Cancers can vary considerably in the way they are diagnosed, treated and at what point their effects become noticeable to a person and they may need to contact an oncologist for private treatment.

Some types of cancer can be easier to spot early than others. A lump on the breast or prostate, for example, can be felt, which leads to a screening and tests, and if diagnosed as cancer it can be treated with as little discomfort and distress as possible.

By contrast, a cancer that either starts in or has spread to the spinal cord can be debilitating, as the tumour pushes on the vertebrae that make up the spine as well as the nerve roots, which can be intensely painful or even lead to disability.

Researchers have asked for a long time why bone cancers are more likely to spread to the spine rather than other bones such as those on the arms and legs, and according to a study led by Weill Cornell Medicine research staff, there may be a reason for this biological tendency.

Stem Cells, Proteins And Cancer

Dr Matthew Greenblatt, senior author of the study, noted that the stem cells that make up the various bones in our body are quite different and allow both bone and cartilage to develop and grow in different ways.

The team started by isolating skeletal stem cells from different bones in lab mice, then analysed the genetic activity to see if they could find if there were any distinct patterns or markers that were associated with vertebrae rather than other bones.

During that experiment, they found a more accurate definition for skeletal stem cells and could exclude cells that had been included in the old definition but were not stem cells at all.

Next, they found that different bones have different genetic activity, identifying the markers for vertebral stem cells and proving that they could be used to make bones in the spine.

Finally, they sought to disprove a traditional theory surrounding why spinal tumours are more common, which suggested that the cause was blood flow, which would deliver cells, including cancerous ones, more easily to the spinal column near the centre of the circulatory system compared to longer bones on the limbs that are further away.

They managed to not only prove that this was not the cause but also found what they believed to be the cause, a protein known as MFGE8.

MFGE8 is secreted by all bone stem cells but is produced in much higher amounts by vertebral stem cells compared to long bone cells, which may signpost a solution to reducing the risk of spinal cancers and cancer cells spreading to the spine.

If there is a way to block MFGE8 and there are no other complications or implications for doing so, there is therefore a way to potentially lower the risk of contracting a particularly painful type of cancer.

The team is exploring how their findings relate not only to cancer treatment but spinal orthopaedics in general

Over the past few decades, private oncology has taken immense strides forward in cancer diagnosis and treatment, saving countless lives in the process and, in far more cases than in the past, turning a diagnosis many people dread into something that requires much less invasive treatment.

Far more people are treated for cancer than ever before, but one aspect of this is that certain types of cancers are much easier to treat with very common, low risk and highly effective pathways to remission, whilst others are particularly aggressive and difficult to fully eradicate.

The concern is such that the UK Government have unveiled a £2m scheme to fund four projects to help cure hard-to-treat cancers that often spread exceptionally quickly, including brain, lung and oesophagal cancers.

However, what is it that makes some cancers more difficult to detect early, difficult to diagnose and difficult to treat than others?

Genetic Diversity

The first and biggest answer is the simple fact that there are hundreds of types of cancers and every single one of them manifests uniquely in each patient.

Mapping the cancer of one person could become the sole project of an entire laboratory, and up until the rise of machine learning in drug development, it was effectively unfeasible for personalised treatments to be created for every person’s cancer.

What also needs to be considered is that this diversity is not only between different instances of the same cancer but also for the same person over time.

Much like how the common cold adapts so often that there can’t be a vaccine for it, cancers adapt to treatments, which is why oncology treatments are often so intense to ensure that every last cancerous cell is eradicated so it cannot come back.

Speed Of Progression

Time is the most important weapon in the battle against cancer; the more time you have, the easier the cancer will be to treat and the less harm it will be able to cause.

A lot of the time, with regular screening and detection efforts, cancers can be caught quickly enough that they will not have time to progress into a more advanced form that can cause significant health damage, but some rare cancers are the exception to this.

Certain types of thankfully quite rare cancer start to grow and spread exponentially, making them much harder to treat and requiring more aggressive forms of treatment that can have consequences in the short term.

The Nature Of Mutation

Most diseases that the body deals with involve foreign bodies such as viruses and bacteria that the body’s immune system is well developed to handle. This is why a lot of illnesses largely go away on their own as long as your immune system is strong enough.

But cancer is a mutation of cells native to our bodies, which means that a lot of cancerous cells are hard to distinguish from healthy cells, making it difficult for cancer treatments to find a way to target cancerous cells without damaging healthy cells as well.

However, as more advances are found and greater knowledge about how cancers function is learned, more targeted, personalised treatments will become available.

Whilst available through private oncology for many years, the use of magnetic resonance imaging machines to screen people for cancer varies considerably depending on the type and is often not used to detect common types such as prostate cancer.

However, a study into the use of MRI scans compared to the standard prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test found that the former managed to detect cancers that had the potential to be missed by a PSA test alone.

