Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth and potential to spread. It develops due to loss of normal growth control mechanisms. Cancers are classified by their primary site, tissue type, grade, and stage. The main tissue types are carcinomas (epithelial), sarcomas (connective tissues), myelomas (bone marrow), leukemias (blood), and lymphomas (lymph system). Cancers can also be classified based on their level of abnormality (grade) or extent of spread (stage). Understanding cancer classification helps determine diagnosis and treatment.

1. Types and
classification of
cancer
Name: fariha asghar
Roll no: 05
Semester: 07

2. What is cancer?
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Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with
the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body.
The contrast with benign tumors which do not spread.
Cancer develops when the body’s normal control mechanism stop
working.
Old cells do not die and instead grow out of control, forming new,
abnormal cells.

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Cancer is a term used to describe a large group of diseases that are
characterized by a cellular malfunction.
Healthy cells are programmed to “know what to do and when to do it”.
Cancerous cells do not have this programming and therefore grow and
replicate out of control. They also serve no physiological function. These
cells are now termed a neoplasm
Medically cancer is known “ Malignant neoplasm”. It is a broad group of
disease involving unregulated cell growth.
The unregulated cell growth forms a “tumor”

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Cancer is collection of disease characterize by abnormal and
uncontrolled growth.
Cancer arises from a loss of normal growth control.
In normal tissue, the rate of new cell growth and old cell death are
kept in balance.
But in cancer this balance is disrupted.
This disruption can result from Uncontrolled cell growth Loss of cell
ability to undergo apoptosis

6. TUMOR
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This neoplasmic mass often forms a clumping of cells known as a
tumor.
“ Tumor is a any abnormal proliferation of cell”.
TUMER’S ARE TWO TYPES
Benign tumor (non-cancerous)
Malignant tumor (cancerous).

7. MALIGNANT TUMOR (CANCEROUS)
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This type of tumor are capable of invading surrounding tissue or
invading the entire body.
Invade and emit claw like protrusions that disrupt the RNA and
DNA of normal cells (these cancerous cells act like a virus).
Most malignant cells become „metastatic‟.

8. BENIGN TUMOR (NON-CANCEROUS)
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Benign tumors are those tumor, which grow only in one place.
They cannot spread or invade other parts of the body.
Enclosed in fibrous shell or capsule.
They can be dangerous if they press on vital organs such as “brain”.
It stay confined to its original location.

10. CLASSIFICATION
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Cancers may be classified
by their primary site of origin.
By their histological or tissue types.
Classification by grade.
Classification by stage.

11. Classification by site of origin
• By primary site of origin, cancers may be of specific types like
breast cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, liver cancer renal cell
carcinoma (kidney cancer), oral cancer, brain cancer etc.

13. Classification by tissue types
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International standard for the classification and nomenclature of histologies is the
International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, Third Edition (ICD-O-3). This
classification is based on the ICD-O-3.
Based on tissue types cancers may be classified into six major categories –
Carcinoma
Sarcoma
Myeloma
Leukemia –
Lymphoma –
Mixed types

14. carcinoma
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This type of cancer originates from the epithelial layer of cells that
form the lining of external parts of the body or the internal linings of
organs within the body.
Carcinomas, malignancies of epithelial tissue, account for 80 to 90
percent of all cancer cases since epithelial tissues are most
abundantly found in the body from being present in the skin to the
covering and lining of organs and internal passageways, such as
the gastrointestinal tract.

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Carcinomas usually affect organs or glands capable of secretion
including breast, lungs, bladder, colon and prostate.
Carcinomas are of two types
adenocarcinoma
squamous cell carcinoma. .

17. Adenocarcinoma
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Adenocarcinoma develops in an organ or gland and squamous cell
carcinoma originates in squamous epithelium.
Adenocarcinomas may affect mucus membranes and are first
seen as a thickened plaque-like white mucosa. These are rapidly
spreading cancers

18. Sarcoma
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These cancers originate in connective and supportive tissues
including muscles, bones, cartilage and fat.
Bone cancer is one of the sarcomas termed osteosarcoma. It
affects the young most commonly. Sarcomas appear like the tissue
in which they grow.

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Other examples include :
chondrosarcoma (of the cartilage)
leiomyosarcoma (smooth muscles)
rhabdomyosarcoma (skeletal muscles)
Mesothelial sarcoma or mesothelioma (membranous lining of body
cavities)
Fibrosarcoma (fibrous tissue) etc..

21. Myeloma
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These originate in the plasma cells of bone marrow.
Plasma cells are capable of producing various antibodies in
response to infections.
Myeloma is a type of blood cancer.

23. Leukemia
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This a group of cancers that are grouped within blood cancers.
These cancers affect the bone marrow which is the site for blood
cell production.
When cancerous, the bone marrow begins to produce excessive
immature white blood cells that fail to perform their usual actions
and the patient is often prone to infection.

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Types of leukemia include:
Acute myelocytic leukemia (AML)
Chronic myelocytic leukemia (CML)
Acute Lymphatic, lymphocytic, or lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)
Chronic Lymphatic, lymphocytic, or lymphoblastic leukemia (CLL)
Polycythemia vera or erythremia

26. Lymphoma
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These are cancers of the lymphatic system.
Lymphomas may be of two types
Hodgkin’s lymphoma and Non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas.
In Hodgkin lymphoma there is characteristic presence of Reed-
Sternberg cells in the tissue samples which are not present in Non-
Hodgkin lymphoma.

28. Mixed types
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These have two or more components of the cancer.
Some of the examples include mixed mesodermal tumor,
carcinosarcoma, adenosquamous carcinoma and teratocarcinoma.

29. Classification by grade
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Cancers can also be classified according to grade.
The abnormality of the cells with respect to surrounding normal
tissues determines the grade of the cancer.
Increasing abnormality increases the grade, from 1–4.

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Cells that are well differentiated closely resemble normal
specialized cells and belong to low grade tumors.
Cells that are undifferentiated are highly abnormal with respect to
surrounding tissues.
These are high grade tumors.

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Grade 1 – well differentiated cells with slight abnormality
Grade 2 – cells are moderately differentiated and slightly more
abnormal
Grade 3 – cells are poorly differentiated and very abnormal
Grade 4 – cells are immature and primitive and undifferentiated

32. • Stages may be divided according to the TNM staging classification.
Stage 0 indicates cancer being in situ or limited to surface cells
while stage I indicates cancer being limited to the tissue of origin.
Stage II indicates limited local spread, Stage II indicates extensive
local and regional spread while stage IV is advanced cancer with
distant spread and metastasis