When somebody dies of cancer, what exactly is the actual reason the body stops working?
In: 1666
Cancer is a general term we use to describe any disease where cells in the body begin to divide in an uncontrolled fashion, often fast and with a very high mutation rate (so the cells begin to not look or function like those from the area of the body where they started). Cancer can be confined to a small area, or break off, travel through the blood stream, and lodge elsewhere to grow (we call that “metastasis” or “spreading”).
Cancers kill by growing a bunch of the wrong cells in the wrong place. They can physically tear up organ tissue, block blood flow, cause internal bleeding, stop usable blood cells from being made… They effectively choke out organs to the point where the organs can’t function and dies off. If the cancer has spread through the body, then many parts of the body will be failing at the same time.
Cancer death is typically due to organ failure, but the specifics of how it grows, the parts of the body affected, how it develops, etc. all depend on the particular type of cancer.
Latest Answers