Archive for cancer
Meghan’s journey with UESL: Finding treatment for a rare form of liver cancer
In the spring of 2017, Meghan Tompkins and her parents, Danni and Michael, arrived at the Dana Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorder Center. They were there for an appointment after Meghan’s doctors identified a suspicious spot on her liver. Meghan, then 13, only knew that she was having gastrointestinal symptoms — no one had uttered ... Read More
Cancer care in transgender patients: Things to consider
Increasingly, transgender youth and adults are undergoing (or planning) gender-affirming surgery and taking masculinizing or feminizing hormones. If they have cancer, these treatments can have implications for their care, and cancer treatments in turn can have implications for their gender-affirming care. Oncologists should take gender identity into account in making decisions about cancer treatment. This ... Read More
Looking for cancer’s Achilles heel: The Pediatric Cancer Dependency Map
Thanks to developments in precision medicine, some adult cancers are now treated with designer drugs that target the genetic mutations that caused them. But most children with cancer have not reaped the same benefits. Unlike adult cancers, childhood cancers carry few genetic mutations. And the mutations these tumors do have are typically harder to make ... Read More
HPV vaccine: What families should know
Nearly 80 million Americans are currently infected with human papillomavirus (HPV). For most, HPV goes away on its own. If it doesn’t, it can lead to certain cancers. HPV can be transmitted sexually or by nonpenetrative skin-to-skin contact. Often, HPV does not have signs or symptoms, so you can have and spread HPV without even ... Read More
Getting COVID-19 vaccines to medically fragile children
As COVID-19 vaccines slowly roll out, should children who need complex care or have serious medical conditions be vaccinated? We asked experts around Boston Children’s Hospital, and their resounding answer is: Yes, if they are age 16 or older. Boston Children’s is actively planning to make vaccination happen for as many patients as possible, as ... Read More
Arthritis drug reduces rates of acute graft-vs-host disease after bone marrow transplant
The immune-suppressing drug abatacept, currently used for rheumatoid arthritis, could make bone marrow transplant safer, report researchers at the Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. The phase 2 randomized, multi-center clinical trial, the largest to date, appears in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Abatacept (brand name ORENCIA) reduced rates of severe, acute graft-versus-host disease ... Read More
Charlee: Bouncing back after neuroblastoma treatment
Call it mother’s intuition, but leading up to her daughter’s cancer diagnosis, Erica Jensen knew something wasn’t right. At just 10 months, Charlee had started walking, and since taking her first steps the excited toddler was constantly exploring the world around her. Then, at around 15 months, something changed. It wasn’t obvious at first — ... Read More
Osteosarcoma patient gets chance to be a ‘normal college kid’
For almost half of his life, Michael Murray has had to grapple with cancer, including multiple relapses. One of his hardest setbacks was hearing that his cancer had returned just weeks before he was set to start his freshman year at Boston College. With the news, Michael worried that his future would be in jeopardy. ... Read More
Poverty predicts worse cancer outcomes, even in children receiving top-tier care
A pair of recent studies suggests that even among patients receiving advanced cancer care, poverty is a predictor of worse outcomes. The disturbing findings raise many questions that follow-up studies are now exploring. Key takeaways Poverty was associated with 3.7-fold higher mortality among children receiving targeted immunotherapy for high-risk neuroblastoma. Household poverty was associated with ... Read More
Precision chemo-immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer?
Pancreatic cancer is highly lethal and in great need of better treatments. Only about 10 percent of patients remain alive five years after diagnosis. In a new study, researchers in the lab of Marsha Moses, PhD, at Boston Children’s Hospital offer a glimmer of hope. Key takeaway An antibody-drug combination effectively targeted, penetrated, and shrank ... Read More