Medical terms beginning with C

Capillaries are the smallest blood vessels, forming thin walled networks where oxygen, nutrients, and waste products exchange between blood and surrounding tissue.

A condition in which fluid and proteins leak out of tiny blood vessels and flow into surrounding tissues, resulting in dangerously low blood pressure.

A substance used to detect prostate cancer.

Capsaicin is the compound responsible for the heat of chili peppers, used topically to help manage certain types of localized pain.

Capsule describes both the fibrous tissue enclosing an organ, joint, or tumor and the swallowable gelatin shelled form of many oral medications.

A capsule endoscope is a swallowed, camera equipped pill that photographs the digestive tract as it travels through the body.

A substance formed by the breakdown of protein in the liver.

An anticancer drug that belongs to the family of drugs called antifungal agents.

Carbohydrates are energy-supplying molecules built from carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, ranging from simple sugars to complex starches, fiber, and structural compounds.

Carbolic acid, chemically known as phenol, was historically significant as the first widely used surgical antiseptic before becoming mainly an industrial chemical.

Colorless and odorless, carbon monoxide binds hemoglobin far more strongly than oxygen does, reducing the blood's capacity to deliver oxygen to tissue.

A bacterial enzyme that is used to neutralize the toxic effects of methotrexate.

Carcinoembryonic antigen is a blood protein used as a tumor marker, most established for monitoring colorectal cancer after treatment.

Classification states that an agent can cause cancer, not that it will, and dose, duration and individual susceptibility all shape the actual risk.

Because cancer is the endpoint of a long sequence, no single exposure can usually be named as the cause of one person's tumor.

A slow neuroendocrine tumor named for looking less dangerous than cancer, a description that has not aged well.

Carcinoid syndrome causes flushing, diarrhea, and other symptoms when a neuroendocrine tumor releases serotonin into general circulation.

Naming a tumor a carcinoma answers only the first question, since the subtype and the organ decide nearly everything that follows.

Abnormal cells that look like cancer under the microscope but have not yet crossed the boundary that would let them spread.

A case in which cancer cells are found in the body, but the place where the cells first started growing (the origin or primary site) cannot be determined.