The Complexities Of Prostate Cancer Diagnosis

Unlike cervical, breast and bowel cancer, prostate cancer is not subject to a national screening programme, due to the controversies surrounding the PSA test.

The biomarker it relies on can sometimes appear at benchmark levels (defined in the study as 3ng/ml) in people who do not have cancer or otherwise have tumours that do not require treatment.

This would lead to a false positive and the potential unnecessary use of biopsies and other invasive treatments as part of further diagnostic investigations

By contrast, there is also the potential for someone with healthy levels of PSA to have cancer, which means it could potentially be missed whilst it is easier and safer to treat.

The REIMAGINE study, funded by Cancer Research UK and the Medical Research Council, tested 303 men between the ages of 50 and 75 who either have concerns about or symptoms possibly connected to prostate cancer and thus would be eligible for one of several tests suggested by their GP.

The aim is to determine how well MRI scans work at diagnosing prostate cancer compared to a PSA test, and the results were somewhat surprising.

Of the men studied, 48 (16 per cent) had a positive MRI screening, but half of these had a lower PSA level than the benchmark, meaning that they would have cancer but be shown test results that demonstrated the opposite.

The study also found that less than one per cent were over-diagnosed, but wider studies such as the LIMIT trial would need to be taken to confirm this trend.

Prostate cancer is very treatable when caught early and anything that can help people get the treatment they need sooner is essential to save lives.

While there are no definite causes of cancer, it can develop for many reasons, a lot of which are unknown, there are several factors which may increase your risk of developing it. For bladder cancer in particular, there are some additional risks.

Smoking cigarettes is something which can increase your risk of bladder cancer. While this may be shocking, as most people would assume smoking would affect the lungs and respiratory system, it can actually cause cancer in many other areas.

The carcinogenic chemicals within tobacco are filtered from the blood by your kidneys which means they end up in your urine, which is stored in the bladder until you go to the bathroom. Over time, repeated exposure to these chemicals can cause cancer to develop.

This is more likely to be a risk for heavy and frequent smokers however not smoking entirely is the best way to prevent bladder cancer from occurring as a result of smoking.

Bladder cancer can also be hereditary. If you have close family members who have suffered from bladder cancer you may be at an increased risk of developing it than someone with no family history of it.

This is because there are several genes which can be passed on to children which are faulty, which may increase the risk of developing cancer.

If you suffer from frequent or persistent UTIs and kidney or bladder stones, there may be a risk of developing bladder cancer. While the UTIs may not be the cause of bladder cancer, they can be a symptom of a type of cancer which may develop.

Your gender and age may also be a risk factor. Men over the age of 40 are more at risk of developing bladder cancer than any other group. Men in general are more at risk of developing this cancer.

Kidney cancer can have many different signs and symptoms. If you notice any symptoms or have a reason for concern, it is always best that you seek the help and advice of a doctor so they can refer you for the correct tests.

Catching cancer as early as possible increases the likelihood of it being treatable and therefore increases your chances of recovering from it. It is important that you do not ignore any worrying signs, even if they are only minor or don’t seem important.

There are many symptoms of kidney cancer, however often they are not obvious straight away and therefore kidney cancer is most often found and diagnosed when testing for other health issues.

Some of the symptoms of kidney cancer, however, do present and can be easily identified. These include:

Blood in your urine, which is often identified as it gives the urine a slight pink tinge. This is sometimes not visible and can only be shown via tests.

A lump or swelling in the back, neck or below the ribcage. While these can be sore or tender, in some cases they may not be felt at all unless specifically searched for.

Pain in the mid-abdomen between the chest and waist. This may be mistaken as a pulled muscle or something else which does not seem serious, however, pain which does not go away should always be checked.

A sudden loss of appetite and unexplained weight loss are symptoms of many types of cancer, including kidney cancer and should never be ignored. If you are losing significant amounts of weight without there being a reason, you should always seek advice from your doctor.

Extreme fatigue is another symptom which may be mistaken for other illnesses, however, this is also something which should be treated regardless of the reasons it is happening.

Another symptom is a high temperature which does not seem to drop or regulate at any point and remains consistently high. This indicates your body is trying to fight off infection or disease and should be addressed as soon as possible.

Linked to this, excessive sweating during the daytime or night-time can also be a symptom of kidney cancer and should also be seen too if you begin to experience this.

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms it is important that you seek the help of a doctor and have them checked by your GP.

While they are not definitive signs of cancer, they can still be linked to various health issues which should still be treated and addressed. It is important that they are checked however, catching cancer early makes it much more treatable and manageable.

If you’re concerned or are experiencing any of the symptoms above and they have started suddenly and in an extreme or unmanageable way, booking an emergency doctor appointment or seeking advice from 111 is advised as they can be signs of a kidney infection, which can be serious.

For private kidney cancer treatment, contact Sheffield Oncology today.