What Is Cancer?
Learn more about cancer in the following videos from hospitals and medical companies.
Video: The Anatomy of Cancer
“Cancer is this constellation of over 200 different diseases,” says Timothy C. Birdsall, chief medical information officer with Cancer Treatment Centers of America.
One out of every two men and one out of every three women will develop cancer, Cancer Treatment Centers of America says. It can develop anywhere in the body because there are cells all throughout the body. Learn more in the video above from Cancer Treatment Centers of America.
Video Animation: What Is Cancer?
Here’s a medical animation from BioDigital depicting the cancer-induced growth of a tumor.
About Leukemia
See an overview of Acute lymphocytic leukemia symptoms and treatment options. This medical animation shows how this type of leukemia forms.
Video: What is Acute lymphoblastic leukemia?
World Medical School offers this video review of the diagnosis and treatment of Acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Explore Treatment Options
Video: Stem Cell Transplants
Stem cell transplants are operations that destroy cancer cells. Learn about the process from the Cancer Treatment Centers of America.
The Henry Ford Health System in Michigan has produced this video that shows the different types of stem cell and bone marrow transplants.
About Proton Therapy
Beginning late 2015, North Texas cancer patients won’t have to leave town to get proton beam therapy. It’s an advanced form of radiation treatment using energized particles or protons to destroy cancerous cells.
Dr. Andrew Lee is medical director of The Texas Center for Proton Therapy. He launched a similar operation at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Dr. Lee talked with KERA’s Sam Baker about proton therapy.
Proton therapy vs. X-ray radiation: “X-ray therapy typically, even with high energy, will deposit most of its radiation before the tumor, and will keep on depositing radiation dose after the tumor. Whereas in proton therapy, you may have some entrance dose, but the majority of the radiation is deposited at the site of the tumor and there’s no radiation deposition after the tumor.”
What kinds of cancer are treated: “Almost anything that can be treated with conventional x-ray therapy is also treated with proton therapy. That includes brain tumors, tumors of the head and neck, lung cancer, prostate cancer and, of course, pediatric malignancies.”
Adults benefit from proton therapy, but why children especially: “Largely because their tissue is still developing. So even low radiation exposure to developing tissue can cause a significant delay, not only in the development, but also in the function.”
Listen To The Conversation With Dr. Lee