Make an Appointment
Talk to DoctorOverview
Carcinoma is the most common category of cancer, accounting for the vast majority of all cancer diagnoses worldwide. This type of carcinoma cancer originates in the epithelial tissue, the vital layer of cells that covers your skin and lines your internal organs and bodily passageways. Because these cells are found throughout the entire body, the disease can develop in many different areas, including the lungs, breasts, prostate, colon, and skin.
What Is Carcinoma?
Carcinoma is the most frequently diagnosed category of cancer, originating in the epithelial tissue. This vital layer of cells is responsible for lining the surfaces of your internal organs, the inside of your body’s passageways, and your outer skin. Instead of categorizing the disease solely by the organ it affects, such as the breast, lung, or colon, medical professionals also classify it by the type of tissue where the abnormal cell growth begins. Because epithelial cells cover so much of the human body, this condition makes up the vast majority of cancer diagnoses worldwide.
Stages
- Carcinoma in situ (Stage 0): The abnormal cells are completely confined to the exact layer of tissue where they first developed. They have not invaded any surrounding areas. Because it is highly localized, early carcinoma treatment at this stage is highly effective.
- Invasive Carcinoma (Stages I – III): The cells have broken through their original boundaries and grown into deeper, neighboring tissues. Depending on the exact stage, the disease may have also reached nearby lymph nodes, but it has not yet traveled to distant organs.
- Metastatic Carcinoma (Stage IV): This is the most advanced stage. The cancer has broken away from the primary tumor and traveled through the bloodstream or lymphatic system to form new tumors in distant parts of the body.
Types
Identifying the specific types of carcinoma allows our specialists to tailor the most effective and precise care plan for you.
- Adenocarcinoma: This form begins in the glandular epithelial cells, which are responsible for secreting fluids like mucus and digestive juices. It is the most common form of cancer found in the lungs, colon, prostate, and pancreas.
- Basal Cell Carcinoma: Developing in the deepest layer of the skin’s outer surface (the epidermis), this is a slow-growing and highly common skin cancer. It frequently appears as shiny bumps or open sores and rarely spreads to other parts of the body.
- Squamous Cell Carcinoma: This arises in the flat, scale-like cells making up the top layer of the skin and the lining of hollow internal organs. While it often results from heavy sun exposure on the skin, it can also develop in the lungs, esophagus, head and neck and cervix.
- Renal Cell Carcinoma: Are mostly clear cell carcinoma.
- Ductal Carcinoma: This type begins in the milk ducts of the breast. It can be diagnosed early while still contained inside the ducts (in situ) or after it has begun to spread into surrounding breast tissue (invasive).
- Merkel Cell Carcinoma: A rare but highly aggressive type of skin cancer. It usually appears as a firm, painless, flesh-colored or bluish-red nodule on sun-exposed areas like the face, head, or neck. It begins in the Merkel cells, which are located very close to nerve endings just beneath the skin.
- Hepatocellular Carcinoma: This is also an adenocarcinoma, such as cirrhosis or long-term hepatitis B or C infections.
- Adrenal Carcinoma: Also known as adrenocortical carcinoma, this is a very rare disease that forms in the outer layer (cortex) of the adrenal glands, the small triangle-shaped organs located just above your kidneys. Because the adrenal glands produce essential hormones, a tumor here can sometimes cause abnormal hormone imbalances in the body.
- Neuroendocrine Carcinoma: Is a rare, fast-growing, and aggressive type of cancer that starts in neuroendocrine cells, which are specialized cells that combine nerve and hormone-producing endocrine functions.
Symptoms
The carcinoma symptoms you might experience depend entirely on where the tumor is located and how large it has grown. Common warning signs include:
- Persistent skin changes: The appearance of new lumps, scaly patches, sores that bleed and refuse to heal, or noticeable changes in the color and shape of existing moles.
- Unusual bleeding or discharge: Unexplained blood in your stool or urine, coughing up blood, or abnormal discharge from any body passageway.
- Palpable lumps: Hard masses or thickened tissues that you can feel just beneath the skin, most commonly in the breast, neck, armpits, or groin.
- Unexplained weight loss and fatigue: A sudden, significant drop in body weight accompanied by a profound lack of energy that does not improve with sleep.
- Ongoing physical discomfort: Chronic issues such as a persistent cough, difficulty swallowing, or lasting changes in your bowel or bladder habits.
Causes
At its core, the disease begins when normal, healthy cells undergo abnormal changes.
- The DNA inside a cell becomes damaged or mutates.
- This mutation overrides the cell’s normal life cycle, causing it to multiply rapidly instead of dying off.
- The buildup of these rapidly dividing cells forms a solid mass or tumor.
- Over time, these cells gain the ability to invade healthy neighboring tissue and travel to other body parts.
Risk Factors
- For Glandular/Organ Cancers (e.g., Adenocarcinoma): Major risks include smoking and tobacco use, heavy alcohol consumption, obesity, exposure to harmful industrial toxins, and inherited genetic mutations (such as the BRCA genes).
- For Skin Cancers: The leading risk factor is excessive exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun or tanning beds. Having fair skin, light-colored eyes, and a history of severe sunburns also elevates the risk.
- For Breast Cancers (Ductal): Risks increase with a strong family history of breast issues, early onset of menstruation, late menopause, dense breast tissue, and advanced maternal age.
Diagnosis
- Physical Examinations: A doctor will thoroughly review your personal and family medical history, ask about your daily symptoms, and physically examine you for visible signs like skin lesions or lumps.
- Advanced Imaging Tests: Non-invasive procedures such as X-rays, CT scans, MRIs, ultrasounds, and PET scans are used to create detailed pictures of the inside of your body. These images help doctors locate tumors and determine if the disease has spread.
- Laboratory Blood Tests: Blood samples are analyzed to check for specific tumor markers, proteins, or unusual enzyme levels that suggest cancerous activity in the body.
- Biopsy Procedures: This is the only definitive way to confirm cancer. A specialist safely removes a small sample of the suspicious tissue, either via a needle or a minor surgical procedure, so a pathologist can examine the cells under a microscope.
Treatment
Your carcinoma treatment plan is personalized to your unique needs, taking into account the cancer’s stage, location, and your overall health.
- Surgical Removal: For tumors confined to a single area, surgery is often the primary treatment. The goal is to physically extract the cancerous mass along with a safe margin of healthy tissue to ensure no abnormal cells are left behind.
- Radiation Therapy: This method utilizes highly targeted, high-energy beams to destroy cancer cells or halt their growth. It is frequently used to shrink tumors before surgery or to eliminate microscopic remnants after surgery.
- Chemotherapy: Powerful cancer-killing medications are administered orally or intravenously. Because these drugs travel throughout the entire body, they are highly effective at destroying fast-growing cells and preventing the disease from returning.
- Targeted Therapy: A more modern approach utilizing specialized drugs designed to attack the specific genetic mutations or weaknesses of the cancer cells, often minimizing the damage done to surrounding healthy tissue.
- Immunotherapy: This innovative biological therapy stimulates your body’s own immune system, helping it to properly recognize and fiercely attack malignant cells.
- Hormone Therapy: Certain tumors, particularly in the breast or prostate, rely on the body’s natural hormones to grow. This therapy blocks those hormones or lowers their levels to effectively starve the tumor.
