Hippocrates gave cancer ( Greek for crab ) its name because it spread through
tissues like the movements of a crab. At first oncogenes, genes with highly
specialized functions were said to be the " cancer genes ". This of
course was wrong as oncogenes promote normal cell division and growth as well as
the repair and replacement of damaged cells. Cancer starts when one out of as
many as one trillion cells goes awry. When first damaged the cell loses its
external controls and then the internal controls defect. From this it tries to
develop a new set of internal controls by multiplying at a rapid pace which
spreads colonies throughout the body. Cancer has been said to have two steps:
mutation and promotion. During mutation the cell has been hit and permanently
damaged; the cell is primed and ready to be molded known as a cancer cell
Promotion is the cell division of the cancerous cell which then loses its
controls- it then compensates itself by becoming an autonomous body Cancer can
take 10 - 15 years to become fully developed, this depending on the cause or the
aggressiveness of the tumour. Mature cells tend to progress slower. Metastases
is the final stage when cancer is spread through the body by blood vessels or
lymphatic channels. Single metastases can be cured usually by surgery or
radiotherapy and multiple metastsases is cured by chemotherapy . Metastases
follows a path- from the primary tumour to a specific organ or organs. The organ
metastases effects the most is the lungs since all the blood in the body travels
there.