I heard somewhere, that ongoing inflammation & irritation inside the
body, can cause cancer?

Is this true?

Susan, Su_Texas my opinions

james massa

I'm no doctor... But a friend of mine had this bladder thing,,, kinda a odd
shape and caused him some pain and discomfort. He died of bladder cancer at
the age of 48.
Jer

j

Sometimes ongong inflammation of the esophagus can lead to Barrett's
esophagus which can then become cancerous.
I think but not sure some people with certain inflammatory bowel disease
are at risk for colon cancer.
and then there's "inflammatory breast cancer" which you're probably
aware of.
I imagine BPH (benign prostate inflammation) causes elevated
inflammation in the bloodwork and elevated PSA, so it's the other tests
that say if there's cancer or not.

So, as far as I know, it's risk vs cause.

Actually some of the meds for Lupus (to control inflammation) are a risk
factor for lymphoma.

that's all I can think of at the moment except there's a study on
sci.med.disease.cancer debunking Celebrex and colon cancer (posted by Helen (Stanbro) last spring.
<http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=bgp6f6%24s7a%241%40slb9.atl.mindspring.net>

I think Kaye's taking her Celebrex for her shoulder problems (but not
sure).

If you had inflammation in your body, it would show up in bloodwork, I
think. ESR and CRP and maybe elevated WBC
http://labtestsonline.org/understand.../esr/test.html
The ESR is an easy, inexpensive, nonspecific test that has been used for
many years to help diagnose conditions associated with acute and chronic
inflammation, including infections, cancers, and autoimmune diseases.
ESR is said to be nonspecific because increases do not tell the doctor
exactly where the inflammation is in your body or what is causing it,
and also because it can be affected by other conditions besides
inflammation. For this reason, ESR is typically used in conjunction with
other tests. (see more there)


By the way, I was researching elevaled white blood cells (leukocytes?)
apparently they can be a sign of stroke. (which apparently my cousin is
thought to have had. he's in hospital and so far all they've found is
elevated white blood cell and some bleeding in his brain).. we're waitng
to find out if more is going on.

watch for Steph's reply.
J - not a doctor

By the way, I was researching elevaled white blood cells (leukocytes?)
apparently they can be a sign of stroke. (which apparently my cousin is
thought to have had. he's in hospital and so far all they've found is
elevated white blood cell and some bleeding in his brain).. we're waitng
to find out if more is going on.

J - not a doctor

==========

Hi J,

Sorry to hear about your cousin. I've had two strokes & they definitely
aren't fun.

Usually, you don't know (early on) how much function someone can get
back. Many people who lose speech & left side function, can get a lot
of it back. [I have, but I now speak with an odd accent.]

The important thing for them, is to have hope & keep trying.

Susan, Su_Texas my opinions

steph

Some kinds of cancer are more common in the presence of chronic
inflammation, others are not