biology

List of cancer types

List of cancer types is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of cancer types rather than just read about it. In short: The following is a list of cancer types. Cancer is a group of diseases that involve abnormal increases in the number of cells, with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body.

Key takeaways

List of cancer types belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect List of cancer types to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of cancer types from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The following is a list of cancer types. Cancer is a group of diseases that involve abnormal increases in the number of cells, with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. Not all tumors or lumps are cancerous; benign tumors are not classified as being cancer because they do not spread to other parts of the body. There are over 200 different known cancers that affect humans. Cancers are often described by the body part that they originated in. However, some body parts contain multiple types of tissue, so for greater precision, cancers are additionally classified by the type of cell that the tumor cells originated from. These types include:

Carcinoma: Cancers derived from epithelial cells. This group includes many of the most common cancers that occur in older adults. Nearly all cancers developing in the breast, prostate, lung, pancreas, and colon are carcinomas. Sarcoma: Cancers arising from connective tissue (i.e. bone, cartilage, fat, nerve), each of which develop from cells originating in mesenchymal cells outside of the bone marrow. Lymphoma and leukemia: These two classes of cancer arise from immature cells that originate in the bone marrow, and are intended to fully differentiate and mature into normal components of the immune system and the blood, respectively. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is the most common type of cancer in children, accounting for ~30% of cases. However, far more adults than children develop lymphoma and leukemia. Germ cell tumor: Cancers derived from pluripotent cells, most often presenting in the testicle or the ovary (seminoma and dysgerminoma, respectively). Blastoma: Cancers derived from immature "precursor" cells or embryonic tissue. Blastomas are generally more common in children (e.g. neuroblastoma, retinoblastoma, nephroblastoma, hepatoblastoma, medulloblastoma, etc.) than in older adults.

Cancers are usually named using -carcinoma, -sarcoma or -blastoma as a suffix, with the Latin or Greek word for the organ or tissue of origin as the root. For example, the most common cancer of the liver parenchyma ("hepato-" = liver), arising from malignant epithelial cells ("carcinoma"), would be called a hepatocarcinoma, while a malignancy arising from primitive liver precursor cells is called a hepatoblastoma. Similarly, a cancer arising from malignant fat cells would be termed a liposarcoma. For some common cancers, the English organ name is used. For example, the most common type of breast cancer is called ductal carcinoma of the breast. Benign tumors (which are not cancers) are usually named using -oma as a suffix with the organ name as the root. For example, a benign tumor of smooth muscle cells is called a leiomyoma (the common name of this frequently occurring benign tumor in the uterus is fibroid). Confusingly, some types of cancer use the -noma suffix, examples including melanoma and seminoma. Some types of cancer are named for the size and shape of the cells under a microscope, such as giant cell carcinoma, spindle cell carcinoma, and small-cell carcinoma.

Bone and muscle sarcoma Adamantinoma Chondrosarcoma Chordoma Ewing's sarcoma Fibrocartilaginous mesenchymoma of bone Leiomyosarcoma Malignant fibrous histiocytoma of bone/osteosarcoma Myxosarcoma Osteosarcoma Rhabdomyosarcoma

Brain and nervous system Astrocytoma Anaplastic astrocytoma Brainstem glioma Choroid plexus carcinoma Craniopharyngioma Ependymoma Ganglioneuroma Glioblastoma Glioma Hemangioblastoma Medulloblastoma Meningioma Neuroblastoma Neurofibroma Oligodendroglioma Paraganglioma Pineal astrocytoma Pineocytoma Pineoblastoma Pituitary adenoma Pilocytic astrocytoma Primary central nervous system lymphoma Primitive neuroectodermal tumor Schwannoma Visual pathway and hypothalamic glioma

Breast Breast cancer Ductal carcinoma in situ Inflammatory breast cancer Invasive ductal carcinoma Invasive lobular carcinoma Tubular carcinoma Invasive cribriform carcinoma of the breast (also termed invasive cribriform carcinoma) Medullary carcinoma Male breast cancer Phyllodes tumor Mammary secretory carcinoma Mucinous carcinoma of the breast Papillary carcinomas of the breast

Endocrine system Adrenocortical adenoma Adrenocortical carcinoma Carcinoid Gastrinoma Glucagonoma Insulinoma Islet cell carcinoma (endocrine pancreas) Merkel cell carcinoma Multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome Pancreatic cancer Parathyroid cancer Pheochromocytoma Somatostatinoma Thyroid cancer VIPoma

Eye Conjunctival melanoma Optic nerve glioma Orbital lymphoma Retinoblastoma Uveal melanoma

Gastrointestinal Anal cancer Appendix cancer Cholangiocarcinoma Carcinoid tumor, gastrointestinal Colon cancer Duodenal cancer Gallbladder cancer Gastric (stomach) cancer Gastrointestinal carcinoid tumor Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) Liver cancer Pancreatic cancer, islet cell Rectal cancer Small intestine cancer

Genitourinary and Gynecologic Bladder cancer Cervical cancer Choriocarcinoma Embryonal carcinoma Endometrial cancer Endodermal sinus tumor Extragonadal germ cell tumor Fallopian tube cancer Gestational trophoblastic tumor Kidney cancer Leydig cell tumour Ovarian cancer Ovarian epithelial cancer (surface epithelial-stromal tumor) Ovarian germ cell tumor Penile cancer Prostate cancer Renal cell carcinoma Renal pelvis and ureter, transitional cell cancer* Seminoma Serous tumour Sertoli cell tumour Teratoma Testicular cancer Transitional cell cancer(urothelial carcinoma) Urethral cancer Uterine sarcoma Vaginal cancer Vulvar cancer Wilms tumor (nephroblastoma) Malignant Oncocytoma (Katie Coleman Tumor)

Head and neck Esophageal cancer Head and neck cancer Nasopharyngeal carcinoma Oral cancer Oropharyngeal cancer Paranasal sinus and nasal cavity cancer Pharyngeal cancer Salivary gland cancer Hypopharyngeal cancer

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of cancer types

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of cancer types claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of cancer types before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of cancer types ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of cancer types

In research: List of cancer types appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of cancer types in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of cancer types is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Lists of diseases, Types of cancer, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of cancer types outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study List of cancer types in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what List of cancer types means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain List of cancer types out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is List of cancer types in simple terms?

The following is a list of cancer types. Cancer is a group of diseases that involve abnormal increases in the number of cells, with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body.

Why does List of cancer types matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of cancer types?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of cancer types.