Cancer and Tumor Terms

Cancer found only in the tissues that make up the wall of the gallbladder.

Cancer is found in the lining of the chest wall and may also be found in the lining of the lung, the lining of the diaphragm (the thin muscle below the lungs and heart that separates the chest from…

Cancer that has spread from where it started to nearby tissue or lymph nodes.

Cancer that has recurred (come back) at or near the same place as the original (primary) tumor, usually after a period of time during which the cancer could not be detected.

A type of lymphoma that tends to grow and spread slowly, and has few symptoms.

Tobacco smoke drives most cases, yet the disease also arises in people who never smoked, usually as adenocarcinoma.

Cancer that has traveled to the lung from somewhere else, keeping the identity of the organ it started in.

A type of cancer that begins in the cells that line lymph vessels.

An aggressive (fast-growing) type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in which too many lymphoblasts (immature white blood cells) are found in the lymph nodes and the thymus gland.

One name covers two diseases that differ in nearly everything except the cell they come from: pace, age and urgency.

A type of cancer that begins in the tissues covering the nasopharynx (the upper part of the throat behind the nose).

Dozens of separate diseases sit under this one word, some watched for years without treatment and others needing care within days.

Rare enough to be overlooked, which is the main reason it tends to be found later than the same disease in women.

Where a cancer began, not where it is found, is what names it, and the tissue of origin sets everything that follows.

Behavior rather than size earns the label, so a tiny growth can be malignant while a large one is entirely benign.

A soft tissue tumor that begins in a tendon (tough, fibrous, cord-like tissue that connects muscle to bone or to another structure).

A type of soft tissue sarcoma that develops in cells that form a protective sheath (covering) around peripheral nerves, which are nerves that are outside of the central nervous system (brain and…

A cancer that can sometimes be driven into retreat by treating the infection that provoked it rather than by chemotherapy.

Mantle cell lymphoma is a B-cell lymphoma named for the lymph node zone it arises from, generally considered an aggressive subtype.

An indolent (slow-growing) type of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma that begins forming in certain areas (the marginal zones) of lymph tissue.