• Question: when treating cancer do you find that the different kinds of cancer have different symptoms to other cancers? also do you find out more about how cancer works every day????

    Asked by markandrew to Clare, Mariana, Pedro, Robert, Susanne on 16 Nov 2012.
    • Photo: Susanne Muekusch

      Susanne Muekusch answered on 16 Nov 2012:

      Hi markandrew,

      yes, different kinds of cancers do come with different symptoms. The symptoms are most often caused by the normal organ suffering from the cancer. The cells of the normal organ are destroyed and the organ does not function properly anymore.

      I find out a tiny tiny tiny piece of how cancer works during my whole PhD time (around 4 years). We learn every day, but sometimes we just learn things like: no, that’s not how the experiment works. Try again! Also, some experiments take quite a lot of time: sometimes a few weeks or even months.

      You were asking a different question at the end of the chat- I liked it, please put it here 🙂

    • Photo: Clare Taylor

      Clare Taylor answered on 18 Nov 2012:

      Lots of scientists make small steps towards understanding cancer better every day and when we add it all up together, sometimes it leads to a really important discovery. We scientists in the zone here are all part of that!

      Because there are over different 200 types of cancer, the effects and symptoms of the cancer can be quite different. For example, ovarian cancer and brain cancer are quite different. In terms of treatment, lots of people have chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy and often suffer similar side effects because of the nature of the treatment which can affect normal, healthy cells as well.

    • Photo: Robert Insall

      Robert Insall answered on 18 Nov 2012:

      Dear Mark,
      Or is it dear Andrew?

      There is a museum near us in Glasgow from a Victorian collector who collected skeletons of children who had died of cancer. It’s amazing – the symptoms can be so different. There are “osteolytic” tumours which make holes in bone, and “osteogenic” ones, which cause bone to grow in remarkable patterns. So yes, they come in all sorts of different symptoms and shapes.

      Nowadays those kids wouldn’t have died (mostly) – we’re much better at dealing with bone cancers.

      Cancer doctors – oncologists – are very expert in all the different symptoms and outcomes of particular tumours. It is an extremely demanding profession, though. In particular – a really good one can make your chances of surviving higher…

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