Major Health Problems

MAJOR HEALTH PROBLEMS Cancer Description Cancer is new growth of tissue resulting from a continuous proliferation of abnormal cells that have the ability to invade and destroy other tissues. Cancer is a multi-stage process where a series of irreversible genetic errors occur in a cell in the body during a patient's lifetime. The early stages (initiation) are critical for setting the process off. Later changes lead to spread and increased growth rate, and are triggered …

…a temporary measure; at least one such pump continued to work for several years. In 1969 the first completely artificial heart was implanted in a human, again on a temporary basis. The first permanent artificial heart, designed by Robert Jarvik, was implanted in 1982 in a patient who lived for three months thereafter. A number of patients have received Jarvik and other artificial hearts since that time, but surviving recipients tended to suffer strokes and related problems.