Categories of Cancer, Carcinomas

As stated in previous post, cancer is not a monolithic disease but rather several hundred (albeit with often common pathways.) For our purposes they can be generally broken down into three major categories and further into hundreds of subtypes. The first two categories, carcinomas and sarcomas are solid tumors and leukemias and lymphomas are dispersed cells that may form a solid tumor.  The most common, carcinomas (from the Greek word crab due to often clawlike extensions) account for approximately 80-90 percent of all cases. Most carcinomas affect organs that secrete something such as the breast, the lungs (mucus) or pancreas. Most originate in the epithelium or sheets of cells that cover the surface area of affected tissue. The application of cancer rehabilitation to several specific cancers will be discussed in future entries.