ABSTRACT
Mechanisms aimed at mid-term changes may produce painful side effects since the new things produced may hinder the organism’s performance. For the most part these side effects are not fatal and are limited to specific organs, such as cysts or deformation of a single tissue. However, when these changes cause complete deterioration of a given organ or are fatal then have a pathology of the mechanism of change. Assuming cancerous diseases derive from a pathology of the somatic mechanism of change then this class of disorders must encompass all developing life forms from plants to humans. Definition of cancer from the systems perspective can be given in terms of function, structure, process, or genesis. All four dimensions are mutually complimentary. From the functional point of view, the definition of cancer must specify its function. Cancer is viewed as an event that takes place in an organism whose function in the norm is survival.
