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Symptoms And Treatment Of Cancer

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Cancer Symptoms
Cancer has many different symptoms, it really depends on where the cancer is located and how your body reacts to it. Sometimes there aren’t any distinct signs that directly point to cancer. Oftentimes a patient simply thinks he or she has a bad cough; it isn’t until the symptom persist when they get a re-evaluation and learn that it is much worse. Common symptoms for cancer are as follows: (1) persistent cough or blood-tinged saliva. This symptom often correlates with neck, head, or lung cancer. (2) Blood in stool. Although this is a symptom of many other healthcare problems, it could also be an indication of anal, or colon cancers. (3) Unexplained Anemia. Anemia can be the sign of many cancers, but the intestinal …show more content…

If a doctor suspects a patient may have cancer, they need to diagnose the patient and determine if cancer is causing the symptom.
Diagnosis
Determining if a person has cancer can be diagnosed by lab tests, imaging procedures, or biopsies. Lab tests can tell the doctor if there are any low or high levels in a patient’s body fluids. These can give more clues as to whether cancer is the cause, but usually further tests are needed. Imaging procedures can be used to see what is going on within the inside a patient’s body; the types include: CT scan, nuclear scan, ultrasound, MRI, PET scan, and X-rays. CT scan can be utilized for detailed pictures of organs. Sometimes certain dyes are used for CT scans to allow the picture to be more contrasting. Nuclear scan, sometimes called radionuclide scan are used to view certain bones or organs and displays them on the computer or film. Ultrasound is based on fairly old technology. It is similar to what submarines used to locate items under water using sound. A picture can be seen by the echo waves created. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) produces a very detailed picture of the inside of the body. It produces one of the best pictures without actually cutting into the body. PET scan places a tracer inside the patient’s body and shows how the body is functioning. X-rays is one that people might be more familiar with if they ever broke a bone before. The X-ray utilizes radiation to display pictures of the

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