In a bone marrow biopsy, a doctor uses a needle to remove and examine a small amount of bone marrow, the spongy tissue inside some of the body’s larger bones. Bone marrow, which generates all the different kinds of cells within the blood, has the consistency of a gel in a fine mesh of bone. … Read more
A cancer can be inoperable for a variety of reasons. “Liquid cancers,” such as leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma, are considered inoperable by nature, because they involve cells or tissues that are dispersed throughout the body. Leukemia and multiple myeloma, for example, originate in abnormal cells of the bone marrow, the spongy material within the … Read more
This post originally appeared on Thriving, Boston Children’s Hospital’s pediatric health blog. On a hot, August day in a Boston park, Jesus Apolinaris Cruz cooled off with a water squirt gun fight with his mother and sister. As he nimbly ran and dodged their aim, he twisted around to sneak shots of water back in their … Read more
Whenever an advance against cancer is reported, it’s easy to imagine that it came about in an orderly and straightforward manner.
Although they were thoroughly debunked in the 1970s as anti-cancer agents, products made from apricot pits continue to be aggressively marketed to unsuspecting patients, according to a recent report in BuzzFeed. Do apricot seeds fight cancer? What is vitamin B17? The idea that such products could fight cancer arose because apricot pits contain a substance … Read more
Charles “Chuck” Vanada has been looking forward to Thanksgiving with his family this year, but the non-Hodgkin lymphoma survivor has already experienced feelings of gratitude in 2017 more powerful – and in places more unexpected – than anything he could have imagined. In April, Vanada and his wife, Debbie, traveled from their Boston-area home to … Read more
Nutrition plays an important role in a child’s cancer treatment. Side effects from treatment, such as chemotherapy and radiation, can make eating difficult for children. As a result, maintaining age appropriate weight, and supporting age appropriate growth, can be challenging. It is important to talk to your medical team regarding your child’s nutrition status at … Read more
Laryngeal cancer symptoms may be caused by laryngeal (throat) cancer – a disease in which cancer cells form in the tissues of the larynx – or by other conditions. The larynx is a part of the throat, between the base of the tongue and the trachea. The larynx includes the supraglottis, glottis (vocal cords), and subglottis. The vocal cords vibrate and … Read more
By Allan Osborne Although most caregivers are related to us, cancer patients like myself often receive care and support from non-family members, such as friends and colleagues. It’s important for us to reflect on the important role our caregivers play in our overall treatment. In my opinion, our caregivers have a much harder job than … Read more
CRISPR, a powerful new tool for editing the DNA instruction manual in animals and humans, is proving a boon to cancer research. Scientists say CRISPR has dramatically accelerated the process of making animal models of cancer and is speeding the search for new molecular targets for cancer drugs. The technique is also being used in … Read more
Swallowing therapy is often necessary for patients with head and neck cancer who undergo surgery or radiation since they frequently encounter difficulties with swallowing due to treatment. The jaw, tongue, lips, and throat muscles can all be impacted by treatment for head and neck cancers — including cancers of the throat, larynx, nose, sinuses, and … Read more
Medically reviewed by Fremonta L. Meyer, MD and Patrick Y. Wen, MD Many people experience anxiety or depression, or both, after a cancer diagnosis, studies show. But in rare cases, anxiety and depression can be an early symptom of a tumor in the brain. Doctors point out that anxiety and depression are among the most … Read more
By Hilda Santos One day six years ago, my sister Palmira called me from Dana-Farber with an idea. Her husband, Bob, was in treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and a volunteer had just approached his chair asking if he wanted a hand massage during his chemotherapy infusion. Seconds later, Palmira was on the phone. “This would … Read more
In the past, treating cancers involved classifying them primarily by the organ or tissue where they arose – like the skin, the lungs, the breast, or the colon. Today, it’s often possible to identify the genes and proteins responsible for a tumor’s growth, and, in some cases, to offer a drug treatment that specifically targets … Read more
Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer both involve enlargement of the prostate, the walnut-sized gland that produces fluid that makes up a portion of semen. The prostate sits below the bladder and surrounds the urethra, the tube that carries urine out of the body. When the prostate increases in size, whether due to BPH, … Read more
Cancer can feel like a slog — not just a physical one, but an emotional one, too. That’s how 56-year-old business owner Amy Macdonald describes the past year and a half living with metastatic melanoma. “The biggest changes in my life are the consequences of the treatment – fatigue, body aches, brain fog, and mental … Read more
CAR T-cell therapy is a cancer treatment in which a patient’s immune system T cells are genetically modified to mount a more effective attack on cancer. As of May 2018, CAR T-cell therapy has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as standard therapy for some adult patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma that has relapsed after … Read more
Pediatric leukemia is cancer of the blood and develops in the bone marrow. The bone marrow is the soft, spongy center of the long bones that produces the three major blood cells: white blood cells to fight infection; red blood cells that carry oxygen; and platelets that help the blood clot and stop bleeding. When … Read more
In 1947, when Dana-Farber Cancer Institute founder Sidney Farber, MD, set out to find a drug treatment for childhood leukemia, cancer treatment took two forms – surgery to cut out cancerous masses, and radiation therapy to burn them out. Cancers that couldn’t be removed or irradiated – either because of their position in the body, because … Read more
This originally appeared on Vector, Boston Children’s Hospital’s blog. A multi-center clinical trial is now offering nationwide genetic profiling services to pediatric and young adult cancer patients across the U.S. The goal is to identify gene mutations that can be individually matched with targeted drugs. “This is the first-ever nationwide precision medicine clinical trial for … Read more