If you're in disease remission, it means your symptoms have stopped for a period of time. Usually, this is due to treatment. Depending on the disease and other factors, remission can last for days, weeks, months or years before symptoms return. In the most ideal cases, remission continues and the disease is considered "cured." The exact medical requirements for remission differ by disease. For example, people with rheumatoid arthritis are considered to be in remission when they have no noticeable arthritis symptoms, along with test results that show no signs of joint inflammation. People with some types of cancer and autoimmune diseases may also have short or long periods of remission. For some types of cancer, a cure may be said to have occured when remission lasts five years.
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American Dental Association answeredSee All 2 AnswersLike cigarettes, other tobacco products contain a variety of toxins associated with cancer. Cancer-causing chemicals have been identified in smokeless tobacco products (snuff), which are known to cause cancers of the mouth, lip and tongue. Users also may be at risk of developing cancer of the larynx, esophagus, colon and bladder. Cigars pose a serious health threat as well. Even if users try not to inhale cigar smoke, they are still at risk of developing oral and pharyngeal (throat) cancers and periodontal disease. -
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Dr. Michael Roizen, MD , Internal Medicine, answeredIn many ways, oxidation is a good, naturally occurring thing that happens in your body. Your body needs oxidation for your immune system to work, for your body to protect itself. It helps kill off old cells to make room for new ones. So it's not a bad thing, but it has the potential for being bad. When oxidation turns bad is when there's too much (your body's version of rusting), so that its products (free radicals) damage the DNA to cause malignant cells or inhibit the mechanism that can clear cancer cells from your body. -
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Dr. Mehmet Oz, MD , Cardiology (Cardiovascular Disease), answeredCancer is not a death sentence. In fact, there are no cancers that have a 100-percent mortality rate. Yes, some cancers (like pancreatic cancer) have lower survival rates, but many cancers have extremely successful treatment rates. Even better, many are even preventable. In some instances (like prostate cancer, which is more prevalent as you get older), it's even possible to coexist with cancer without it killing you-or you killing it.
The bottom line: Cancer doesn't always kill. But you can give yourself a big advantage with smart prevention strategies and early detection. -
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Dr. Michael Roizen, MD , Internal Medicine, answeredTraditionally, we've viewed cancer as the body's dragon; it has no redeeming value whatsoever. But more recently, we've learned that it can be a teacher, too. Any doctor who studies, researches, and treats cancer gets an up-close look at how the body is supposed to work and how it responds when it doesn't.
How do healthy cells become cancerous? By what mechanisms do different cancer cells evade our immune system's best efforts to destroy them? We've unraveled many mysteries, but there are many more yet to be solved-and studying cancer (and cancer survivors) is providing the clues.
Also, gaining a greater understanding of the various ways the body responds to cancer-and knowing that it's successful in destroying cancer cells much of the time-is leading us to new therapies. And herein lies one of the great goals-and hopes-of oncologists: to find the mechanisms that kill cancer cells, or prevent them from growing in the first place. -
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Dr. Mehmet Oz, MD , Cardiology (Cardiovascular Disease), answeredCancer cells are essentially normal cells that have something inside of them that turns them bad (and this originates with mutations). They're kind of like a gang of hooligans who have infiltrated your body. They may start out as good, but something switches inside them so they have total disregard for the rules that govern your body. Of course, your immune system serves as your own police force to bring down these bad cells. But cancer cells can be difficult to catch, because, like thugs who are used to committing and getting away with crimes, are pretty smart about ways to beat the system.
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Dr. Michael Roizen, MD , Internal Medicine, answeredCancer cells have developed a mechanism of replicating faster than other normal cells-making cancer cells stronger and faster than other cells in your body.
While they grow quickly, they can't grow by themselves. Just as a plant needs water or a child needs vitamins, cancer cells also need nutrients to grow. The one thing that cancer cells want more than anything else is energy. If the cells don't get it, then they'd actually kill themselves off because they'd outgrow their energy supply.
The most successful cancers (well, successful from the point of view of cancer, meaning the cancers that grow large enough to be detected by your immune system and to be harmful) often find ways to grow supply lines in the form of attracting blood vessels to them.
Once they can establish those supply lines, it's like attaching an oxygen tank to someone under water-it gives them a pathway to breathe and sustain themselves. And in cancer, that's what gives them a lifeline to live and grow-and helps them eventually spread to other areas of your body.
