Medical terms beginning with N

Nicotinamide is a form of vitamin B3 that the body needs for energy production, distinct from niacin in that it does not cause flushing.

Nicotine gum is an over the counter chewing gum that delivers a measured dose of nicotine to ease cravings during smoking cessation.

A device used to inhale (breathe in) small doses of nicotine through the mouth.

A hard candy-like tablet that contains a small dose of nicotine.

A nose spray that contains a small dose of nicotine, which enters the blood by being absorbed through the lining of the nose.

A nicotine patch delivers a steady, low dose of nicotine through the skin, easing withdrawal symptoms for someone reducing or stopping tobacco use.

A type of treatment that uses special products to give small, steady doses of nicotine to help stop cravings and relieve symptoms that occur when a person is trying to quit smoking.

A nutrient in the vitamin B complex that the body needs in small amounts to function and stay healthy.

Most of what this agency does happens somewhere else, in laboratories it pays for rather than laboratories it owns.

The raised opening at the center of the breast where the milk ducts reach the surface, ringed by darker skin.

Fluid that is not milk coming from the nipple.

Nitric acid is a strong, corrosive industrial chemical, distinct from nitric oxide, the body's own blood vessel signaling molecule.

An alkaloid drug belonging to a class of anticancer agents called topoisomerase inhibitors.

Chemicals that assemble wherever nitrite meets the right partner, including inside the stomach, and that damage DNA once the liver has processed them.

An anticancer drug that can cross the blood-brain barrier.

An NK cell is a white blood cell of the innate immune system able to kill infected or abnormal cells on first contact.

A type of immune cell that has granules (small particles) with enzymes that can kill tumor cells or cells infected with a virus.

A type of leukemia in which large natural killer (NK) cells (a type of white blood cell) that contain granules (small particles) are found in the blood.

A type of leukemia in which large natural killer (NK) cells (a type of white blood cell) that contain granules (small particles) are found in the blood.

A rare type of Hodgkin lymphoma, which is a cancer of the immune system.

A smaller number means a stronger compound, since less of it is needed to produce the same effect.

Electrical pulses that make a muscle work when the brain's own signal is too weak or cannot get through.

Cancer that has not spread to the lymph nodes.

Cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes.

A small mass of tissue within a gland or organ that carries out the specialized functions of the gland or organ.

Most are found by accident on imaging ordered for something else entirely, and most of those turn out to mean nothing at all.

A substance that is being studied in the treatment of liver cancer.

A mathematical device or model that shows relationships between things.

Named for what it is not, this family of lymphocyte cancers spans many separate diseases with very different growth rates and outlooks.

A group of lung cancers that are named for the kinds of cells found in the cancer and how the cells look under a microscope.

Describes a clinical trial or other experiment in which the researchers know what treatments are being given to each study subject or experimental group.

A clinical study that includes some, but not all, of the eligible patients identified by the researchers during the study registration period.

Lymphoma in which the lymph nodes containing cancer are not next to each other, but are on the same side of the diaphragm (the thin muscle below the lungs that helps breathing and separates the…

A tumor that is found in endocrine tissue but does not make extra hormones.

Cancer that does not begin in the blood or bone marrow.

Morinda citrifolia.

In medicine, it describes a procedure that does not require inserting an instrument through the skin or into a body opening.

In biology, refers to viruses that do not kill infected cells by disrupting their plasma membranes.

Not cancerous.

A disorder of the blood.

Abnormal cells are found in the lower part of the epidermis (the outer layer of the skin).

The commonest cancers in people with pale skin, grouped together by what they are not rather than by what they are.

Having to do with skin cancer that forms in the lower part of the epidermis (the outer layer of the skin) or in squamous cells, but not in melanocytes (skin cells that make pigment).

Cancer that has not spread from the primary site (place where it started) to other places in the body.

A drug that is not an opioid.

A medicine that can be bought without a prescription (doctor's order).

A clinical trial in which the participants are not assigned by chance to different treatment groups.

A group of testicular cancers that begin in the germ cells (cells that give rise to sperm).

A cell (such as a phagocyte or a macrophage) that responds to many antigens, not just one antigen.

A member of the family of vegetables that does not contain starch (sugar molecules joined chemically).

A drug that decreases fever, swelling, pain, and redness.

A drug that decreases the production of sex hormones (estrogen or testosterone) and slows the growth of tumors that need sex hormones to grow.

A nontoxic substance does not produce injury or a poisoning effect at the amount and route of exposure being described.

A chemical made by some nerve cells and in the adrenal gland.

Most of what circulates leaks from sympathetic nerve endings rather than pouring out of the adrenal glands, unlike its better known relative.

The seal vouches for who signed and that they did so willingly; it says nothing whatever about whether the contents are true.

An antibiotic drug used to treat infection.

Licensing sits with the state, so what one nurse practitioner may do alone differs from what another may do elsewhere.

A protein found on the surface of some cancers.

The same enzyme block that relieves pain also strips prostaglandin protection from the stomach lining and from blood flow through the kidney.

A substance that is being studied in the treatment of cancer.

A virus being studied in the treatment of neuroendocrine tumors and other types of cancer.

An evaluation of the size and shape of the nucleus in tumor cells and the percentage of tumor cells that are in the process of dividing or growing.

A procedure in which radio waves and a powerful magnet linked to a computer are used to create detailed pictures of areas inside the body.

A method of diagnostic imaging that uses very small amounts of radioactive material.

Order is everything: the same few units in a different sequence spell a different protein, or a disease causing mutation.

Keeping DNA behind a membrane is what separates human cells from bacteria, and it lets the cell control which genes are read.

Sensation reduced or absent in an area, which is a different finding from the tingling and pins and needles it is often confused with.

The title covers many levels of training and licensure, and what a nurse may legally do is set by the jurisdiction, not the word.

What one may legally do varies by jurisdiction, so the same credential means independent practice in one place and a supervised role in another.

The defining feature is a continuous nursing presence, which is what separates it from assisted living and from care delivered at home.

A nutraceutical is a food derived product marketed for a health benefit beyond basic nutrition, without meeting the approval standard of a drug.

Food is judged by what the body can pull out of it: energy, building blocks, and the trace substances that keep reactions running.

The chain runs from appetite through digestion to absorption, and illness can break it at any single point along the way.

Structured sessions with a trained professional that translate a medical condition into practical decisions about eating.

Sold as a food rather than as a medicine in many countries, which changes what a maker must demonstrate before a product reaches a shelf.

Because the word itself guarantees nothing, the credential letters after a name carry more information than the title in front of the work.

The active ingredient in a drug used to treat infections caused by fungi (a type of microorganism).