Cancer Is a Malignant Neoplasm - Admission/Application Essay Example

 If you were a cancer, which would you be and why? Cancer is a malignant neoplasm that is characterized by growth of abnormal cells in the body and the growth is usually uncontrollable. Cancer is a medical condition that is feared by every human being because of its devastating course of disease, resistance to most of the curative strategies and poor prognosis characterized by recurrences and short survival rates. Cancers are categorized on the basis of their mortality rates, gender and age specificities, survival rates and their generality. Cancers not only affect an individually with their aggressive manifestations but also cause a debilitating scar on the mental and social life of the affected individuals. The affected individuals are emotionally traumatized and many experience anxiety, fear and depression due to the malignancies they are suffering from. Lung cancer is currently listed as one of the most common cancers and also associated with the highest mortality rates in United States. This statistical data holds true for both the genders equally. According to CDC, in 2008, 208, 493 people were diagnosed with lung cancer in United States and 158,592 people died in United States due to lung cancer (Centers for Disease Control and prevention 2012). Lung cancer is considered to cause more deaths than any other deadly cancer including cancers of colon, breast and prostate (Kernstine & Reckamp 2011). Therefore, lung cancer has still maintained a high statistical record in terms of mortality and morbidity in spite of the continuous efforts made by the doctors and scientists to prevent and treat it. It is because of the highly significant and medically vital status of lung cancer, that I have chosen this particular variety as the core idea for my topic. If I were a cancer, I would choose to be a lung cancer because of the current vital status of lung cancer for the entire medical world. The control of the increasing frequency of mortalities and morbidities caused by lung cancer can only be controlled by a thorough and multidisciplinary team approach of radiologists, thoracic surgeons, pathologists, pulmonologists, palliative care specialists and mental health professionals. I can relate to this cancer because of the complex nature of the cancer itself and the high standards of details it requires for a complete diagnosis and advanced therapeutic techniques. The confirmatory diagnosis cannot be made merely on the clinical picture and examination but newly implied imaging techniques and biopsies have to be used to reach to a diagnosis. These help the doctor to group the patient into low, moderate or high-risk patients. Ultrasound guided- transesophageal and transbronchial biopsies are helpful in not only making a diagnosis but also help in guiding the health professional about the staging of the tumor (Kernstine & Reckamp 2011). It is clearly evident that lung cancer requires high standards of equipment and very thorough research and carefulness to reach a satisfactory diagnosis and later on therapy. The uniqueness, highly demanding characteristics and complexity of the cancer are the foremost reasons of my choice for lung cancer. One of the fearful features of lung cancer is the poor prognostic characteristics of this malignancy. With a poor prognosis, lung cancer has only a cure rate of 16%. As mentioned earlier lung cancer requires great amount of technique and detail to be detected accurately and at an earlier stage. One of the main reasons for poor prognosis is the late detection of the cancer which makes it difficult to treat the cancer at the later stages of its course. Another important reason is the lack of efficient therapeutic techniques available for the systemic disease (Stewart 2010). The challenging features of lung cancer making it difficult to treat and control are another aspect that lead to my choice. The poor prognosis caused due to late detection and inefficient therapies urges the researchers and scientists to look for newer and advanced technologies and methods to diagnose and treat the cancer. The systematic and step-wise pathogenesis of lung cancer is yet another motive which has directed my attention towards this particular malignancy. Lung cancer is an outcome of step-wise genetic alterations which accumulate in the respiratory epithelium. The squamous epithelium undergoes a malignant transformation starting as a normal respiratory epithelium to metaplasia and then acquiring different grades of dysplasia. Hence the tumor acquires initially different precursor forms before reaching its malignant stage. Squamous dysplasia, atypical adenomatous hyperplasia and diffuse idiopathic pulmonary neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia are the three different preinvasive forms of the lung cancer (Kernstine & Reckamp 2011). Another striking feature of lung cancer is that it is a reflection of an individual’s years of poor lifestyle options and unhealthy choices. While many cancers are majorly influenced by genetic patterns and familial histories, lung cancer is primarily caused by cigarette smoking. Although genetic factors and family history do have an influence on its development but the main culprit is cigarette smoking. 87% cases of lung cancer have a history of smoking and 50% cases occur in individuals who were former smokers. In United States 90 million of the population is at risk with 45 million of them as current smokers and 45 million former smokers (Stewart 2010). Lung cancer, hence, is an outcome of an individual’s own poor health choices in life and could have been prevented in most of the cases if smoking was avoided. I would be a lung cancer because it is not an unavoidable or inevitable condition which can affect any individual. People can avoid this devastating malignancy by improving their lifestyles, eating habits and becoming more health conscious. Because of the high risk population in United States, the concept of chemoprevention has been introduced which will prevent the normal bronchial epithelium from undergoing hyperplasia (Stewart 2010). In a nutshell, my selection of lung cancer from a plethora of malignancies was precipitated by various striking characteristics. The highly significant status of lung cancer currently in the world accounts for great deal of research and new advancements in a variety of aspects to bring about a decline in the rates of morbidities and mortalities caused by lung cancer. The increasing numbers of lung cancer deaths also throw light on the deficient areas and room for improvement. Morphologically and pathologically lung cancers follow a systematic course of progression initiating as precursor lesions and then gaining a malignant and invasive transformation. Works Cited Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Lung cancer Statistics”. CDC.gov. 2012. Web. 25 July 2012. Kernstine, Kemp H, and Karen L. Reckamp. Lung Cancer: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Diagnosis and Management. New York: Demos Medical, 2011.Print. Stewart, David J. Lung Cancer: Prevention, Management, and Emerging Therapies. New York: Humana, 2010. Print. Read More