearly all cases, a patient must be infected with HPV to develop cervical cancer, and so cervical cancer is viewed by the medical society as a sexually transmitted disease, though the virus can be contracted by simple skin-to-skin contact.

In its early stages, symptoms of cervical cancer can include abnormal vaginal bleeding, offensive-smelling vaginal discharge and masses in the vagina. However, for most women early stages of cervix cancer are often asymptomatic. In later stages of the disease, tumours may be present in the abdomen or lungs, as well as other parts of the body. Pain in the pelvic area, legs and back, as well as blood in urine or uncomfortable urination are symptoms of advanced stages of the disease.

Fortunately, in this modern age of vaccines and PAP tests, cervical cancer is largely preventable. The disease, if discovered before Stage II (of the four cervical cancer stages), can be treated with a >85% survival rate. Diagnosing cervical cancer most often starts with a Pap test (doctors recommend that all women who are either sexually active or over the age of 18 go for these tests annually). In this test cell samples are taken from the cervix and taken to the lab for microscopic evaluation. In the event of abnormal results, there is a further diagnosis which may be performed in a number of ways, most popularly Colposcopy and Conization. Treatment normally consists of surgery and radiation therapy.

Cancer treatment is a long, complicated and costly procedure that can span months to years to even decades. There is no undisputed cure for any kind of cancer and also no guarantee that the cancer will not come back after treatment. Annual cancer costs can exceed $50,000AU a year per patient and the overall treatment cost of all Australian patients exceed $2 billion dollars a year. These high expenses for cancer are often paid not in hopes of a cure, but simply to prolong the life of a patient. $50,000 is a lot of money to pay for an extra few years of life - that's one of the many reasons to focus on preventing cancer rather than worrying about a cure when it's too late.

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