In this article, we will discuss various Types of Cancers. So, let’s get started.
Types of Cancers
Cancers are classified by the type of cell that the tumor cells resemble.
• Carcinoma: Cancers derived from epithelial cells. This group includes many of the most common cancers, particularly in the aged, and include nearly all those developing in the breast, prostate, lung pancreas and colon.
• Sarcoma: Cancers arising from connective tissue (i.e., bone, cartilage, fat, nerve), each of which develop from cells originating in mesenchymal cells outside the bone marrow.
• Lymphoma and leukemia: These two classes of cancer arise from hematopoietic, cells that leave the marrow and tend to mature in the lymph nodes and blood, respectively.
• Germ cell tumour: Cancers derived from pluripotent cells, most often presenting in the testicle or the ovary (seminoma and dysgerminoma).
• Blastoma cancers derived from immature “precursor” cells or embryonic tissue. Blastomas are more common in children than in older adults
• Cancers are usually named using -carcinoma, -sarcoma or -blastoma as a suffix, with the Latin or Greek word for the organ or tissue of origin as the root.
• For example. Cancers of the liver parenchyma-hepatocarcinoma
– Primitive liver precursor cells – Hepatoblastoma
– Fat cells – Liposarcoma
• Benign tumours are named using -oma as a suffix with the organ name as the root. e.g., benign tumour of smooth muscle cells is called a leiomyoma (benign tumour in the uterus is fibroid). Confusingly, some types of cancer use the -noma suffix, examples including melanoma and seminoma.
• Some types of cancer are named for the size and shape of the cells under a microscope such as giant cell carcinoma spindle cell carcinoma, and small-cell carcinoma; e.g., small cell carcinoma of lung.