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Types of cancer

Cancer is a very large group of diseases which can affect every part of the body. Some cancers start one part of the body and break off and form a secondary cancer in another place in the body. There are more than 100 different types of cancer and most carry a name related to where they originated from.

Neuro oncology refers to cancer of the nervous system which includes the brain, cranial nerves, meninges, pituitary gland and the spinal cord.

•    Brain cancer is a leading cause of cancer related death. Brain tumours can be slow to grow and many are benign meaning they don’t have cancerous cells. These are easy to remove and don’t often recur.

More than 1400 malignant brain tumours are diagnosed in Australia each year These are cancerous, life threatening and interfere with brain function as they grow and press on sensitive tissue. Research has increased survival rates amongst people who have brain cancers although mortality rates are still high.

•    Bone-There are many primary bone cancers (called sarcoma) including osteosarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma, malignant fibrous histiocytoma, and chondrosarcoma which starts in the bone but they are rare and account for less than one per cent of all cancers

The more common secondary bone cancer begins in another part of the body such as prostate, breast and lung and spreads to the bone.

•    Oesophageal – which affects the tube from the mouth which carries food and liquid to the stomach.

Head and neck cancers affect tissues of the mouth, lips, throat, sinuses, salivary glands, ears, nose, eyelids and lining of the cheeks and gums with secondary cancers spreading to the neck lymph glands from other parts of the body.

If you are diagnosed with a head or neck cancer your lymph nodes will be checked and this can help doctors determine how far the cancer may have spread.

Around 85 per cent of head and neck cancers are linked to tobacco use and smoking. Treatments include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy or a combination.

•    Throat –Cancer in the pharynx (the tube behind the tongue connecting to the oesophagus (stomach)) or larynx (the voice box) is more common in males and its incidence increases with age. Alcohol, smoking or chewing tobacco increase risk.

•    Thyroid cancer affects the hormone producing gland  located at the bottom of the neck at the front of our body. It’s most common in women between 20-65.

Skin cancers (melanoma and non-melanocytic) are caused by exposure of fair skinned people to ultra violet radiation and a history of sunburn.

•    Melanoma is the most common cancer in Australia for 15-44 age groups with around a thousand people dying each year. The tragic aspect of this is that the cure rate for melanoma is almost 100 per cent if detected early. It develops on the outer layer of the skin called the epidermis and the most common types are basal, squamous cell cancer and melanocytes which appear first as a mole.

•    Malignant melanoma (cancer of the skin) can spread to all areas of the body.

Digestive system

•    Liver-primary liver cancer is when abnormal cells or growths start in the liver while secondary liver cancer starts in another part of the body and spreads to the liver.

•    Pancreatic cancer affects the organ located behind the bottom of the stomach called the pancreas which produces hormones such as insulin and digestion juices.

•    Stomach cancer produces abnormal cell growth on the lining of the stomach in the upper abdomen

Respiratory cancers

•    Lung- The two main lung cancers are small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer which often forms in a lump or tumour in the lining of the lungs and air passages. Some malignant cells spread to other parts of the body through the blood or lymph system and these are called secondary cancers. 87 percent of all lung cancers are connected to tobacco exposure.

•    Urology/ colon cancer affects the bladder, kidney, testis, penis, ureter and adrenal.

•    Kidney-is also known as renal cancer when growths affect the functioning of the kidneys.

•    Bladder with abnormal growths or tumours occurring mostly in white males over 65 although but it isn’t uncommon in younger people.

•    Colon-can occur anywhere in the large intestine

Male reproductive cancers – andrology

•    Prostate cancer is most common men’s cancer in Australia and usually affects men over 50.

•    Testicular tumours or abnormal cell growth can appear in one or both of the testicles, most commonly in men aged between 15 and 35 although it isn’t a particularly common cancer.

•    Penis cancer is rare but it affects flat cells lining the penis. Symptoms are colour changes, lumps, skin thickening, bleeding or discharge.

•    Haematological cancers produce abnormal blood or bone marrow cells.  They are rare and make up less than 5% of cancers.  Chemotherapy and advances in the last 20 years have helped an increased number of patients stay in remission.

•    Leukaemia is a cancer of white blood cells which develops in bone marrow. Oral drug treatments can kill mild forms of leukaemia while aggressive leukaemia may need many months of chemotherapy or bone marrow transplants.

•    Lymphoma and Hodgkin’s disease develop in the lymphatic system through the body’s disease fighting white cells. Many need no but high grade lymphomas Hodgkin’s disease will need chemotherapy often combined with radiotherapy. If the disease returns, stem cell transplant using a patient’s own bone marrow cells collected before chemotherapy may be returned after treatment.

•    Multiple Myeloma is a blood disease which causes abnormal growth in the bone marrows plasma cells. There’s no cure but chemotherapy can manage it well for many years.

Gynaecological cancers are the fifth most common cause of cancer death in women in Australia

•    Breast- the most common cancer in women with 10 different types which usually begin in the duct lining or less frequently in the milk sacs. Each has a different growth rate with some fast forming while others are very slow to develop. Between 1983- 2002, the number of Australian women diagnosed with breast cancer more than doubled.

•    Cervical cancer has abnormal cell growth in the uterine cervix of only women who are sexually active. In its pre- cancerous stage which lasts for several years, it can be detected by a pap smear. Risk increases after 20-35 years of age, with the use of the oral contraception pill and with every partner a woman has.

•    Endometrial cancer affects the lining of the uterus and is most common in women aged 55-69.

•    Ovarian has three different types

- epithelial (from a surface cell of the ovary)

- germ cell (or egg making cell)

- sex cord stromal tumours in the layers where the egg sits in the ovary.

•    Uterine cancer or cancer in the lining of the womb is not as common as the non cancerous growths called fibroids. It occurs mostly in women between 60 -69 who have gone through menopause but women as young as 30 have been diagnosed.

•    Vulva usually affects women aged between 70-79 years but it is increasing n women aged between 30-50. This cancer often occurs with cervical cancer and shares many of the same risk factors including age, increasing number of sexual partners, exposure to the human papilloma virus (HPV)

Paediatric or childhood cancers can involve many of the adult cancers and the incidence is around one in 330 will develop a cancer in childhood.

the odds of your child developing cancer by the age of 19 is approximately 1 in 330.

Cancers include brain tumours,

•    leukaemia (which makes up 35 % of childhood cancers),

•    neuroblastoma (abdomen or spinal tumour),

•    retinoblastoma (affecting the retina in the eye),  

•    rhabdomyosarcoma (lump or swelling in muscle soft tissues)

•    lymphomas (affecting any part of the body but particularly neck, armpit and groin), Wilm’s (kidney) and bone cancers etc.

•    osteosarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma -the most common childhood bone tissue cancers