Cancer- Handy Facts

One in three of us will be diagnosed with cancer during our life.

The disease tends to affect older people - but can strike at any time.

Excluding certain skin cancers, there were almost 290,000 new cases of the disease in 2005.

Some cancer, such as breast, are becoming more common, while new cases of lung cancer are expected to fall away due to the drop in the number of smokers.

However, while the overall number of new cancers is not falling, the good news is that successful treatment rates for many of the most common types are improving rapidly.

BBC News has produced, in conjunction with Cancer Research UK, a guide to some of the most common forms of cancer and the treatments used to tackle them.

Primary liver cancer, also known as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or hepatoma, is the fifth most common form of cancer but the third most common caus

Primary liver cancer, also known as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or hepatoma, is the fifth most common form of cancer but the third most common cause of death from cancer worldwide. Although it is more prevalent in other parts of the world, in the United States about 19,000 new cases are diagnosed each year, and most will die from the disease. Historically, the median survival rate has been about six months without therapy.
The incidence of liver cancer in the United States is currently estimated at around 3 per 100,000 persons, with significant gender, ethnic and geographic variations. However, these numbers are rising quickly and may be a gross under-estimate. For reasons that are not really clear, it is a predominantly male disease with a male:female ratio of 4:1.
Although all the causes of liver cancers are not known, we do know that the majority are caused by hepatitis B, hepatitis C and/or abuse of alcohol. Those factors typically lead to cirrhosis, which in turns leads to liver failure and/or liver cancer (HCC). Depending on the part of the world, dietary contamination may also be important. In the United States, obesity has recently been shown to be important in the development of cirrhosis, a predisposing factor to the development of HCC. (If you have one or more of these risk factors, speak with your physician about proactive screening tests.)

Lungs Cancer

The lungs are an essential life force for our bodies. The body cannot survive without the lungs ability to draw life-sustaining oxygen from the air and expel toxic carbon dioxide. The oxygen supplied by the lungs is necessary for the proper functioning of all our body's cells. Therefore, alterations in that ability affect every part of the body.Each lung is divided into lobes. Unlike other body parts, the lungs are not an exact match. The right lung is divided into three lobesupper, middle and lower. The left lung has two lobes- upper and lower. Each of these lobes functions as a mini-lung. This unique quality allows surgeons to remove one or more lobes, as is sometimes necessary for lung cancer treatment, leaving the remaining lobes unaffected and capable of sustaining life.The center of the chest is called the mediastinum. This is the part of the body that contains the heart, major blood vessels, lymph nodes and the esophagus. Pulmonary arteries and veins are responsible for carrying blood to and from the lungs. The pleura is a slippery membrane that lines your chest cavity and covers each of your lungs to allow the lungs to move smoothly.Inhalation delivers air to the lungs via the bronchial tree which consists of the trachea (wind pipe) and branches out into two bronchi leading to each lung. The branches continue into a tree like structure inside the lungs referred to as the bronchial tubes or bronchioles. There are more than 300 million alveoli, clusters of microscopic air sacs, contained at the ends of the bronchioles. The alveoli are responsible for the transferring of oxygen and carbon dioxide. As cells receive oxygen, they release carbon dioxide and other toxic substances into the blood stream. Carbon dioxide then passes from small blood vessels called capillaries into the alveoli. When we exhale we expel carbon dioxide into the air. With our next breath the entire process begins again.