What is a cancer?

Cancer is a condition in which some of the body’s cells begin to grow out of control. Cells in nearly any part of the body can become cancerous and can spread throughout the body.

In a healthy body, cells grow, divide, and die in an orderly fashion, but when a cell becomes cancerous it loses its normal controls. As a result, cancer cells keep dividing, piling up to form a mass of cells called a tumour.

Tumours are classified as either malignant (cancerous) or benign (non-cancerous). Benign tumours do not invade surrounding tissues or spread to other parts of the body, but malignant tumours can.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide. The most common types of cancer are lung, breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer.