Cancer is the general name for a group of more than 100 diseases. Although there are many kinds of cancer, all cancers start because abnormal cells grow out of control. Untreated cancers can cause serious illness and death.
How normal cells act
The body is made up of trillions of living cells. Normal body cells grow, divide to make new cells, and die in an orderly way. During the early years of a person’s life, normal cells divide faster to allow the person to grow. After the person becomes an adult, most cells divide only to replace worn-out or dying cells or to repair injuries.
How cancer starts
Cancer starts when cells in a part of the body start to grow out of control. Cancer cell growth is different from normal cell growth. Instead of dying, cancer cells continue to grow and form new, abnormal cells. Cancer cells can also invade (grow into) other tissues, something that normal cells can’t do. Growing out of control and invading other tissues are what makes a cell a cancer cell.
Cells become cancer cells because of changes to their DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). DNA is in every cell and it directs all its actions. In a normal cell, when DNA is damaged the cell either repairs the damage or dies. In cancer cells, the damaged DNA is not repaired, but the cell doesn’t die like it should. Instead, the cell goes on making new cells that the body doesn’t need. These new cells all have the same damaged DNA as the first cell does.
People can inherit abnormal or faulty DNA (it’s passed on from their parents), but most DNA damage is caused by mistakes that happen while a normal cell is reproducing or by something in the environment. Sometimes DNA damage may be caused by something obvious like cigarette smoking or sun exposure. But it’s rare to know exactly what caused any one person’s cancer.
In most cases, the cancer cells form a tumor. Over time, the tumors can invade nearby normal tissue, crowd it out, or push it aside. Some cancers, like leukemia, rarely form tumors. Instead, these cancer cells involve the blood and blood-forming organs and circulate through other tissues where they grow.
How cancer spreads
Cancer cells often travel to other parts of the body where they can grow and form new tumors that crowd out normal tissue. This happens when the cancer cells get into the body’s bloodstream or lymph vessels. The process of cancer spreading is called metastasis.
No matter where a cancer may spread, it’s always named based on the place where it started. For instance, colon cancer that has spread to the liver is called metastatic colon cancer, not liver cancer. In this case, cancer cells taken from the liver would be the same as those in the colon. They would be treated in the same ways, too.
How cancers differ
Different types of cancer can behave very differently. For instance, lung cancer and skin cancer are very different diseases. They grow at different rates and respond to different treatments. This is why people with cancer need treatment that’s aimed at their kind of cancer.
Tumors that are not cancer
A tumor is an abnormal lump or collection of cells, but not all tumors are cancer. Tumors that aren’t cancer are calledbenign. Benign tumors can cause problems – they can grow very large and press on healthy organs and tissues. But they can’t grow into (invade) other tissues. And they can’t spread to other parts of the body (metastasize). These tumors are seldom life threatening.
Credits: American Cancer Society
One in two men and one in three women will be diagnosed with cancer. But what is cancer? Cancer experts at Cancer Treatment Centers of America outline how cancer develops, the most common forms, how it's treated and how to manage treatment side effects. They also discuss what the future holds for cancer treatment.
What is cancer? Watch this five-minute video produced by Cancer Treatment Centers of America that explains cancer in everyday terms
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WHAT ARE STANDARDS OF PRACTICE?
Standards of practice are a set of guidelines that define what an interpreter does in the perform- ance of his or her role, that is, the tasks and skills the interpreter should be able to perform in the course of fulfilling the duties of the profession. Standards describe what is considered “best practice” by the profession and ensure a consistent quality of performance. For health care inter- preters, the standards define the acceptable ways by which they can meet the core obligations of their profession – the accurate and complete transmission of messages between a patient and provider who do not speak the same language in order to support the patient-provider therapeutic relationship.
As in all professions, the field of interpreting is guided by ethical principles. These standards for health care interpreters show how professional interpreters respond to ethical and other considerations in the performance of their duties. Standards of practice are concerned with the “hows” of performance as compared with codes of ethics that focus on the “shoulds.” A code of ethics provides “a set of principles or values that govern the conduct of members of a profession while they are engaged in the enactment of that profession.”5 In other words, codes of ethics provide “guidelines for making judgments about what is acceptable and desirable behavior in a given context or in a particular relationship”6 while standards focus on the practical concerns of what the interpreter does in the performance of his or her role, offering “best practice” strategies for observing the principles of the code of ethics in day-to-day practice.
Please download the whole document by clicking on the link provided below
MING 2015 Fall Forum Agenda
Eligible For 0.75 IMIA and 6.5 CCHI CEUs!
The Medical Interpreter Network of Georgia (MING) is proud to announce that we are holding our 2015 MING Fall Forum on Saturday, October 10, 2015 at
Gwinnett Medical Center-Duluth, Outpatient Center
3805 Pleasant Hill Road, Duluth, GA 30096 from 8:30AM to 4:30PM.
We have an exciting, fun and highly informative conference planned for you!
Guest Speakers:
Paige W. Havens, Keynote - Brain Injury Association of Georgia
“Brain Injury and Concussion: Causes, Symptoms, Diagnoses and Treatment”
Alison Arévalo Amador and Andrea Henry
“Navigating Health Literacy Disparities: Techniques for the Interpreter”
Emilio J. German – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
“HIV-Related Disparities among African-American, Black, Hispanic and Latino Populations in the United States”
Sean Normansell – International Medical Interpreters Association
“Understanding the IMIA CEU Program”
Marilyn Teague - Georgia Interpreting Services Network
“Deaf Culture – the Right Way and the Wrong Way to Interact With a Person Who is Deaf”
Cliff Bray - Westbrook McGrath Bridges Orth and Bray CPA
“Accounting Best Practices for the Medical Interpreter”
Alexandra Guzman - Stephanie V. Blank Center for Safe and Healthy Children at CHOA
“Mandated Reporter Laws In GA”
Vivian I. Rice – Georgia Regents University
“Newly Enhanced CLAS Standards”
Breakfast will be provided by Gwinnett Medical Center and lunch will be provided by Link2Spanish. MING will also be holding a raffle and providing door prizes!
Click Here and Register Today!
MING/AAIT/NAJIT/RID Members: $60
Guests: $90
To download the agenda, click here.
For a map of the Gwinnett Medical Center Duluth, please click here.
We look forward to seeing you!
The MING Board of Directors