Is a Cough a Sign of Cancer?
A cough can potentially be a symptom of a health concern, but in the overwhelming majority of cases that include a cough, the cause is unrelated to cancer.
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What Causes Cancer? 9 Risk Factors to Know About
Researchers have established some of the main factors that can increase or decrease your overall cancer risk.
Can Obesity Cause Cancer?
What is the relationship between obesity and cancer? Being obese increases one’s risk for a multitude of health complications and diseases, including several types of cancer. Obesity has been linked to thirteen types of cancer with a stronger risk associated with breast, esophageal and endometrial cancers, among others.
Is Heartburn/Acid Reflux a Sign of Cancer?
Most of us are familiar with the burning feeling in the chest associated with heartburn, a common ailment caused by acid regurgitation into the esophagus.
Stomach Cancer: How Immunotherapy and Targeted Therapy are Changing Treatment
The approval of a targeted therapy and an immunotherapy drug for some patients with advanced stomach cancer reflects recent new approaches to this difficult-to-treat cancer that hasn’t had many therapeutic advances in recent years. Stomach cancer, uncommon in the United States but a leading cause of cancer death globally, causes few definitive symptoms in early … Read more
What is the Relationship Between Tea and Cancer Prevention?
Drinking tea has been a practice around the world since ancient times, and often has been seen as a way of promoting good health. Whether tea – either the green or black varieties – can reduce the risk of cancer is a question that has been studied, but hasn’t yielded a definite answer. Made from … Read more
Vitamin D: Can It Prevent or Slow Cancer?
Vitamin D may prevent or slow some types of cancer, according to some intriguing studies. However, the evidence is not yet definitive, and no recommendations currently exist on taking extra vitamin D to prevent cancer. What is vitamin D? Vitamin D is a nutrient that helps the body use calcium and phosphorus to build bones … Read more
When Is Weight Loss a Sign of Cancer?
Everyone’s weight fluctuates over the course of life, rising or falling with changes in diet and exercise, and with the normal slowing of metabolism that occurs as we age. When weight loss occurs for no apparent reason – especially if the drop is dramatic – a variety of physical or psychological causes could be responsible. … Read more
What Are the Symptoms of Stomach Cancer?
Though relatively rare in the United States, stomach (gastric) cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. This disease can be difficult to treat because most people are diagnosed after the cancer has spread beyond the stomach to the liver, lymph nodes, or other organs, when it begins to cause symptoms. While physical … Read more
Does Drinking Alcohol Cause Liver Cancer?
Worldwide, more than 700,000 people are diagnosed with liver cancer – a leading cause of cancer death – each year. Does drinking alcohol cause liver cancer? Although alcohol is a risk factor for liver cancer, it’s not the most common one. Chronic infection with the hepatitis B or C virus is the leading risk factor … Read more
What’s New in Cancer Immunotherapy?
Keeping up with progress in the field of cancer immunotherapy requires paying close attention. The number of approved drugs that help the body’s immune system fight cancer continues to grow, as does the list of different cancers in which immunotherapy is proving effective – in some cases yielding dramatically longer-lasting benefits than standard chemotherapy. A … Read more
How to Reduce Your Risk of Oral Cancer
Each year, more than 48,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with oral or oropharyngeal cancer, which occurs in the oral cavity – lips and cheeks, gums, tongue, floor or roof of the mouth – and the oropharynx, referring to the back of the mouth, the tonsils, and the base of the tongue. While … Read more
How Does Alcohol Cause Cancer?
This blog post was originally published on the Cancer Research UK science blog. It is reposted here with minor edits. In a cabinet in London’s British Museum nestles a 5,300 year-old wedged-shaped tablet called a cuneiform. On its surface is scrawled one of the earliest forms of written language in the world. And it’s a … Read more
Cancer and Alcohol: What You Should Know
Several studies have linked alcohol consumption to a higher risk of many cancers, including breast, mouth, throat, larynx, esophagus, liver, and colon and rectum. The risk rises with the amount of alcohol consumed. The type of beverage doesn’t matter – the culprit is the alcohol itself. Breast cancer and alcohol Many studies have specifically linked alcohol … Read more
Immunotherapy, Targeted Drugs, Brain Cancer Research Among Highlights at Cancer Meeting
Eagerly awaited new data from trials of immunotherapy drugs, vaccines to treat brain tumors, and improved treatments for blood cancers sparked waves of optimism at the year’s biggest cancer meeting. The 2015 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) drew about 30,000 cancer specialists to Chicago May 29 – June 2. Immunotherapy, … Read more
Which U.S. States Have the Highest Cancer Rates?
In a country as geographically vast as the United States, and with a large and mobile population, it’s not surprising that cancer rates vary by region, by state, and even by localities within states. Geographical differences exist in overall cancer rates and in specific types of cancer, according to 2019 data published by the U.S. Centers for … Read more
Five Things You Need to Know About Stomach Cancer
Medically reviewed by Peter C. Enzinger, MD Although not a common type of cancer in the United States, stomach (gastric) cancer is the second leading cancer death worldwide, and affects more men than women. “The United States’ risk is much less because of hygiene and the safety of foods we eat, and more to do … Read more
50 Years of Discovery: Advances in Colorectal Cancer Treatment
The fight against cancers of the digestive system – including colorectal, stomach, esophageal, hepatic, and pancreatic cancers – has made significant progress in the past 50 years, especially in prevention and early diagnosis of colorectal cancer, where screening with tests such as colonoscopies is continuing to make a major impact. “In some areas we have done … Read more
Do Men and Women Have Different Symptoms of Colorectal Cancer?
While there are slightly more incidences of colorectal cancer in men (71,860 new cases projected in the U.S. in 2014) than women (65,000), both men and women generally exhibit the same symptoms of the disease, according to Jeffrey Meyerhardt, MD, MPH, clinical director of the Center for Gastrointestinal Oncology at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center.
Trouble Swallowing: What You Need to Know
Difficulty swallowing, known as dysphagia, can come in many forms. Some people with dysphagia may experience issues in the oral phase or mouth. This is characterized by one or more of the following: holding food in the cheek without being aware of it due to weakness difficulty moving the food around the mouth leakage of … Read more