Cancers 101

  Today, I'd like to take some time to explain some cancer jargon that I use on this blog, which are commonly used in the childhood cancer world.

  • Leukemia - a blood cancer that begin in the bone marrow and affects leukocyte development (white blood cell blasts).  The most common type of childhood leukemia is ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukemia), followed by AML (acute myloid leukemia).  There are also chronic and infectious leukemias, which occur mainly in adults. 
  • Lymphoma - a cancer of the B or T lymphocytes, a crucial part of the immune system.  It affects the lymph system as well.  There are over a dozen kinds of lymphoma, with the most common kinds being Hodgkins and Pre-T Cell Lymphoma.  
  • Sarcoma -  a soft or connective tissue tumor that can occur in various tissue types, such as bone (Osteosarcoma, Ewing's Sarcoma), cartilage/connective tissue (chondrosarcoma, fibrosarcoma, neurofibrosarcoma), skeletal muscles (rhabdomyosarcoma), or smooth muscle (leiomyosarcoma).  While these cancers are rare, 15% are diagnosed in children. 
  • Wilm's Tumor - a tumor of the kidney, which occurs only in children. 
  • Neuroblastoma - most common solid tumor that occurs outside of the brain.  50% of cases occur in children under 2, and grows on the sympathetic nervous system.
  • DIPG - as discussed in Tuesday's post, a tumor of the pons in the brain stem, which occurs only in children, usually in those under 5.
  • Glioma - a diverse group of tumors affecting the various glial cells that account for many brain tumors in children.  Types include glioblastoma multiform, astrocytomas, and ependyomas. 
  • Neutropenia - the period that occurs after chemo when blood cell levels plummet and immune system function is at an all time low. 
  • Bone Marrow - the innermost layer of long bones, where blood cells are produced.  It is affect by many cancers, and is affected by the majority of chemos.
  • Chemotherapy - literally a chemical that treats a disease.  Chemotherapy usually refers to the caustic, poisonous chemical used to kill cancer cells.  Chemos come in oral and intravenous forms, cause a variety of side effects, from hair loss to infertility and secondary cancers, and may or may not be effective on various types, stages and cell etiologies in cancer.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Viral Therapy

    Viral therapy is a novel approach to treating cancers.  Infectious shells (viruses) are altered so that instead of causing illness, they fight it from the inside. Because of it's broad applicability, viral therapy shows promise in treating cancer. Read more about viral therapy: Columbus Ohio PubMed review of viral therapy Nationwide Hospital      There are many more articles on Pubmed that discuss various uses of viral therapy and oncolytic viruses. The abstracts are almost always free, and many articles are available through resources at local schools and public libraries.  Happy reading!
Read more

Common Types of Childhood Cancer

 I'm going to do some posts that give readers a background on childhood cancer throughout the year. My goal is to do at least a few related posts every month, for sure the awareness days and months, and then some other information, news, etc.  First, let's dive in to what types of cancers occur in children. There are many types of childhood cancer, hundreds in fact, especially when you consider subtypes. But which are the most common? In order of most to least common, by percent of childhood cancers, they are: Leukemias - 31% Brain and spinal tumors - 26% Lymphomas - 10% Soft tissue sarcomas - 7% Neuroblastoma - 6% Kidney tumors - 5% Bone tumors - 4% Germ cell tumors - 3% Retinoblastoma - 3% Liver tumors - 2% Other cancers - 4% According to the Children's Cancer and Leukemia Society from the UK via MacMillan Cancer Support ( x ). All childhood cancer is considered rare, with only a few hundred per million diagnosed annually. But if you add that up over the span of a childho
Read more

Vision Board

Image
 My county library is probably one of the most awesome library systems (I am super biased though) and actually is one of the busiest systems in the country. I love the system dearly. I love going to their events and often bring along a friend. For the first week of the year, I brought her to our newest library building for a Vision Boards workshop. I didn't think we would spend the whole hour and a half, but sure enough, we didn't roll out until just before the end of the workshop. I spent a lot of time combing through the magazines, picking just the perfect images and text for my board. I focused on my hobbies, especially cooking, things I want to do this year. I unfortunately didn't include a lot of art items, just based on what the magazines had, but also got a lot of cool foodie stuff and them some other pretty things.  Overall, I don't have one concrete vision for 2024. I have some resolutions, sure, and I have my goals. But I'm trying not to set the bar too hi
Read more