Since they're belligerent cells, cancer cells decide which blood vessels they want to take to other organs. They can surround regular tissue and dominate the organ they've invaded, and as they cluster together, they can form tumors-a clumped mass of cancer cells-to block the normal functioning of that organ.
Cancer cells also don't have the stickiness that other cells have, so they can slip away through their newly created blood vessels and spread to other parts of the body-very often to the liver, lungs, and brain where metasteses frequently occur.
Typically, cancer likes to escape to and grow in areas with lots of blood, which is why it's common for cancer from one area to jump and grow in another organ. And cancer loves traveling through the lymphatic system (the body's waste disposal program) to the closest lymph nodes, which is why doctors always examine these areas carefully. -
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Dr. Michael Roizen, MD , Internal Medicine, answeredYou never hear of heart cancer. That's because it rarely starts there. But the fact is that at end-stage cancer, there are actually cancer cells embedded in the heart quite frequently, which should not surprise us since cancers love energy-carrying blood.
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Dr. Mehmet Oz, MD , Cardiology (Cardiovascular Disease), answeredYou decide who's welcome in your house, right? Your spouse, kids, in-laws, pets...they get the green light. And that means you also have say over who's not welcome-strangers, solicitors, your daughter's ex-boyfriend, and anything that slithers, walks on eight legs, or has a long, leathery tail. Simple construction and a good locksmith allow you to keep most of those unwanted visitors.
Most of them. And that's the problem. As any ingenious teenager who wants to sneak out at night knows, there are other ways in and out of the house. For the teenager, it might be a window. But for ants, flies, spiders, roaches, termites, mice, or any other kinds of miniscule pests, it's through a number of vulnerable spots in your house-a crack in the foundation, a tiny hole in the wall, a sliver of air between the door and the floor. If they want in, they get in-without you even knowing that they did.
Now, if it's an ant here or a spider there, it's no big deal. You squish it, swat it, shoo it, or flush it. But let's say aforementioned ant escapes with his life and decides to let other ants know that the joint at 201 Maple has got some sloppy eaters. In no time, these ants replicate into dozens, maybe hundreds.
So you wipe 'em out with a wet paper towel (or the bottom of your Nike) or poison them with a wave of bug spray. Problem solved. But what would happen if hundreds of pests converged in some obscure corner or closet and you never even knew they were lurking in your home? The group would multiply faster than a math prodigy, and they'd grow and grow and grow until your whole house looked like it was concocted by Stephen King or Alfred Hitchcock. Since you couldn't coexist with a house full of ants, you'd be forced to call a professional to help eradicate them.
In some ways, cancer cells can overrun your body the same way that pests could do it to your house. They have no regard for the traditional rules of your body. They can be hard to catch, and frankly, they frighten the hell out of a lot of people. As individuals, cancer cells aren't all that dangerous; yet when they expand, they prove to be formidable foes. -
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Dr. Michael Roizen, MD , Internal Medicine, answeredTo better understand cancer, think about your neighborhood. You have all kinds of neighbors-friendly ones, quiet ones, benevolent ones who shovel the snow on your sidewalk before you even wake up, eccentric ones who mow their lawns wearing black socks and sneakers. Most of your neighbors fit into this category: They're socially responsible. That is, they respect your property, they fit in with everybody else, they're easy to get along with, and darn it, when push comes to shove, their olive oil is your olive oil.
It's the same with the normal cells in your body-they're very socially responsible. They get along with cells all around them, they live their own lives, and they even help each other out if they need to. Most importantly, they mind their own business and do their jobs without interfering with the well-being of neighboring cells. Liver cells let the spleen cells work, and abdominal muscle cells (even ones looking like tire treads) wouldn't dream of thinking they could do the work of your heart cells.
Now think of your bad neighbors-the neighbors who have no regard for anyone around them. They turf lawns, play loud music, let their Labrador drop digested Alpo bombs on other people's grass. They show total disrespect for everyone around them.
Cancer cells are bad neighbors. They're not socially responsible; they're sociopathic. In essence, what they do is grow and divide and make life hell for the cells around them-just like that gang of thugs. They don't pay attention to the needs of other cells, they crush other cells, and then, in some circumstances, they can spread through the body and trash the whole neighborhood.