Cancer is a condition where cells in a part of your body grow and reproduce uncontrollably. The cancerous cells can invade and destroy surrounding healthy tissue, including organs.
Cancer cells can form a lump that is sometimes called a tumour.
Not all cancers cause tumours. For example, some blood cancers do not cause tumours. Leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma are types of blood cancer.
Cancer sometimes begins in one part of your body before spreading to other areas. This is known as metastasis.
Who cancer affects
More than 1 in 2 people will develop some form of cancer during their lifetime.
Cancer can happen at any age. But is rare at a young age. In Ireland, half of the people diagnosed with cancer are age 68 or over.
Types of cancer
There are more than 200 types of cancer. In Ireland, the 5 most common types of cancer are:
- skin cancer
- prostate cancer
- breast cancer
- bowel cancer
- lung cancer
The Health A-Z has information on these types of cancer:
- breast cancer in women
- breast cancer in men
- bowel cancer
- cervical cancer
- lung cancer
- skin cancer (non-melanoma)
- skin cancer (melanoma)
- ovarian cancer
- penile cancer
- womb cancer
Each type is diagnosed and treated in its own way.
Cancer treatment
How your cancer is treated depends on:
- where it is
- how big it is
- if it has spread
- your general health
Find out about cancer treatment
Cancer prevention
There are things you can do to:
Get your symptoms checked
Finding cancer early can mean it's easier to treat.
Get any cancer symptoms checked as soon as possible.
