by Lance W. Christiansen D.O.

Created on: January 29, 2007   Last Updated: February 10, 2010

Cancer is a disease which affects many organs and thus many tissue types, but usually the same organs and tissue types are affected in the human being and some are more common than others. Obviously, women experience breast cancer more frequently than men and cervical cancer is as common in woman as prostate cancer is common in men. Colon cancer is common in men and women. Lung cancer is common in men and women and is very, very highly connected to smoking behavior. Breathing in inorganic matter such as asbestos and silicon compounds as found in the air during mining operations or other construction activities are also connected to cancer development in the lungs especially cancer of the pleura or lining of the lungs: mesothelioma. Smoking causes cancer of the parenchyma, or the tissue of the lung itself including the bronchial tubes and the the smaller tubules and other tissues of the lung. Often, as in colon, esophageal, vocal cord, skin, stomach,pancreatic duct, bladder, cervix and pharyngeal cancers the surface cells of the structures are involved and whether or not the surface is "internal" or "external" such as the epidermis of the skin, or the epithelium of the colon or stomach seems not to be a meaningful issue. Microscopic ducts and secretory organells as are found in the prostate and the breast and various endocrine glands and the special structures found in the testes and ovaries: cells which are endocrine in nature but which also are special in that meiotic cell division is found in such organs are again, often,the sites of cancer development and can be classed with the latter group: the surface or lining of small structures which are internal. It seems that tissues which feature fast dividing cells such as the skin, endothelial lining of digestive and respiratory structures, bone marrow, vocal cords, pharyngeal and buccal epithelium, ovaries and testes also tend to more commonly be sites of cancer cell and lesion development. It seems that tissues with a dense capillary networks are somewhat more likely to develop cancer: the brain, bone marrow, breast secretory organells, testes, ovaries, thyroid gland, etc. Concerning the skin: it is known that ultra violet radiation can cause cancer and the use of radiation in the early ages of X-ray use could trigger cancer development.

Some clues can be managed from the use of pharmaceuticals: Methotreaxate,Cyclosporine, and Imuran, some of the initial drugs used to treat cancer intravenously, and which are

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