ALCOHOL ABUSE |
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Alcoholism is the compulsive consumption of alcohol. Some believe it to be a biological disease. The etiology and nature of alcoholism are both currently being debated within the medical and scientific communities and the very definition of alcoholism is a part of that debate. Alcoholism is often a controversial subject and the disease hypothesis represents a focus of the debate.
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CANCER - COLON |
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Cancer that begins in the colon is called colon cancer, and cancer that begins in the rectum is called rectal cancer. Cancers affecting either of these organs may also be called colorectal cancer.
When colorectal cancer spreads outside the colon or rectum, cancer cells are often found in nearby lymph nodes. If cancer cells have reached these nodes, they may also have spread to other lymph nodes, the liver, or other organs.
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CANCER - ESOPHAGEAL |
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Esophageal Cancer that forms in tissues lining the esophagus (the muscular tube through which food passes from the throat to the stomach). Two types of esophageal cancer are squamous cell carcinoma (cancer that begins in flat cells lining the esophagus) and adenocarcinoma (cancer that begins in cells that make and release mucus and other fluids).
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CANCER - GENERAL |
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Cancer is a class of diseases or disorders characterized by uncontrolled division of cells and the ability of these cells to invade other tissues, either by direct growth into adjacent tissue through invasion or by implantation into distant sites by metastasis. This unregulated growth is caused by damage to DNA, resulting in mutations to genes that encode for proteins controlling cell division. Many mutation events may be required to transform a normal cell into a malignant cell. These mutations can be caused by chemicals or physical agents called carcinogens, by close exposure to radioactive materials, or by certain viruses that can insert their DNA into the human genome. Mutations occur spontaneously, or are passed down generations as a result of germ line mutations.
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CANCER - HODGKINS DISEASE |
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Hodgkin's lymphoma, formerly known as Hodgkin's disease, is a type of lymphoma described by Thomas Hodgkin in 1832, and characterized by the presence of Reed-Sternberg cells.
Hodgkin's Disease - A cancer of the immune system that is marked by the presence of a type of cell called the Reed Sternberg cell. Symptoms include the painless enlarged lymph nodes, spleen, or other immune tissue. Other symptoms include fever, weight loss, fatigue, or night sweats. Also called Hodgkin's lymphoma.
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CANCER - KIDNEY |
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Renal cell carcinoma, also known by the eponym Grawitz tumor, is the most common form of kidney cancer arising from the renal tubule. It is the most common type of kidney cancer in adults. Initial therapy is with surgery. It is notoriously resistant to radiation therapy and chemotherapy, although some cases respond to immunotherapy.
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CANCER - LIVER |
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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC, also called hepatoma or liver cancer) is a primary malignancy (cancer) of the liver. Most cases of HCC are secondary to either hepatitis infection (usually hepatitis B or C) or cirrhosis (alcoholism being the most common cause of hepatic cirrhosis). In countries where hepatitis is not endemic, most cancers in the liver are not primary HCC but metastasis (spread) of cancer from elsewhere in the body, e.g. the colon. Treatment options of HCC and prognosis are dependent on many factors but especially on tumor size and staging.
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CANCER - LUNG |
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Lung cancer is a cancer of the lungs characterised by the presence of malignant tumours. Most commonly it is bronchogenic carcinoma (about 90%). Lung cancer is one of the most lethal of cancers worldwide, causing up to 3 million deaths annually. Only one in ten patients diagnosed with this disease will survive the next five years. Although lung cancer was previously an illness that affected predominately men, the lung cancer rate for women has been increasing in the last few decades, which has been attributed to the rising ratio of female to male smokers.
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CANCER - PROSTATE |
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Prostate cancer is a disease in which cancer develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Cancer occurs when cells of the prostate mutate and begin to multiply out of control. These cells may spread (metastasize) from the prostate to other parts of the body, especially the bones and lymph nodes. Prostate cancer may cause pain, difficulty in urinating, erectile dysfunction and other symptoms.
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CANCER - STOMACH |
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Stomach cancer (also called gastric cancer) can develop in any part of the stomach and may spread throughout the stomach and to other organs, particularly the esophagus, small intestine. It also may extend through the stomach wall and spread to nearby lymph nodes and to organs such as the liver, pancreas, and colon. Stomach cancer also may spread to distant organs, such as the lungs, the lymph nodes above the collar bone, and the ovaries. Metastasis to the ovary is called a Krukenberg tumor.
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CANCER - TESTICULAR |
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Testicular cancer is a type of cancer that develops in the testicles, a part of the male reproductive system. In the United States, about 8,000 to 9,000 diagnoses of testicular cancer are made each year. Over his lifetime, a mans chance of getting testicular cancer is roughly 1 in 250 (four tenths of one percent, or 0.4%). It is most common among males aged 1540 years. Testicular cancer has one of the highest cure rates of all cancers: in excess of ninety percent; essentially one hundred percent if it has not spread. Even for the relatively few cases in which the cancer has spread widely, chemotherapy offers a cure rate of at least fifty percent.
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GASTROINTESTINAL |
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Gastroenterology is the study of diseases of the intestinal tract. These diseases include conditions that affect the esophagus, stomach, pancreas, liver, small intestine, and colon.
Gastroenterologists address problems that range from gas to intestinal bleeding to cancer. Like cardiologists, gastroenterologists perform both diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and both are subspecialties of internal medicine.
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HEMATOLOGY / ONCOLOGY |
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Hematology (BE: haematology) is the branch of medicine that is concerned with blood, the blood-forming organs and blood diseases. Hematology includes the study of etiology, diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and prevention of blood diseases. Medical specialists in this domain are called hematologists.
Blood diseases affect the production of blood and its components, such as blood cells, hemoglobin, blood proteins, the mechanism of coagulation, etc.
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ORGAN TRANSPLANT |
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An organ transplant is the transplantation of a whole or partial organ from one body to another (or from a donor site on the patient's own body), for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or failing organ with a working one from the donor site. Organ donors can be living, or deceased (previously referred to as cadaveric).
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STROKE |
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A stroke, also known as cerebrovascular accident (CVA), is an acute neurologic injury whereby the blood supply to a part of the brain is interrupted, either by a clot in the artery or if the artery bursts. The result is that the part of the brain perfused by that artery no longer can receive oxygen carried by the blood and it dies (becomes necrotic) with cessation of function from that part of the brain. In addition to tissue death, hemorrhages also cause damage from physical impingement of blood on the brain tissue. Stroke is a medical emergency and can cause permanent neurologic damage or even death if not promptly diagnosed and treated. It is the third leading cause of death and adult disability in the US and industrialized European nations (Jauch, 2005).
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SURGERY - COLORECTAL |
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Surgical - Gastroenterology is the study of diseases of the intestinal tract. These diseases include conditions that affect the esophagus, stomach, pancreas, liver, small intestine, and colon.
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SURGERY - LAPAROSCOPIC |
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Laparoscopic surgery, also called keyhole surgery (when natural body openings are not used), bandaid surgery, or minimally invasive surgery (MIS), is a surgical technique. Medically, laparoscopic surgery refers only to operations within the abdomen or pelvic cavity. Laparoscopic surgery belongs to the field of endoscopy.
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