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Learning About Cancer
This section is designed to help people with cancer and their families better understand the disease, its causes and its treatment, and provides information on the following:
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What is Cancer:
Cancer is a group of more than 100 different diseases characterized by the uncontrolled, abnormal growth of cells. These cells form a lump or mass called a tumor. This section contains information about cancer.
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Statistics:
Following heart disease, cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. In 2007, more than 1.4 million new cancer cases will be diagnosed and about 560,000 cancer deaths will occur in the United States. This section contains general statistics about cancer.
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Risk Factors:
A risk factor is anything that increases a person's chance of developing a disease, such as cancer. This section provides an overview of risk factors.
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Genetics:
Genetics is the study of how traits and diseases are inherited from one generation to the next. This section provides information on genetics and cancer, genetic testing, and genetic information for individual cancer types.
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Prevention:
It is estimated that one-third of deaths from cancer can be prevented. Learn about ways to prevent and lower your risk of cancer, including information about chemoprevention, cancer screening, diet and nutrition, physical activity, tobacco, and weight control, based on information from the ASCO Curriculum Cancer Prevention.
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Early Detection and Screening:
Early detection and cancer screening are two important areas for cancer treatment. Cancer treatment is more likely to be successful when the cancer is diagnosed before it has spread.
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Staging:
Staging is the process of describing the size and location of the tumor(s) and whether the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. This section provides an overview of staging.
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Clinical Trials:
Information on clinical trials and patient safety, steps involved in the research process, questions to ask the research team, and links to find cancer clinical trials.
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