To search for information on specific cancers, visit Disease Information. For a general overview, see below.

While there are many types of cancer, all types occur due to the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells.  Body cells normally grow, divide, and die in an organized manner. In contrast, cancer cells outlive normal cells and continue to form additional abnormal cells. Cancer usually occurs as a tumor. However, some cancers, such as leukemia, do not form tumors. These cancers involve the blood and blood-forming organs. Not all tumors are cancerous. Benign (noncancerous) tumors do not spread and, with rare exceptions, are not life threatening.

Cancer cells can travel to other parts of the body where they grow, a process called metastasis. If a cancer does spread (metastasize) it is always named for the place it began. If breast cancer spreads to the liver, it is still called breast cancer, not liver cancer. Different types of cancer behave very differently. For example, lung cancer and breast cancer grow at different rates and respond to different treatments.

Arizona Oncology Services (AOS) offers the latest evidence-based treatment approaches and technology, including IMRT, IGRT, breast brachytherapy, prostate brachytherapy, Tomotherapy, Gamma Knife, CyberKnife, and Novalis.