It has been estimated that about 1.2 billion people worldwide have hypertension with two-thirds of cases seen in low and middle income countries, yet less than 1 in 5 people with hypertension have it well managed. No wonder, hypertension remains a major cause of premature death worldwide. In our last exposition, we had an overview of hypertension, the causes, symptoms and risk factors. Today, we take a look at how hypertension is diagnosed and the possible complications the silent killer presents with.
Are you a middle aged or elderly man having difficulty urinating or recently noticed a reduced force in the stream of your urine? It might even be blood you see in your urine or semen and you are not sure what it might be and you are not really sure where to turn to? It might even be all these crowned with erectile dysfunction, not to worry, we have got some discussion to do.
You might have heard of prostate cancer but you are not sure what it is all about. Let us talk about it. Prostate cancer is basically cancer of the prostate.
Colorectal cancer is a type of cancer found in the colon or rectum. It is also referred to as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer. The colon and rectum are in the lower portion of the digestive system. The colon is the large intestine and the rectum is the channel connecting the colon to the anus. The American Cancer Society predicts that 1 in 23 men and 1 in 25 women will develop colorectal cancer in their lifetime. Colorectal cancer remains the third most common cancer in the United States of America and is the second most common cause of deaths due to cancer.
Colorectal cancer remains one of the most preventable types of cancer yet remains the second highest cause of cancer associated deaths in the United States. This calls for more awareness about the disease and a need to improve our body of knowledge about colorectal cancer. In our last post, we examined the symptoms, causes and risk factors (modifiable and non-modifiable) of the disease. Today, we pay closer attention to the types of colorectal cancer, the stages the disease can present at and the mediums through which medical practitioners diagnose the disease.
Last time out, we talked about smoking and its numerous life threatening effects on the different parts of the human body system. We learned that smoking is a leading cause of numerous cancer types, causes damage to blood vessels and impairs heart function, affects reproduction, causes blindness and could cause impotence in men, these among many more were consequences attributed to smoking.
Sometime around July last year, it was a sorry case of a middle aged man (Mr. Jerry, not real name for the sake of anonymity) in his 50s. He came in to the hospital with a large infected ulcer (wound) on his left foot, the foot was massively discolored, his toes had all turned black and there was widespread necrosis. After series of investigations, it was discovered that extensive damage has been done to his bone caused by the infected and poorly treated wound and he had totally lost feeling in his left foot. He was subsequently scheduled for amputation surgery, and he lost his left leg from below knee level. The big question is how did Mr. Jerry get to this point.
So, we have been talking about breast cancer for a while now, the risk factors that predispose women to the disease, the symptoms to look out for on self-breast examination and the different types of breast cancers and their presentation. Today, we would be looking at a breast cancer case under our management and the treatment course so far.