Cancer covers a wide spectrum of diseases. Heart disease, likewise. If there is a overlap, ie cancer developing in the heart, is it termed heart disease, or cancer?
"He died of heart diease" I hope I am making myself clear.
Even Yahoo Answers has separate categories. so where do I post this question? heart dieases or cancer? hmm... i'll put it in the cancer section...
2007-02-06 22:08:00 · 10 answers · asked by Balaboo 5 in Health ➔ Diseases & Conditions ➔ Cancer
In general, cancers do not tend to form in the heart, though it is unclear why. I personally think that it's because flow is generally so fast and dynamic through the chambers that things do not stagnate long enough to become dysplastic and pre-cancerous -- but that's just my opinion. Anyway, heart disease does not typically refer to cancer in the heart -- it refers to any other process that impairs function of, or blood supply to, the heart tissue. These COULD be caused by a primary heart cancer, but it's so rare that they usually don't classify it as such.
If you're curious, the most common heart cancer is myxoma, which is a benign tumor that classically forms in the left atrium, and is usually subclinical though it may cause a ball-valve-like obstruction of the mitral valve that can be heard on physical exam -- if they become a problem, they can be surgically removed with excellent prognosis. In children and infants, rhabdomyoma is the most common "cancer", though it is really a misclassification because they are actually remote deposits of normal tissue (called hamartomas) and not true cancers -- it is also usually associated with a condition called tuberous sclerosis.
2007-02-06 23:10:01 · answer #1 · answered by citizen insane 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Cancers of the heart do occur but they are not common. Cardiac myxoma is one. Also, because the heart is a muscle tissue, cancers that develop in or around the heart belongs to the category of cancer known as sarcomas. Angiosarcomas or rhabdomyosarcomas are a few examples.
2007-02-07 19:20:50 · answer #2 · answered by Cycman 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Alternative medicine has the answer to this. You see, cancer is a metabloic disease, caused by the following--our IMMUNE SYSTEMS become weakened by poor nutrition, lack of exercise and reduced oxygen. Once that happens, our body becomes vulnerable to common STRESSORS. Stressors can be environmental, like viruses, heavy metals, pesticides, food additives, electromagnetic waves or pollution. They can be internal things like emotional or job stress, or poisonous people in our lives. Aging is also a contributing factor. So this means:
WEAK IMMUNE SYSTEM + STRESSORS = DISEASE (cancer, diabetes, heart disease, etc.)
Our bodies have 60 trillion--yes, trillion--cells, and there are always some mutating into cancer cells, but a healthy immune system kills them before they have a chance to get a foothold in the body.
It takes a LONG time, usually, or a high level of stressors, to weaken the immune system to the point where it won't do its job, but once cancer has formed, it will generally spread rapidly.
The oxygen to the heart is 25% higher that to the rest of the body--that's high enough to knock out cancer before it can grow.
2007-02-10 22:37:09 · answer #3 · answered by Dorothy and Toto 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It does exist. I remember tumours of the heart muscle being mentioned when I was a medical student. Its unbelievably rare and I have never seen nor even heard of a case in more than 3 decades of practice. You can get sarcomas of heart muscle,myxomas and I believe you can get tumours of the pericardium. I know little about them I am afraid.
2007-02-10 11:10:24 · answer #4 · answered by Dr Frank 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Rare tumors called myxomas occur in the ventricle of the heart.
2007-02-07 10:22:01 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because the heart is a muscle and cancer does not typically attack muscle tissue. Although, cancer of the pericardium does happen.
2007-02-07 07:38:24 · answer #6 · answered by Someday Soon 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
It's funny I thought about this last week, when my neighbour had a heart by-pass, probably it is considered as heart disease.
2007-02-07 06:19:44 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
I think you'll find that in the event of death from something like this it is termed 'Heart Failure' on a death certificate but the coroners report will detail exactly what is found. xx
2007-02-07 06:19:30 · answer #8 · answered by starlet108 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
I think all diseases that affect the heart are all lumped together under the heading 'heart disease'.
2007-02-07 06:12:59 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
yesterday this same question came up in my mind after the exercise at the gym... Is it because of different tissues or what?
2007-02-07 06:14:09 · answer #10 · answered by e077168 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