Adenocarcinoma is the cancer that affects the glandular tissue of your body. The term “adeno” refers to gland and “carcinoma” means cancer. The cells of the body would multiply in disciplined manner. Old cells would die after some days which are replenished with newer cells. But in some cases, old cells will not die and more and more new cells are formed. This abnormal cell formation leads to cancer.
Glandular tissue is present throughout the body and very often adenocarcinoma affects the epithelial cells, interfering with its normal secretion. Though adenocarcinoma can occur anywhere on the body, it commonly occurs in lungs and colon. Other organs like cervix, stomach, pancreas and thyroid gland can also develop adenocarcinoma. Some types of gland tumors like insulinoma or vipoma are not considered as adenocarcinoma but they are neuroendocrine tumors.
Types :
- Mucus secreting glands are affected with adenocarcinoma.
- Among all other types of lung cancer, adenocarcinoma is the most common one.
- Adeonocarcinoma can develop in prostate glands and almost all the prostate cancers arise due to adenocarcinoma.
- Cancer that occurs in exocrine pancreas is of adenocarcinomas type. Often they develop in pancreatic ducts.
- Esophagus has number of glandular cells that are prone to develop adenocarcinoma.
- Similarly cancers that occur in the colon or rectum belong to adenocarcinoma type.
Causes :
Exact cause of adenocarcinoma is not known. But it develops due to overcrowding of older cells upon which newer cells start growing forming a mass or tumor.
Diagnosis :
Your doctor will use different set of diagnostic procedures for detecting adenocarcinoma based on the part that is affected. Some of the common tests used for detecting adenocarcinoma are CT scan, MRI scan and biopsy.
Treatment :
Treatment approach differs in accordance with the size and location of cancer in the body. Surgical removal of the tumor from the glandular tissue is done in many cases. In this process some part of healthy tissues are also removed. At present non-invasive surgeries are used to reduce the chance of infection and to speed up the process of healing.
Chemotherapy is given either through medications or injection to destroy cancer causing cells. Often chemo is combined with surgery or radiation therapy. Radiation therapy is typically combined before or after surgery or along with chemotherapy.