Cancer and Tumor Terms

Marginal zone lymphoma is a slow growing B-cell blood cancer arising in lymph tissue, occurring in several distinct anatomical forms.

Overwhelmingly a diagnosis in dogs; the human counterpart is usually a harmless skin lesion of infancy rather than a cancer.

Rubbing one makes it swell, redden and itch within minutes, a response distinctive enough to identify the lesion without a biopsy.

One of a group of aggressive (fast-growing) non-Hodgkin lymphomas that begin in mature T lymphocytes (T cells that have matured in the thymus gland and gone to other lymphatic sites in the body…

A rare type of breast cancer that often can be treated successfully.

The one thyroid cancer arising from a different cell type entirely, and the one most likely to run in families.

The most common cancerous brain tumor of childhood, growing where balance and coordination are controlled.

Far less common than the everyday skin cancers but responsible for most deaths from them, because it spreads while it is still small.

The earliest recognized stage of melanoma, still trapped in the outer skin layer where no blood or lymph vessels reach.

A cancer vaccine prepared from human melanoma cancer cells.

One condition carrying at least five names, recognized by trouble that refuses to point to a single spot in the nervous system.

A serious problem that may occur in leukemia.

A rare type of cancer that forms on or just beneath the skin, usually in parts of the body that have been exposed to the sun.

Merkel cell carcinoma is a rare, aggressive skin cancer linked to sun exposure and immune suppression, arising from neuroendocrine skin cells.

A cancer of the mesothelium, the thin lining around the lungs, abdomen or heart, strongly associated with past asbestos exposure.

A general term used to describe cancer that begins in cells that have changed into another cell type (for example, a squamous cell of the esophagus changing to resemble a cell of the stomach).

A tumor in the liver made of colon cells is still colon cancer, which is why origin governs treatment rather than address.

A tumor found in the liver may still be breast cancer, because spreading cells keep the identity of where they began.

A type of cancer that begins in cells that line certain internal organs and produce mucin (the main component of mucus).

A rare cancer of the uterus, ovary, or fallopian tubes.