Fastest growing cancer or tumor in human body

There is a difference between a tumour and cancer. We can say that every cancer is a tumour but not all tumours are cancer. Tumour is a Latin word that means swelling. Not every swelling is cancer, but we may call a swelling as a tumour. Some also say that human fetus is the fastest growing physiological tumour of human body and fetus is neither cancer nor it is harmful.

Burkitt lymphoma is found to be the fastest growing cancer in the human body. This tumour is capable of doubling its size within 14 hours. It is very aggressive. It is the most common childhood tumour of African children. It commonly affects children between 4-20 years of age. It is more common in male children and rarely affect the female child. Lymphoma has two types; Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin. Burkitt lymphoma is of Non-Hodgkin type. It has further two types, endemic and sporadic form. Endemic form is that form which is prevalent in Africa and sporadic form occurs in America and other countries. Most of the cases of Burkitt lymphoma shows the involvement of abdominal organs. It makes the abdomen bulky. Its treatment and management is discussed elsewhere in this website.

Another cancer called malignant melanoma is also a fast-growing tumour. But is treatable in early cases. It has a high survival rate of 90%. It doubling time is in days. Similarly, testicular tumours are also classified under the heading to fast-growing tumours which double in size in days. But it is the Burkitt lymphoma which may double in size within 14 hours.

Author:
Dr Adil Ramzan

References:

Burkitt's lymphoma, Molyneux EM etal. (2012), Url: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22333947
Melanoma: Causes and Prevention, Link: https://www.cancercare.org/publications/80-melanoma_causes_and_prevention Accessed on 11/24/2014