Types of cancer are usually named for the organs or tissues where the cancers form. For example, lung cancer starts in the lung, and brain cancer starts in the brain. Cancers also may be described by the type of cell that formed them, such as an epithelial cell or a squamous cell.
Around 400 B.C., Hippocrates is said to have named masses of cancerous cells karkinos — Greek for crab. Science and medical historian Howard Markel discusses a few hypotheses on why Hippocrates named the disease after a crab, and how well cancer was understood in the ancient world.
A neoplasm and malignant tumour are other common names for cancer. Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally, accounting for an estimated 9.6 million deaths, or one in six deaths, in 2018.
The top 5 most deadly cancers among men and women include lung cancer, mesothelioma, colon cancer, breast cancer, and pancreatic cancer. Learn more about the deadliest cancers, their treatment options, and their causes.
Carcinomas, malignancies of epithelial tissue, account for 80 to 90 percent of all cancer cases.
The Fastest Killing Cancer
If defining "fastest-killing" cancer is based on which cancer has the worst 5-year relative survival rate, then it would be a tie between pancreatic cancer and malignant mesothelioma (a relatively rare cancer in the U.S. with about 3,000 cases a year).
Hippocrates is credited with naming "cancer" as "karkinoma" (carcinoma) because a tumor looked like a "crab" ("karkinoma" is Greek for "crab") in that there is a central body to a tumor and the tumor extension appeared as the legs of the "crab".
According to Greek myth, the symbol of Cancer—often a crab, though sometimes a lobster—is based on the Karkinos (Greek: "Cancer"), a crab crushed under the foot of Heracles, and whose remains were placed in the sky by Hera, forming the Cancer constellation.
A growth that is not cancer. It does not invade nearby tissue or spread to other parts of the body.
Lung and bronchus cancer is responsible for the most deaths with 127,070 people expected to die from this disease. That is nearly three times the 52,550 deaths due to colorectal cancer, which is the second most common cause of cancer death. Pancreatic cancer is the third deadliest cancer, causing 50,550 deaths.
Although there are no curable cancers, melanoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, and breast, prostate, testicular, cervical, and thyroid cancer have some of the highest 5-year relative survival rates. Cancer is a disease that causes cells to grow and multiply uncontrollably in certain parts of the body.
Bone cancer is one of the most painful cancers. Factors that drive bone cancer pain evolve and change with disease progression, according to Patrick Mantyh, PhD, symposium speaker and professor of pharmacology, University of Arizona.
The most common type of cancer on the list is breast cancer, with 300,590 new cases expected in the United States in 2023. The next most common cancers are prostate cancer and lung cancer.
Lung cancer doesn't usually cause symptoms until it's advanced (also referred to as late-stage cancer). That's because your lungs have few nerve endings, so tumors can grow there without causing pain.
Lung cancer is the No. 1 cause of cancer death in the United States, yet it is one of the easiest cancers to prevent because most cases are caused by smoking. If you are a former or current smoker, you are at risk to develop lung cancer, and we encourage you to talk to your physician about your lung health.
The LSCT was set up by a group of charities all aiming to double survival rates of the six less survivable cancers by 2029. These are stomach, oesophageal, pancreatic, liver, brain & lung cancer, with an average five-year survival rate of just 16%.