Cancer

Cancer is the general name given to lots of different forms of the same kind of illness. The condition is caused by cells in the body becoming out of control. They grow and spread out, and attack other types of tissue in the body.

Sometimes the cells invade other organs, like the lungs or liver, other times the cells attack the blood, bone marrow or the lymph glands. In some cases, the cells spread out across the body, but don't invade tissue. Instead, they just grow into a lump, or a mass, which is called a tumour.

All of these individual types of cancer have different names, like Lymphoma or Leukaemia. The medical name for cancer is Carcinoma, and things which cause cancer, like Asbestos fibre and Coal tar are known as Carcinogens.

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