It is possible to prevent some cancers with a vaccine 2:27
(CNN Spanish) --
Every February 4, World Cancer Day is celebrated.
It is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.
So much so that in 2020 alone it was the cause of almost 10 million deaths worldwide, according to the most recent figures from the WHO from 2021.
It is a disease that develops when changes occur in a group of normal cells in the body that have "abnormal and uncontrolled" growth and produce tumors.
Latin American innovations that give hope to cancer patients
One of the most unfortunate features of this disease is that abnormal cells multiply "beyond their usual limits" so they can invade adjacent parts of the body or spread to other organs.
This process is called "metastasis" and is the leading cause of death from cancer, says the WHO.
In 2020, almost 10 million deaths were recorded worldwide from this cause and about 70% of those deaths were recorded in low- and middle-income countries, adds the WHO in 2021.
In the Americas, cancer is the second leading cause of death.
It is estimated that by 2020 four million people were diagnosed with this disease in 2020 and 1.4 million died from it, according to the Pan American Health Organization.
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This is an increase in figures compared to 2018, when 2.9 million people were diagnosed in the region and 1.3 million died from this disease.
PAHO said in 2021 that 47% of deaths occur in people 69 years of age or younger, "when they are in the prime of their lives."
By 2040 cases are projected to rise to about 30 million new cases.
The 2018 estimate was that by 2024 cancer cases will increase to more than 4 million new cases and 1.9 million deaths.
The WHO says that between 30% and 50% of cancers can be prevented "by avoiding risk factors and implementing existing evidence-based prevention strategies."
Many types of cancer have a high chance of being cured if diagnosed early and treated properly, says the WHO.
October is breast cancer prevention month.
What are the causes?
Cancer develops due to various alterations that may include the interaction of genetic factors and external agents, such as: alcohol consumption, overweight and obesity, poor diet, lack of physical activity, tobacco use, ultraviolet and ionizing radiation, among others.
Genetics, age, and those with a weak immune system are also prone to developing cancer, according to the World Cancer Day page.
Experts point out that "diets high in red meat, processed meat, and salty foods, and low in fruit and vegetables, have an impact on cancer risk, particularly colorectal, nasopharyngeal, and stomach cancers."
How can you prevent cancer?
There are two approaches and several useful recommendations
What are the most common types of cancer?
By 2018, breast cancer in women had overtaken lung cancer as the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the world, according to a study published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
There were an estimated 2.3 million new cases of female breast cancer in 2017, accounting for 11.7% of all new cancer cases.
The most diagnosed types of cancer worldwide for 2020 were (2021 figures from WHO):
Breast cancer (2.26 million cases)
Lung cancer (2.21 million deaths)
Colorectal cancer (1.93 million cases);
Prostate cancer (1.41 million cases);
Skin cancer (non-melanoma) (1.20 million cases)
Gastric cancer (1.09 million cases)
On the other hand, according to the most recent figures for the Americas from PAHO, the most frequently diagnosed types of cancer in men are:
Prostate — 21.7%
Lung — 8.9%
Colorectal — 7.8%
Bladder 4.5%
Melanoma of the skin — 3.4%
The deadliest in men are:
Lung — 18%
Prostate — 11.1%,
Colorectal — 9.4%,
Liver — 6.1%
Stomach — 5.6%
In women, the most commonly diagnosed types of cancer are:
Breast — 25.4%
Lung — 8.5%
Colorectal 7.9%
Thyroid — 5%
Cervical — 3.8%
The deadliest in women are:
Breast — 13.2%,
Lung — 12.3%
Colorectal — 7%
Cervical — 5.3%
Ovary — 3.9%
Although there are many cases, the most common types of cancer are not necessarily the ones that generate the most deaths.
According to 2021 figures from the WHO, those that produced the most deaths were:
1. Lung cancer
1.8 million deaths in 2020.
The most common cause is cigarette smoking.
Cigarette smoking causes about 90% of lung cancer deaths;
and this practice causes more than 480,000 deaths each year in the United States alone, or almost one in five deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC.
Male smokers are 25 times more likely to develop lung cancer than non-smokers, while women are 25.7 times more likely, according to the CDC.
This type of disease has few symptoms in the early stage.
But later it manifests with:
frequent cough
Chest pain
Difficulty breathing
wheezing
Repeated episodes of pneumonia or bronchitis
Hoarseness
Cough with excess mucous and bloody or rust-colored phlegm
To prevent it avoid smoking, and if you do, stop doing it.
Avoid being a passive smoker in your home and work.
2. Colorectal cancer
It claimed the lives of 935,000 people in 2020, according to the WHO.
This type of cancer affects the lower intestinal portions of the digestive system, the colon, and the rectum.
Tumors can develop anywhere in the colon or rectum.
