List of cancer types

List of cancer types
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 100 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
Chondrosarcoma
Ewing's sarcoma
Malignant fibrous histiocytoma of bone/osteosarcoma
Osteosarcoma
Rhabdomyosarcoma
Leiomyosarcoma
Myxosarcoma
Fibrocartilaginous mesenchymoma of bone
Brain and nervous system
Astrocytoma
Brainstem glioma
Pilocytic astrocytoma
Ependymoma
Primitive neuroectodermal tumor
Cerebellar astrocytoma
Cerebral astrocytoma
Glioblastoma
Glioma
Medulloblastoma
Neuroblastoma
Oligodendroglioma
Pineal astrocytoma
Pituitary adenoma
Visual pathway and hypothalamic glioma
Breast
Breast cancer
Inflammatory breast cancer
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
Papillary carcinomas of the breast
Endocrine system
Adrenocortical carcinoma
Islet cell carcinoma (endocrine pancreas)
Multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome
Pancreatic Cancer
Parathyroid cancer
Pheochromocytoma
Thyroid cancer
Merkel cell carcinoma
Eye
Uveal melanoma
Retinoblastoma
Optic nerve glioma
Gastrointestinal
Anal cancer
Appendix cancer
Cholangiocarcinoma
Carcinoid tumor, gastrointestinal
Colon cancer
Duodenal cancer
Extrahepatic bile duct cancer
Gallbladder cancer
Gastric (stomach) cancer
Gastrointestinal carcinoid tumor
Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST)
Hepatocellular cancer
Pancreatic cancer, islet cell
Rectal cancer
Small intestine cancer
Genitourinary and gynecologic
Bladder cancer
Cervical cancer
Endometrial cancer
Extragonadal germ cell tumor
Ovarian cancer
Ovarian epithelial cancer (surface epithelial-stromal tumor)
Ovarian germ cell tumor
Penile cancer
Kidney cancer
Renal cell carcinoma
Renal pelvis and ureter, transitional cell cancer*
Prostate cancer
Testicular cancer
Gestational trophoblastic tumor
Ureter and renal pelvis,
transitional cell cancer(urothelial carcinoma)
Urethral cancer
Uterine sarcoma
Vaginal cancer
Vulvar cancer
Wilms tumor (nephroblastoma)
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
Hematopoietic
Acute biphenotypic leukemia
Acute eosinophilic leukemia
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Acute myeloid leukemia
Acute myeloid dendritic cell leukemia
AIDS-related lymphoma
Anaplastic large cell lymphoma
Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma
B-cell prolymphocytic leukemia
Burkitt's lymphoma
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Chronic myelogenous leukemia
Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma
Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma
Follicular lymphoma
Hairy cell leukemia
Hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma
Hodgkin's lymphoma
Intravascular large B-cell lymphoma
Large granular lymphocytic leukemia
Lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma
Lymphomatoid granulomatosis
Mantle cell lymphoma
Marginal zone B-cell lymphoma
Mast cell leukemia
Mediastinal large B cell lymphoma
Multiple myeloma/plasma cell neoplasm
Myelodysplastic syndromes
Mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma
Mycosis fungoides
Nodal marginal zone B cell lymphoma
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
Precursor B lymphoblastic leukemia
Primary central nervous system lymphoma
Primary cutaneous follicular lymphoma
Primary cutaneous immunocytoma
Primary effusion lymphoma
Plasmablastic lymphoma
Sézary syndrome
Splenic marginal zone lymphoma
T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia
Skin
Basal cell carcinoma
Squamous cell carcinoma
Squamous cell skin cancer
Skin adnexal tumors (e.g. sebaceous carcinoma)
Melanoma
Merkel cell carcinoma
Keratoacanthoma
Sarcomas of primary cutaneous origin (e.g. dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans)
Lymphomas of primary cutaneous origin (e.g. mycosis fungoides)
Thoracic and respiratory
Adenocarcinoma of the lung
Basaloid squamous cell lung carcinoma
Bronchial adenomas/carcinoids
Small cell lung cancer
Mesothelioma
Non-small cell lung cancer
Non-small cell lung carcinoma
Pleuropulmonary blastoma
Laryngeal cancer
Thymoma and thymic carcinoma
Squamous-cell carcinoma of the lung
HIV/AIDS related
AIDS-related cancers
Kaposi sarcoma
Unsorted (so far)
Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (EHE)
Desmoplastic small round cell tumor
Liposarcoma
See also
Lists of diseases
List of oncology-related terms
References
National Cancer Institute
External links
Cancer types