How Scientists are Looking to Expand the Benefits of Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy can be dramatically successful for people with limited options — so scientists are working on expanding the benefits to other patients.
Dana-Farber Staff
Can Obesity Cause Cancer?
What is the relationship between obesity and cancer? Being obese increases one’s risk for a multitude of health complications and diseases, including several types of cancer. Obesity has been linked to thirteen types of cancer with a stronger risk associated with breast, esophageal and endometrial cancers, among others.
Breast Cancer and Birth Control Pills: What’s the Link?
“Overall, contraceptives still have a favorable risk benefit for women as contraception,” says Wendy Chen, MD, a senior physician in Dana-Farber’s Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers.
After Hurricane, Cancer Patients from Puerto Rico Find Care and Community at Dana-Farber
Hurricane Maria made it impossible for these patients to be treated in Puerto Rico. Now, they’re receiving care at Dana-Farber.
How are Adult and Pediatric Leukemia Alike and Different?
Leukemia is a blood cancer that results when stem cells in the bone marrow produce abnormal blood cells.
What are BRCA1/BRCA2 Gene Mutations?
Harmful BRCA mutations are uncommon in the general population. About one in every 500 women in the United States has either a BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation.
What Parents of Pediatric Leukemia Patients Need to Know
Leukemia is a type of cancer that starts in early forms of white blood cells. White blood cells are cells that typically fight infections.
Spreading the Love: One Couple’s Response to Inflammatory Breast Cancer
Love and commitment have enabled Lynda and Ellen Thomas to get through Lynda’s diagnosis and treatment for inflammatory breast cancer (IBC).
Can Exercise Reduce the Risk of Cancer Recurrence?
Exercising, even at a moderate level, is one thing cancer survivors can do to lower the odds of cancer recurrence.
What is Retinoblastoma and How is it Treated?
Retinoblastoma is a rare childhood cancer of the eye. It arises from the retina, the nerve tissue in the back of the eye that is sensitive to light.
Soy and Breast Cancer: Is There a Connection?
Could adding soy milk to your coffee or substituting tofu for meat increase your risk of breast cancer? The research is conflicting, but our breast cancer doctor, Wendy Chen, MD, MPH, is here to help us cut through the noise. “[It’s] one of the most common questions I get from breast cancer survivors,” says Chen, … Read more
What is CNS Lymphoma and How is it Treated?
Medically reviewed by David Reardon, MD Central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma is an extremely rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that involves the brain and spinal cord, the primary components of your body’s central nervous system. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a type of cancer that originates in lymphocytes, infection-fighting white blood cells that make up your immune … Read more
Brain Cancer Survivor Shares Wisdom and Humor in Book
On what was supposed to be a memorable night for all the right reasons, things suddenly went terribly wrong for Marie Fricker. Arriving at Brigham and Women’s Hospital for the birth of her first grandchild, she began experiencing dueling discomforts that rooted her to a bench in the front lobby: a sensation of searing heat … Read more
Breast Calcifications: What You Need to Know
Receiving the news that something abnormal has turned up on a routine mammogram can be frightening, but breast calcifications are usually harmless. In rare instances, they can be an early sign of breast cancer, though calcifications themselves do not develop into cancer. What are breast calcifications? All cells in the body have a life span; … Read more
Nausea and Cancer: What You Need to Know
Nausea and cancer are often related in that nausea can be a side effect of treatment, but can nausea be a symptom of cancer itself? Is nausea a sign of colon cancer or other cancers? If there is a tumor that lives in the colon, esophagus, stomach, or somewhere else in the bowel, it can … Read more