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DIAGNOSING CANCER

Learn about your diagnosis

Being diagnosed with cancer can be a frightening and confusing time, with you and your loved ones facing many unknowns. Your oncologist will talk you through as many of those unknowns as possible in order to help you understand your cancer diagnosis and what to expect, so that you can decide on the best treatment plan for you, together.

Diagnosis-and-Prognosis

What is cancer?

Cancer is the name given to a group of diseases that can happen anywhere in the body, where some of the body’s cells grow uncontrollably and abnormally, and spread to other parts of the body. The body is made up of trillions of cells, and cancer can start in any of them. Our cells multiply through cell division, to form new cells as the body needs them. Sometimes this process breaks down, and gene changes cause a cell (or cells) to grow and multiply too much, which can cause a tumour.

How is cancer diagnosed?

A cancer diagnosis usually starts when a patient visits their doctor with a symptom or symptoms, or following a routine screening that has shown some abnormalities. Concerning symptoms are not always caused by cancer, and are more often caused by another issue. Your doctor will carry out a physical exam, and run tests or procedures that are needed to get to the bottom of what’s causing your symptoms. If the tests show that you do have cancer, your doctor will conduct further tests to find out as much about the cancer you have as possible. Once the stage it’s at is determined, the best treatment plan for you will be put in place.

What does prognosis mean?

Prognosis is a term used to describe the predicted course of a disease. People often use the word to refer solely to a patient’s ‘life expectancy’, chance of survival, or how long they are likely to live after their diagnosis. But, ‘prognosis’ is a broader term than that; it can also refer to the likelihood that a disease can be cured as well as the outlook for a patient making a functional recovery. It might also account for the level of care or support a patient may need in order to navigate daily life.

What is a tumour?

When cells grow and multiply in an abnormal way, they can 'collect' together into a lump of tissue (or a mass of cells) called a tumour. Tumours can be benign or malignant.

BENIGN TUMOURS

Benign tumours grow slowly and don't spread to other parts of the body, and don't always need treatment. If a benign tumour is not causing symptoms, it's possible that it can just be monitored – however it may need to be treated further down the line.

MALIGNANT TUMOURS

Malignant tumours are cancerous. They often grow fast and can spread to other parts of the body in a process called metastasis. Malignant tumours must be treated in order to prevent them from spreading throughout the body. Common treatments are a combination of chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation therapy.

Common tests for diagnosing cancer

There are a number of different tests and procedures that your doctor may use to diagnose cancer, such as:

LABORATORY TESTS

Lab tests of your urine, blood, or other bodily fluids can show abnormalities that can point towards a cancer diagnosis (for example, a blood test could reveal an unusual number of white cells that would indicate leukemia). Abnormal lab results are not, however, a definitive sign of cancer.

IMAGING TESTS

Imaging tests create pictures of your organs and tissues that help doctors to see what's happening inside your body. Imaging tests include CT Scans, MRIs, PET Scans, Ultrasounds and Mammograms.

BIOPSIES

In most cases, doctors need to do a biopsy to definitively diagnose cancer. During a biopsy, your doctor will take a small sample of tissue from your skin or body. A pathologist will then look at the sample under a microscope, and run some other tests to determine if the tissue has cancerous cells. A biopsy sample can be taken in several ways: with a needle, an endoscopy, or surgery.

Understanding statistics about cancer survival

Researchers have collected data over many years about people with similar cancers, and doctors use those statistics to better predict outcomes for recovery. There are nuances to this, and outcomes are individual, but there are a number of different statistics used to get the best overview.

CANCER-SPECIFIC SURVIVAL

This statistic measures the percentage of patients with a specific cancer type and stage who have not died from their cancer within a certain period of time after their diagnosis. It could be 1, 2, or even 5 years, but 5 years is the time period most often used. Cancer-specific survival may also be referred to as disease-specific survival.

RELATIVE SURVIVAL

This is another way doctors can estimate cancer-specific survival chances, however it is the percentage of cancer patients who have survived for a certain period of time after their diagnosis when compared to people who do not have cancer.

OVERALL SURVIVAL

Overall survival statistics means the percentage of people with a specific cancer type and stage who have not died from any cause during a certain length of time after their diagnosis.

DISEASE-FREE SURVIVAL

The disease-free survival statistic is the percentage of patients who have no signs of cancer after certain period of time post-treatment. This may also be referred to as the recurrence-free or progression-free survival rate.

Different types of cancer

There are lots of different types of cancer, with most named after the area in which they originate (i.e. lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer etc.). Doctors divide the various different types of cancer into four main categories, defined by how and where the cancer begins.

CARCINOMAS

A carcinoma originates in the epithelial layer of the skin or the lining of the internal organs, and are the most common type of cancer.

SARCOMAS

A sarcoma is a rarer type of cancer that starts in tissues like bone or muscle. Soft tissue sarcomas can develop in soft tissues like nerves, fat, fibrous tissues, muscles, blood vessels, or deep skin tissues. Although most are found in the arms and legs, they can be found anywhere in the body.

LEUKEMIAS

Leukemia is a cancer of the white blood cells in the blood and bone marrow, hindering the body's ability to fight infection. The 4 main types of leukemia are acute and chronic lymphocytic leukemia and acute and chronic myeloid leukaemia.

LYMPHOMAS

Lymphoma is a type of cancer that originates in the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system is the network of vessels and glands in your body that help to fight infection. There are 2 main types of lymphomas; Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

How does cancer spread?

Cancer can spread from where it started (the primary tumour or site) to other parts of the body. The process of cancer spreading in the body is called metastasis.

Cancer cells can break away from a malignant tumour, and travel to other areas of the body via the bloodstream or the lymph system. These ‘escaped' cancer cells usually die or are killed before they settle in a new area of the body and begin to grow. However one or two cells might find a new area of the body and begin to multiply, forming new tumours.

Cancer cells have to go through several changes (mutations) before they spread to new parts of the body. The earlier cancer can be detected, the less chance the cancer has to metastasise and the greater the opportunity for successful treatment.

Further information

Contact the central customer service centre on

[email protected] or 0860 NETCARE (0860 638 2273)

Please note that the centre operates on weekdays between 08:00 and 16:00.

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