Medical terms beginning with P

(Other name for: cisplatin)

(Other name for: cisplatin)

One element with two unrelated medical jobs: the core of a chemotherapy family, and a corrosion proof metal inside implanted devices.

It is a prodrug: the tablet does nothing until the liver converts it, and some people carry an enzyme variant that converts it poorly.

A drug used to reduce the amount of testosterone made in patients with advanced symptomatic prostate cancer for which no other treatment options are available.

Pleomorphic describes cells, tissue, or organisms that appear in varied shapes and sizes rather than in one uniform, consistent form.

A drug that works by cutting a tether, so stem cells released from the marrow can simply be drawn off through a vein.

The pleura is a two layered membrane enclosing each lung, producing a thin fluid film that lets the lungs glide smoothly against the chest wall.

The space enclosed by the pleura, which is a thin layer of tissue that covers the lungs and lines the interior wall of the chest cavity.

Fluid around the lung is a finding rather than a diagnosis, and analyzing a sample of it is what points toward the cause.

Stripping out a lining so the lung sticks to the chest wall, which is the aim: a space that can no longer refill.

Pain that arrives with the breath and stops when breathing stops is the signature, and it points at the lining rather than the lung.

Pleurodesis is a procedure that deliberately inflames the pleura to fuse its two layers together, preventing recurrent fluid buildup around the lung.

A rare and very aggressive (fast-growing) cancer that forms in tissues of the lung and pleura (a thin layer of tissue that covers the lungs and lines the interior wall of the chest cavity).

Plevitrexed is an investigational drug studied for its ability to block a cellular enzyme that dividing cancer cells need to copy DNA.

A nerve that has become thick and misshapen due to the abnormal growth of cells and tissues that cover the nerve.

A disorder affecting a network of nerves, blood vessels, or lymph vessels.

An antibiotic isolated from the bacterium Streptomyces plicatus with antineoplastic activity.

A cyclic depsipeptide isolated from the marine tunicate Aplidium albicans.

Named for the shape of a cell rather than its lineage, so the abbreviation has always covered two separate diseases at once.