Posts from — April 2007

Lymphoma is a cancer in teens that attacks the lymphatic system including the lymph nodes, thymus, spleen, adenoids and bone marrow. The lymph system helps the body fight infection by channeling cells and fluids around the body. Most teens with lymphoma have either Hodgkin’s disease (cancer of the lymph tissue) or non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (cancer of the cells of the immune system).

Hodgkin’s disease usually occurs in teenagers and young adults. Hodgkin’s disease can show up in lymph nodes within the neck, chest and armpits. Hodgkin’s disease is identified by large, unusual cells called Reed-Sternberg cells. Chemotherapy and often radiation therapy are used to treat Hodgkin’s disease.

Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is similar to leukemia and can be treated with chemotherapy.

Most teens with Hodgkin’s disease or Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma who have completed their treatment achieve a complete remission with no signs of the disease.

Brain tumors are not common in teenagers. There are two types of brain tumor, primary brain tumors start from cells in the brain whilst secondary brain tumors come from a cancer that started in another part of the body and spread to the brain. Teens suffer mostly from primary brain tumors.

The most common forms are teen brain tumor are astrocytomas and ependymomas. Astrocytomas are tumors of the brain that originate from cells in the brain called astrocytes. This type of tumor doesn’t usually spread outside the brain and spinal cord and doesn’t usually affect other organs. Ependymomas are tumors that usually begin in the lining of brain ventricles.

Treatments vary depending upon the type and location of the tumor. If it is possible to remove a tumor, surgery is performed followed by radiation therapy.

Ewing’s sarcoma is a type of teen cancer which affects the bones. It is similar to osteosarcoma in that it affects the pelvic and leg areas of teenagers.

Most teens with Ewing’s sarcoma beneift from chemotherapy as well as surgery.

Osteosarcoma and Ewing’s sarcoma share common risk factors and side effects from treatment. Both types of bone cancer respond well to treatment and are curable in many cases.

Osteosarcoma is the most common type of bone cancer in teens. Osteosarcoma usually appears in male teens during their growth spurts in early puberty. Osteosarcoma affects twice as many male teenagers as female teens and tends to present itself in taller than average teenagers.

The most common symptoms of osteosarcoma are pain and swelling in an arm or leg that is sometimes accompanied by a lump. Some teens experience this pain during the night or when they exercise. Osteosarcoma is most often found in the bones around the knee but can occur in other bones as well such as elbox and shoulder joints. In rare cases, a tumor can spread beyond the bone and begin to affect local blood vessels and nerve endings.

Treatment for osteosarcoma usually involves chemotherapy as well as surgery to remove the tumor or lump. In rare cases where chemotherapy treatment is unable to fight the cancer the limb affected my need to be amputated to prevent the spread of the cancer to other areas of the body. In slightly less extreme cases, or as an intermediate measure, doctors may remove just the portion of bone being affected and fill the gap with a meta pin or rod.

Losing a limb can be devastating for a teenager and so counseling and physical therapy is offered post-surgery. Teens who have amputations are usually fitted with a prosthesis which can help them adapt.

Teens suffering from osteosarcoma can develop side effects such as hair loss, skin infections and heart problems.

Thankfully cancer is rare in teens. Cancers which affect adults, such as breast cancer in women, are unlikely to affect teens. The cancers which do affect teens the most tend to be due to defects in the building blocks of like - defects with the white blood cells in leukemia for example.

One of the cancers that teenagers, specifically male teens, need to watch out for is testicular cancer. This cancer seems to attack younger men rather than older men. Lumps on the testicles may not always be testicular cancer but a doctor should always be consulted should any lumps be found.

Leukaemia is a form of cancer that attacks white blood cells.

Normally white blood cells fight infection in the body, protecting is from germs, cold virus and even things like wood splinters under the skin! White Blood Cells are generated by the body in the bone marrow. When leukaemia attacks the teen, the bone marrow continues to produce white blood cells but it produces them at a much early stage meaning that they are no longer able to do their job (of protecting the body from infection) properly. The number of immature cells produced continues until the bone marrow is completely swamped by them, they then begin to interfere with the bone marrows production of other cells such as red blood cells and platelets.

There are a few different types of leukaemia but acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and myeloid leukaemia are the two which affect teenagers the most.

Teens and adults usually get different types of cancer, although there is some overlap, most teens suffer from the cancers such as Leukemia whereas adults suffers from other forms of cancer such as skin cancer, lung cancer and colon cancer.

It is fair to say that teens with cancer are offered a more intensive chemotherapy than adults as their bodies are frequently in better condition and more able to accept the therapy. It is also fair to suggest that a teenager suffering from cancer has more to loose should the disease take hold, hence extra efforts are made to remove the cancer and improve the teenagers quality of life.

Teens being treated for cancer are often in an awkward position due to their ages. Some teens are sent for cancer treatment at children’s hospitals whereas other are sent to receive cancer treatment on adult wards. The level of care received on with cancer ward is still exceptional however some teenagers can feel that they do not fit into the social group on the ward as they are either too old or too young.

Many teen cancer programs focus on care as well as cancer treatment. Some hospitals, for example, preserve the sperm and eggs of teen cancer sufferers in case either are damaged during the treatment and the teen wants to start a family at a later date.