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Yes. There are more than 200 types of cancer.
Each grows and spreads in its own way, and causes its own set of symptoms. Each responds to treatment in its own way.
Although there are lots of cancers, we can put almost all of them into these eight groups, depending on which body cells they start in...
| Carcinomas | cancers that start on the surface or lining of a body organ. The surface or lining may be on the inside of the body (eg lungs, bowel, bladder, stomach, uterus) or on the outside (eg skin). Around 9 out of 10 cancers are carcinomas. |
| Sarcomas | cancers that start in the body’s bones, fat, muscles, tendons, cartilage or some other tissues. (These parts of the body are called connective tissue.) |
| Melanomas | cancers that start in the cells that make our skin colour. |
| Lymphomas | cancers that start in cells called lymphocytes. These cells are in the bone marrow and lymph nodes, and they help us to fight infection. |
| Leukaemias | cancers of the white blood cells. We need white cells to fight infection. |
| Myelomas | cancers of the plasma cells in bone marrow. These cells make antibodies that help us to fight infection. |
| Nerve cell tumours | cancers that start in the cells of the brain or spinal cord. |
| Germ cell tumours | cancers that start in the cells that make sperm (in men) and eggs (in women). |
