Cancer Basics

Photomicrograph of a blood smear showing leukemia cells. Until 1958, cancer was not considered to be a genetic disorder. by Dr. Eva Pietrowski D.O

Cancer is the second leading cause of death among all people in the United States. This year (2007), in the United States roughly 1.4 million people will be diagnosed with cancer, and about 40% of that number, 570,000, will die of cancer. The statistics are disturbing because cancer is indiscriminate. Although there are certain factors, such as smoking, pollution, and genetic predisposition, which increase an individual’s risk of getting caner, everyone, even the healthiest person, is at risk. Much progress has been made in understanding, preventing, and eliminating cancer, but a general "cure" is not in sight.

Eat Well, Get Fit, Stop Smoking — Prevent Cancer

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If you wanted to start today to reduce your chances of getting cancer, what would you have to do? Lose excess weight, get more exercise, eat a healthy diet and quit smoking. Those basic behavior changes would have a tremendous impact on the incidence of the most prevalent types of cancer - lung, breast, prostate and colon cancer - says Graham Colditz, M.D., Dr.P.H., associate director of Prevention and Control at the Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Cigarette Smoking as a Cause of Cancer

by Donald R. Shopland

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Tobacco use, particularly in the form of cigarette smoking, is the single most preventable cause of excess mortality in the United States. Each year, more people die prematurely from smoking than die from automobile accidents, drug abuse, AIDS, and alcohol combined (USDHS, 1989). An estimated 434,000 Americans died as a result of their smoking last year alone. Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop has called cigarette smoking "...the chief, single, avoidable cause of death in our society and the most important public health issue of our time" (USDHS, 1982).