Cancer
Many of the body's tissues do not last long. Every day used skin cells are shed, and billions of blood, bowel and liver cells serve the body and then are replaced by new cells. Cancer is the opposite of this essential repair work in the body. In the organs where a lot of new cells grow, a kind of mistake happens - and the growth of cells gets out of control.
Feature: Cancer treatments at a glance
Malignant tumours can be life-threatening. There are a variety of treatments that aim to remove them, or at least stop them from growing and spreading. You can read about the most commonly used cancer treatments in this feature.
Feature: Preventing bowel cancer
There is no shortage of recommendations about how to prevent bowel cancer: more fibre, less meat, vitamin supplements and even medicines feature in the long list of suggestions that have been propagated for years. We have studied the latest evidence to see how much scientific support there now is for these common recommendations.
Feature: Prevention and treatment of lymphoedema
If someone has lymphoedema, their arm or leg may become swollen due to a build-up of lymph fluid in the tissue. This often happens when lymph vessels are damaged during surgery or radiotherapy. The condition is common in women who have had breast cancer treatment. In our fact sheet you can read about the typical signs of lymphoedema, as well as the treatment and prevention options.
Feature: Radiotherapy
There are three main options in the treatment of cancer (malignant tumours): Surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Radiotherapy aims to destroy the cancerous tissue by exposing it to certain high-energy rays. The source of radiation can be located outside the body (external radiotherapy), inside the body or very close to the tumour (internal radiotherapy or brachytherapy).
