There are over 200 types of cancer; far too numerous to include in this
introductory article. However, the NCI lists several general categories (see
list in first section of this article). This list is expanded below to list more
specific types of cancers found in each general category; it is not all
inclusive and the cancers listed in quotes are the general names of some
cancers:
- Carcinoma: Cancer that begins in the skin
or in tissues that line or cover internal
organs -- "skin, lung, colon, pancreatic, ovarian cancers," epithelial, squamous and basal cell carcinomas, melanomas, papillomas, and adenomas - Sarcoma: Cancer that begins in bone,
cartilage, fat, muscle, blood vessels, or other connective or supportive
tissue -- "bone, soft tissue cancers," osteosarcoma, synovialsarcoma, liposarcoma, angiosarcoma, rhabdosarcoma, and fibrosarcoma - Leukemia: Cancer that starts in
blood-forming tissue such as the bone marrow and causes large numbers of
abnormal blood cells to be produced and enter the
blood -- "leukemia," lymphoblastic leukemias (ALL and CLL), myelogenous leukemias (AML and CML), T-cell leukemia, and hairy-cell leukemia - Lymphoma and myeloma: Cancers that begin
in the cells of the immune
system -- "lymphoma," T-cell lymphomas, B-cell lymphomas, Hodgkin lymphomas, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and lymphoproliferative lymphomas - Central nervous system cancers: Cancers that begin in the tissues
of the brain and spinal
cord -- "brain and spinal cord tumors," gliomas, meningiomas, pituitary adenomas, vestibular schwannomas, primary CNS lymphomas, and primitive neuroectodermal tumors
Not included in the above types listed are
metastatic cancers; this is because metastatic cancer cells usually arise from a
cell type listed above and the major difference from the above types is that
these cells are now present in a tissue from which the cancer cells did not
originally develop. Consequently, if the terms "metastatic cancer" is used, for
accuracy, the tissue from which the cancer cells arose should be included. For
example, a patient may say they have or are diagnosed with "metastatic cancer"
but the more accurate statement is "metastatic (breast, lung, colon, or other
type) cancer."
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