About Hereditary Nonpolyposis Colon Cancer
Hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer (HNPCC) is a heritable type of cancer that affects the digestive tract, most often the colon, as well as the endometrium, ovaries, brain, skin, liver or bile ducts, and the urinary tract. In the United States,...
Hereditary Tests for Breast Cancer
The breasts are hormonally-regulated tissues that undergo a series of growth and development cycles throughout life. Breast cancer, the uncontrolled proliferation of cells within the breast, is a progressive and devastating disease that can be...
Hereditary Aspects of Breast Cancer
Over 200,000 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed every year in the United States, according to the National Cancer Institute. Between 5 and 10 percent of these cases are believed to be due to an inherited predisposition, where a genetic...
Breast Cancer Hereditary Factors
In women, breast cancer is the most common cancer in the United States, with 207,090 cases being diagnosed annually, according to the National Cancer Institute. A number of risk factors are linked to an increased potential of developing breast...
About Hereditary Nonpolyposis Colon Cancer Syndrome
More than 100,000 cases of colon cancer occur in the United States each year. About 5 percent of these are linked to hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer syndrome, or HNPCC, also called Lynch syndrome. The term "nonpolyposis" simply differentiates...
Signs of Genetic Diseases
Genetic diseases have a wide spectrum of presentations ranging from mild in individuals unaware of their condition to severe, resulting in death at a young age. Single-gene disorders are caused by mutations that affect individual genes. Examples...
Causes of Genetic Breast Cancer
According to the National Human Genome Research Institute, or NHGRI, hereditary breast cancer accounts for as much as 27 percent of all female breast cancer. The hereditary forms of breast cancers occur when a gene change, or mutation, linked to...
What Are the Risk Factors of Thyroid Cancer?
New cases of thyroid cancer were diagnosed in approximately 37,200 people in the United States in 2009, according to the American Cancer Society. The thyroid gland is a butterfly-shaped gland that produces hormones that help to regulate various...
Breast Cancer & Its Risks
The second leading cause of death of women in the United States, according to Women'sHealth.gov, breast cancer affects one in eight women during their life time. While these statistics are frightening, most women with breast cancer are survivors....
Characteristics of Retinoblastoma
According to Dr. Kelly Maloney, of The Children's Hospital of Denver, in "Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Pediatrics," there are 200 to 300 cases of retinoblastoma every year. Ninety percent of the cases are diagnosed in children who are...
About Colon Cancer
Colon cancer is the third-most common cancer in both men and women in the United States. For men it is surpassed by prostate and lung cancer, and for women by breast and lung cancer. Though not preventable, colon cancer has a high cure rate when...
Breast Cancer Risk Assesment Tools
According to the National Cancer Institute, breast cancer risk assessment, or assessing a patient's risk for breast cancer, identifies risk and estimates probability of breast cancer allowing appropriate preventive screening and risk reduction...
Cancerous Cell Characteristics
The National Cancer Institute states there are more than 100 different diseases that fall under the category of cancer. Although cancers differ by the site of the body in which they originate and other factors, cancer cells of all types share...
5 Things You Need to Know About Bone Cancer
Bone cancer originating in the bones' tissues is called primary bone cancer. This type of cancer is quite rare, affecting approximately 2,000 Americans annually. More commonly, cancer originates in another organ and subsequently spreads or...
How Does Colon Cancer Start?
The growth and death of cells in the colon usually is carefully regulated by the body. Colon tumors, the Mayo Clinic explains, is the result of changes in cells in the colon that causes them to grow in an unregulated way. Sporadic genetic...
Super Foods to Fight/Prevent Cancer
Super foods are foods shown to have health benefits because of their nutritional values. Health benefits can include preventing hypertension, Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some types of cancer. Cancer is a disease that occurs when...
Blood Tests to Detect Ovarian Cancer
Cancer of the ovaries causes approximately 15,000 deaths annually and remains the number one cancer killer of the female reproductive system. Ovarian cancer kills because its detection often comes late in the disease after it spreads. Early...
Factors That Increase a Person's Risk for Brain Cancer Tumors
The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2010, more than 22,000 people in the United States will be newly diagnosed with a brain or spinal cord tumor. The exact cause of brain tumors is not understood completely, but several risk factors can...
Causes of Cancer of the Pancreas
Cancer of the pancreas is on the increase in the United States, according to the National Cancer Institute, NCI. It currently ranks fourth in causes of cancer deaths in the U.S. Pancreatic cancer arises in either of the two parts of the...
The Cause of Male Breast Cancer
The cause of breast cancer in men is unknown. The medical community has identified certain risk factors that make men more prone to developing breast cancer. Radiation exposure, hormones and genetics sometimes play a part in male breast cancer....
Causes of Kidney Cancer
Kidney cancer can arise from any of the structures in the kidneys. According to the National Cancer Institute, it includes renal cell carcinoma, arising from the cells lining the small tubes of the kidney, renal pelvis carcinoma, arising from the...
What Are the Causes of Antral Carcinoma?
Antral carcinoma describes gastric cancer arising from the lining of the stomach in the portion of the stomach called the antrum. According to the American Cancer Society, ACS, the antrum is part of the lower portion of the stomach before the...
About Risk Factors for Pancreatic Cancer
Most pancreatic cancers arise from the cells producing digestive juices, called exocrine cancers. Cancer also arises in pancreatic cells that produce hormones, known as endocrine cancers, but these prove to be rare. According to the Mayo Clinic,...
A Predisposition for Colon Cancer
Colon cancer is the result of small growths in the colon developing the ability to spread throughout other tissues in the body. Some patients have a genetic predisposition to developing colon cancer, which can result from certain hereditary...
Genetic Factors of Prostate Cancer
The prostate, a part of the male reproductive system, is made up of a number of cell types that work together to perform a range of actions that support male reproductive function. Prostate cancer develops when any of the cell types within the...
Exercising With Hereditary Spherocytosis
Hereditary spherocytosis is a genetic disorder characterized by rigid, misshapen red blood cells that are destroyed in the spleen. Exercising with hereditary spherocytosis may be challenging because of the lack of red blood cells to transport...
Disadvantages of Genetic Testing
Due to recent discoveries of new genes and the development of new testing methodologies, the availability of genetic testing has increased dramatically. Several companies now offer direct-to-consumer genetic testing through which individuals can...
5 Things You Need to Know About Colorectal Cancer In Children
Colorectal cancer occurs in children when growth and reproduction of abnormal cells form in the lining of their colon or rectum. The abnormal cells are the cancer cells and they rapidly multiply and invade normal tissue. They may spread to other...