If transgender youth and adults are undergoing (or planning) gender-affirming surgery, taking masculinizing or feminizing hormones, and they have cancer, these treatments can have implications for their care. Cancer treatments in turn can have implications for their gender-affirming care. Oncologists should take gender identity into account in making decisions about cancer treatment. This starts with … Read more
Despite enormous advances in cancer treatment, some racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups still bear an especially large burden from the disease, with higher incidence rates for many cancers and poorer outcomes. Decades of research has documented these disparities. Among adult patients, for example, African Americans have the highest mortality rate of any racial or ethnic … Read more
Ependymomas are some of the most difficult-to-treat brain tumors. Mariella Filbin, MD, PhD, a neuro-oncologist at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, is driven by a desire to find new therapies for these pediatric brain tumors. At the core of her work is an effort to uncover the events that shape tumor development. Defining how … Read more
Carly Tobin loves dancing for the fun and freedom it provides. During treatment for a rare pediatric kidney cancer known as Wilms tumor, the pre-teen’s passion also proved a vital source of strength. Diagnosed in early June 2019, Carly — now 11 and cancer-free — underwent surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and … Read more
Due to COVID-19, Ava Girolimetti doesn’t know if she will be starting middle school this September in a classroom, on a computer screen, or a combination of both. But thanks to CAR T-cell therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), she plans to be there cancer-free. The rising sixth grader can make this claim as one … Read more
Vaccines play a vital role in helping to keep us safe. They work by introducing our bodies to a weakened or modified version of a particular virus (such as measles, mumps, etc.). This allows our immune system to produce antibodies — proteins used by the immune system to attack and destroy foreign substances — in … Read more
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, labs across the world have been in lockdown, while researchers eagerly prepare to return to work when it is safe to do so. Three cancer researchers at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center share some of the experiences and challenges they’ve faced during COVID-19, as well as … Read more
How does a person get coronavirus? Coronavirus is spread primarily by exposure to respiratory droplets that are generated when an infected individual coughs or sneezes. If these droplets come in contact with the eyes, nose, or mouth of another person, infection can develop. Infected droplets can remain active on surfaces for some time. This can happen, for … Read more
It’s impossible not to notice the connection between Crista Cardillo and Kim Stegmaier, MD. The way they laugh and swap stories might make you think they grew up down the street from one another. But their friendship began differently than most: as patient and oncologist at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. When Cardillo … Read more
It was a decade that began with the electrifying results of a clinical trial for a revolutionary new cancer therapy and ended with a Nobel Prize in Medicine for very different cancer-related research. In between those dramatic bookends, the 2010s were packed with progress, with discoveries leading to the FDA’s 2017 approval of the first … Read more
Ali Mercy was an eight-year-old with relapsed acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) in need of a stem cell transplant. First, however, his father Abrahim had to find a country willing to provide Ali with the life-saving procedure. Transplants were not performed in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where Abrahim and Ali lived together in the city … Read more
Medically reviewed by Katherine A. Janeway, MD Cancer affecting the bones may be primary (a cancer that develops within the bone) or metastatic (spreading to bones from elsewhere in the body). Many primary bone tumors are benign (noncancerous), but others are malignant. Treatment options for bone tumors include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, cryosurgery (freezing cancer … Read more
At just 14 years old, Kaitlyn Vu was asked to accept a drastic, life-altering surgery. In early 2019, she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma — a rare type of bone cancer that ultimately led to the amputation of her left foot. Kaitlyn’s ability to meet each challenge of her diagnosis with a combination of grace and … Read more
At just 18 years old, Gabbi Stewart is a two-time survivor of two very different types of cancer. While her care team acted quickly to aggressively treat her most recent cancer, Stewart was faced with what she says was her greatest challenge: building back up the self-confidence the disease had eroded. A rare diagnosis In … Read more
Since it was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the fall of 2017, a form of the powerful and promising therapy known as CAR T-cell therapy has been used to treat certain young patients with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who have relapsed or didn’t respond to standard regimens. Today, researchers … Read more
Three-year-old Lia Scagnoli skipped across the “Bridge of Hope” connecting Boston Children’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute each time she had a chemotherapy infusion or other treatment for pediatric kidney cancer at Dana-Farber’s Jimmy Fund Clinic. Caregivers offering equal parts love, hope, and fun diversions gave her and her family a feeling of confidence that … Read more
Medically reviewed by Natalie Collins, MD, PhD New treatments that spur the immune system against cancer have entered the clinic to combat some forms of pediatric blood cancers, such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). One form of immunotherapy, CAR T cells, has been approved for children and young adults with ALL. In treating solid tumors … Read more
Medically reviewed by Lewis Silverman, MD A greater understanding of the genomics of pediatric leukemia — the genetic errors and irregularities that underlie the disease — has enabled researchers to divide the disease into additional subtypes. This has improved physicians’ ability to identify patients with an increased risk of relapse and to prescribe treatments to … Read more
By Ellen Lori Weisberg, PhD The discovery of a lump came about as the result of a complete accident — a sweeping of my finger past a swelling as I mindlessly adjusted the ribbed shirt I was wearing during an otherwise mundane evening of television watching. My husband, a pediatrician, tried to reassure me that … Read more
It was quite a spring for Andrew Hedberg. The rising high school sophomore made the varsity golf team and was elected class president for the upcoming school year. Most importantly, the bone cancer that once threatened his left leg and his life remained in remission. All of this validated the decision that Andrew’s family made … Read more