• Question: how many types of cancer are there? and what's the difference between them?

    Asked by emzilies to Gioia, Iain, Jo, Leo, Mariam on 21 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by alisonkatie, bechope, issiphee1, setbuddiesx, roseandellie, chocolatebunnies, 1sunshine, clarissa, thekaties.
    • Photo: Mariam Orme

      Mariam Orme answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      There are loads of different types of cancer. We tend to name cancers according to what part of the body they start in, and pretty much every part of your body can potentially get cancer. But even among cancers that start in the same part of the body, there can be lots of different types. For example, under one classification scheme, there are seven different types of breast cancer.

    • Photo: Joanna Watson

      Joanna Watson answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      There are loads of different types of cancer! They are usually split up into groups because of the type of cell that they started from – like breast cells, or liver cells or lung cells. In those groups there are more different types too, depending on how the cells behave. How the cells behave can make a big difference to which treatments will work.

    • Photo: Gioia Cherubini

      Gioia Cherubini answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      There are more than 200 types of cancers. Each live cell of the body could mutate and become a cancerous cell, so you could have a cancer in any part of your body

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