Lung, stomach, intestine, brain, prostate, breast, colon, skin, mouth, liver, bladder, bone, colon, pancreas, thyroid, larynx, lymph, and more… Although there are so many types of cancer, it should be noted that heart cancer is rarely seen. It is like that because, It’s about the way the heart works.

To understand why cancer often affects the heart, it is necessary to fully understand the disease. how it was formed and we must know the workings of our vital organ, the heart. Here’s the description:

How does cancer develop?

Our bodies vary throughout the day. against toxins, acids, enzymes, UV rays and exposed to more harmful substances. When our cells and tissues are damaged, stem or progenitor cells actively divide to replace the cells that are lost; good our cells are renewed.

In this repair process of our body, a cell copies its DNA every time it divides, and there are sometimes mistakes at this stage. In fact, cells do not readily admit these errors, error checking mechanisms and DNA repair processes are robust. However, our skin, where cellular stress is excessive, contains about 37 trillion cells. because the number is so high The emergence of genetic mutations is not surprising.

When the number of cells is so high and the density of harmful substances is added to it, cells can accumulate genetic mutations and become cancerous. So unfortunately the body by a mistake trying to heal itself by revealing cancerous tissue, it puts itself at the center of greater danger. Pretty ironic!

So why does the heart so rarely get cancer?

We mentioned that as the number of cells divides and regenerates, the chance of cancerous formation increases. The heart is different from the rest of our body. does not have much cell turnover. Healing of the tissues in the heart does not occur through cell division, but primarily through a process called “fibrosis.”

The number of cell divisions that take place in the heart is so small that half of the heart cells at birth It stays with us for the rest of our lives. That is why cancer, which occurs as a result of the mistakes cells make during division/renewal, is very rarely found in the heart. In addition, the heart is less exposed to carcinogens than our skin, digestive system and lungs.

According to scientific research; heart cancer occurs in about 34 out of 1 million people.

sarcoma A type of heart cancer called cancer originates in the heart’s own tissue.† It is extremely rare, but the death rate is very high.

subordinate a heart tumor starts elsewhere in the body and then metastasizes (spreads) to the heart. That is, via lymph or vein It can spread from other organs. Metastatic forms of kidney, lung, breast cancer, lymphoma, melanoma, and leukemia are common cancers that can affect the heart. Cancer is unlikely to spread to the heart.

Sources: Prof. Dr. Mustafa Özdoğan, physician Pedram Türkoğlu