Cancer is a general term that refers to a disease that occurs when biological alterations induce uncontrolled cell growth and division. A cell is told to die so that the body can replace it with a newer, better-functioning cell. The components that tell cancerous cells to cease proliferating and die are missing. As a result, they accumulate throughout the body, consuming oxygen and nutrients meant for other cells.
Cancerous cells can create tumors, immune system impairment, and other alterations that prohibit the body from operating normally.
Cancerous cells may emerge in one location and then move to other parts of the body via lymph nodes. These are clumps of immunological cells that can be found all over the body.
According to the World Health Organization, the global cancer burden increased to 18.1 million new cases and 9.6 million deaths in 2018. One in every five men and one in every six women in the world gets cancer at some point in their lives, and one in every eight men and one in every eleven women dies from it.
There are numerous risk factors that contribute to the development of cancer. Lifestyle-related factors, in addition to biological, environmental, and occupational risk factors, play a substantial influence in the development of various types of cancer.
