My mother died of bowel cancer when I was a teenager, it has spread to her bladder, lungs and liver. I still wonder how it actually killed her. What went wrong that stopped her heart pumping and lungs breathing?
In: Biology
Cancer is basically a cell that does not die, but instead keeps on multiplying AND the copies can travel through bodily fluids to different locations.
Death may finally occur by many mechanisms; here are a few…
* The cancer cells steal resources and suppress appetite making the patient severely malnourished. The sheer loss of body mass can itself be fatal.
* Their muscles waste away till they cannot move even breathe or cough properly. Some may die of lung infections or choke on food.
* The cancer or one of its deposits may eat through a blood vessel because of its rapid growth. The patient may bleed out fatally.
* Cancers of hollow organs (intestine etc) can eat through the wall and lead to sepsis.
* This is infection of the tumour itself leading to sepsis
* The cancer deposits in organs can cause them to malfunction. Liver damage will lead to accumulation of toxins. Brain damage can lead to coma etc.
* Deposits around the lungs cause fluid to accumulate and patient slowly becomes unable to breathe
Ultimately death from any disease occurs via one of three modes – cardiac (heart unable to pump blood to feed your brain); respiratory (adequate oxygen cannot be provided) or brain (brain cannot signal the heart and lungs to function)
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