lung cancer;
it might be slowed down by snecial drugs, removed by surgery,
or ‘burned out" by X-rays.
Cancer
A neoplasm is any newor abnormal pro-rt:. in the body.
such growths are varts, moles, cysts, and certain tumors.
[Ixamples of
There are
generally two kinds of neoplasms.
One kind is benign
The other is malignant (harmful).
Most harmful growths are called
cancers.
What makes these growths harmful is the fact that cell produc-
tion in them is uncontrolled;
wild.
(not harmful).
it is as though the cell growth has gone
Cancer cells duplicate themselves faster than their normal neighbors.
They do not serve the body's needs, but use up the chemicals needed by
other cells.
The normal course of cancer is usually fatal.
is in a local area,
a cure results.
If the cancer
it may be removed by surgery or by X-ray treatment and
However,
if only a few cancerous cells are left, the
cancer will begin to reproduce itself again.
tumor or tumors in a single organ,
Cancer may develop as a
such as the lung or liver, or as a
malignant tumor such as a mole or wart not in an organ, or in the blood,
or it may spread throughout the body (metastasis).
As a result of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
perhaps the most well-known long-range effect of radiation of human
beings is the increase of leukemia.
Leukemia is a cancer of the blood.
It is a condition in which there is an abnormal increase in a certain
kind of blood cell the leukocyte.
The disease can be either acute
(having a short course, or life) or chronic (having a long course, or
life).
While leukemia cannot be cured,
1O14b350
6
it can be arrested, or retarded.