Summary: Dr. Rodvien discusses what cancer is and what the causes of cancer are. Cancer is made up of cells that grow in an uncontrolled manner or that do not die on time. Usually although we may look like all of ourselves are living with us as we move from day to day, week to week, and month to month, all of our cells are being born, then living for a relatively short time, and then undergoing death to be replaced by other cells. It is only when cells accumulate within an area of our body, and then develop the capacity to spread to other organs such as our liver lung, brain or bone, that we are either living with cancer or being threatened by that cancer. Cancers then, are a group of diseases that we name by the organ where they begin. When they spread elsewhere we still name them by the initial organ where they began but we now say that the cancer is metastatic to another area. An example would be: cancer that has spread or is metastatic to the liver. Pathologists also describe cancers by what they look like under the microscope and these words are added to the others to give a more complete description of the cancer.