If colorectal cancer cells spread outside the colon or rectum, they often travel to nearby lymph nodes (sometimes called lymph glands).
Colorectal cancer can also spread to other parts of the body, especially the liver, and sometimes to the lungs, bones, and other organs.
Symptoms of colorectal cancer include
Diarrhea or constipation;
Feeling that the intestine does not empty completely;
Blood in the stool;
Frequent gas pains or cramps;
Weight loss for no known reason;
Fatigue
nausea or vomiting
The risk of developing colorectal cancer is strongly related to family history: Compared to the general population, people with a family history of colorectal cancer face about twice the risk of developing the disease.
Most patients with this disease and over the age of 50 are diagnosed in the early stages, but a 2019 American Cancer Association study revealed that the majority of younger patients and survivors of this disease, 71% They said they were diagnosed at advanced stages 3 and 4.
The American Cancer Society updated its colorectal cancer screening guidelines in 2018 to recommend that average-risk adults be screened starting at age 45 instead of 50, as previously advised.
Screening options can range from having a highly sensitive fecal test annually to having a colonoscopy every 10 years.
Colorectal cancer is highly treatable if detected early.
The American Cancer Society lowered the recommended age to start screening from 50 to 45 in 2018. The tests can find precancerous growths and remove them.
Treatment for this type of cancer includes surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy.
A study published in 2019 found that anal cancer cases and deaths are increasing dramatically in the United States, especially among older people and young black men.
From 2001 to 2015, cases of the most common type of anal cancer increased 2.7% per year, while anal cancer death rates increased 3.1% per year from 2001 to 2016.
3. Liver cancer
This type of cancer caused 830,000 deaths worldwide in 2020, according to the WHO.
The liver is the body's largest internal organ, and because it performs so many vital functions, you can't live without it.
The liver is also susceptible because cancer from other organs can metastasize or spread to the liver, especially colorectal cancer.
Symptoms include:
unexplained weight loss
Fatigue
Feeling full after a small meal
Lack of appetite
persistent abdominal pain
Swelling of the stomach area
Yellow discoloration of the skin and eyes
A mass that can be felt in the liver
Among the treatments to treat liver cancer are liver surgery, ablation, embolization therapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy and chemotherapy, among others.
According to the American Cancer Association, the "best option" to cure liver cancer is to remove the cancerous tumor with surgery or a liver transplant, and smaller liver cancers can also be treated with other types of treatment such as ablation or radiation.
4. Gastric or stomach cancer
769,000 people worldwide died from this type of cancer in 2020.
This type of cancer occurs when cancer cells form in the lining of the stomach.
"Risk factors include smoking, infection with the H. pylori bacteria, and certain inherited conditions," says the National Cancer Institute.
There are several types of stomach cancer that tend to develop over a period of several years, says the American Cancer Society (ASC), noting that before a true cancer forms, there are often changes "precancerous" in the lining of the stomach.
As stomach cancer tumors can develop in different sections of this organ, the location of the cancer cells can cause treatments to vary.
5. Breast cancer
In 2020, 685,000 deaths from this type of cancer were recorded.
Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women in both developed and developing countries, says the WHO.
This type of cancer is the most common among women worldwide and is the leading cause of death in women, according to the WHO.
Approximately one in 12 women will develop breast cancer throughout her life, says the WHO, adding that in 2020, 2.2 million cases of this disease were detected in women.
By the end of 2020, 7.8 million women who had been diagnosed with breast cancer in previous years were still alive, which is why the WHO says that this is the type of "is the most prevalent in the world".
"Between the 1930s and 1970s, breast cancer mortality showed little change. Improvements in survival began in the 1980s in countries that had early detection programs combined with different types of therapies to contain invasive disease" says the WHO.
If detected early, breast cancer can be a manageable disease, but it remains the leading cause of cancer death in women, followed by lung, colorectal, and cervical cancer.
Breast cancer survival rates range from 80% in North America to less than 40% in low-income countries.
This is mainly due to the lack of detection programs.
Breast cancer in men is less common than in women.
According to a study by the American Cancer Society, the absolute risk of a man developing cancer is 1 in 833, while for women it is 1 in 8. However, although this disease is rare in men, statistics show that is increasing.
In 1991, only 900 cases of invasive breast cancer in men were recorded.
Other data
Cancer varies by region.
The chance of getting or dying from cancer depends, in part, on where people live.
Nearly 70% of cancer deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.
One in five men and one in six women will develop cancer during their lifetime, the researchers estimate.
One in eight men and one in 11 women will die from the disease, according to a 2018 report from the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer.
PAHO predicts that if measures are not taken to prevent cancer, by 2040 the number of cancer cases will increase by 55%, with which it is expected that there will be some 6.23 million cases in the Americas region alone.
The total annual economic cost of cancer is estimated to be around US$1.16 trillion.
Cancer