Active in physical pursuits and a world traveler, Harry Beskind, MD, was surprised when he started feeling tired while on a bike ride in 2014. He had just returned home from a river trip to Portugal with his wife, and Beskind, then 82, was having trouble riding up hills on his bike. “I thought I was just … Read more
By Sara Dickison Taylor On June 2, 2008, my then 5 ½-year-old daughter was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). My world would never be the same. My husband and I had an eerie sense that something was very wrong. Emily’s high fevers were not resolving, even after countless days of ibuprofen doses, and her … Read more
Lynch syndrome — also known as hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer — is the most common hereditary form of colorectal cancer. In the United States, about 150,000 new cases of colorectal cancer are diagnosed each year and approximately 3 to 5% of these cancers are caused by Lynch syndrome. It’s estimated that 1 in 300 people may be … Read more
Along with surgery and chemotherapy, radiation therapy has long been a mainstay of cancer treatment. It uses high-energy waves or particles such as x-rays, gamma rays, electrons, or protons to destroy or damage tumor cells. Radiation creates small breaks within the DNA of cancer cells, preventing the cells from growing and dividing, and often causing … Read more
Medically reviewed by Gordon Freeman, PhD New drugs that stimulate the patient’s immune system to attack tumors have achieved some dramatic and long-lasting benefits in several forms of cancer. A few drugs are already approved for wide use and many more are in the research pipeline. Because these immunotherapy agents work differently than chemotherapy, the … Read more
Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), a condition that is a result of nerve damage caused by cancer treatment, can be a frustrating side effect patients face. People with CIPN can experience tingling, numbness and pain in the arms, hands, legs and feet. Although there is no clear CIPN treatment that can improve nerve damage, a combination … Read more
“Go Dana-Farber!” Clad in her brightly-colored team singlet, Sigrid Wheatley loved hearing shouts of encouragement while running the B.A.A. Half Marathon® in Boston last October in support of Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund. When she took on her first full marathon for the same beneficiary this April, she heard the cheers again – and even … Read more
Growing up in the San Francisco area, Cigall Kadoch, PhD, had a passion for puzzles. The daughter of a Moroccan-born, Israeli-raised father and a mother from Michigan who together developed an interior design business, Kadoch excelled in school and pretty much everything else. Above all, she loved to solve brain-teasers. In high school, however, Kadoch … Read more
Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma are the two main types of lymphoma, a cancer that affects the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system produces and transports white blood cells to fight infection. While they have many characteristics in common, there are some significant differences between Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, including the age groups they affect, how they … Read more
By Christine Hensel Triantos On a cold winter day in 2002, Sharon Goyette stepped into Dana-Farber’s Center for Cancer Genetics and Prevention. She was a 21-year-old college student, and this was the last place she wanted to be. But her mother had insisted. After developing colon cancer, Goyette’s mother had been diagnosed with Lynch syndrome … Read more
Radiation therapy, which uses radiation to kill cancer cells, is a common treatment option for breast cancer patients. After a lumpectomy, a standard course of radiation therapy with breast cancer lasts six weeks. A new option for some breast cancer patients uses slightly higher doses of radiation over a shorter period of time. Both the … Read more
This is an excerpt from a perspective published in The New England Journal of Medicine on Feb. 12, 2015. By Justin Sanders, MD, MSc When Ms. C. died, I was sad but not surprised. I had met her 4 years earlier, when I was an intern and she was the first patient who identified me … Read more
When it comes to cancer prevention, there is perhaps no greater success story than human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines. They can help prevent 90 percent of cancers that are caused by HPV. Since their introduction in 2006, the percentage of cervical precancers caused by types of HPV most often linked to cervical cancer has dropped by … Read more
More than half of all people with cancer will get chemotherapy – powerful drugs that kill cancer cells to cure the disease, slow its growth, or reduce its symptoms. There are more than 100 different drugs used in chemotherapy, sometimes alone, but more often in combinations that have proven effective against specific types of cancer. … Read more
Gestational Trophoblastic Disease (GTD) is a rare disease where a group of tumors develops in the uterus after conception, leading to abnormal development of the placenta. It affects about 1 in 1,000 pregnancies. More than 80 percent of GTD cases are non-cancerous and all forms can be treated, with the majority of cases curable. Physicians … Read more
Nearly all cancer drugs in use today were developed through clinical trials. But before they are approved for use, they must go through multiple phases designed to test the drug’s safety and efficacy. These phases include preclinical, phase I, II, and III. In phase I clinical trials, investigators evaluate how often and how much of … Read more
When 15-year-old Karina Moreira sat down with Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen in December 2013, the two traded beauty tips, talked fashion, and took turns applying makeup. They spoke in their native Portuguese and laughed with family and friends. The experience, Moreira says, one that she will remember for the rest of her life. But the … Read more
By Jack Coates In May 2001, I was diagnosed with medulloblastoma. I was 19 years old and had just finished my freshman year at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island. Medulloblastoma is a cancer that affects the brain and the spine. I had three surgeries, 52 weeks of chemo, and six weeks of radiation. … Read more
Outcomes are gradually improving for patients who suffer from graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), one of the most serious complications of stem cell transplantation, and researchers are optimistic that further advances may be on the way.
Following radiation treatment or surgery to remove lymph nodes (lymphadenectomy), patients can develop lymphedema, a condition that involves abnormal swelling, usually in the arms or the legs, due to an accumulation of lymphatic fluids. This fluid buildup is caused by blockage or removal of lymph nodes or lymph vessels. Lymphedema is often associated with breast … Read more