Medical terms beginning with P

Describes cells that have a protein to which the hormone progesterone will bind.

A lab test to find out if cancer cells have progesterone receptors (proteins to which the hormone progesterone will bind).

A tablet preparation formulated for vaginal administration containing a micronized synthetic form of the endogenous steroid hormone progesterone with progesterone activity.

A manufactured hormone built to act like progesterone, and the second ingredient in almost every contraceptive pill.

(Other name for: diazoxide)

A statement about probability across many similar cases, which is why it can shift as new results and responses to treatment come in.

A situation or condition, or a characteristic of a patient, that can be used to estimate the chance of recovery from a disease or the chance of the disease recurring (coming back).

(Other name for: tacrolimus)

The point at which a disease is judged to be gaining ground, decided by measurement rather than by how a person feels.

Cancer that is growing, spreading, or getting worse.

(Other name for: sargramostim)

(Other name for: caricotamide/tretazicar)

(Other name for: aldesleukin)

Unlike a bisphosphonate, denosumab leaves the skeleton once dosing stops, and bone loss resumes quickly when it does.

Multiplying or increasing in number.

A measure of the number of cells in a tumor that are dividing (proliferating).

Prolixin is a brand name for a first generation antipsychotic medication used mainly to treat schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders.

(Other name for: therapeutic progesterone)

A type of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), in which too many immature white blood cells (prolymphocytes) are found in the blood and bone marrow.

Promacta is a brand name for eltrombopag, an oral medication that stimulates platelet production to treat certain causes of low platelet counts.

A drug given during chemotherapy to increase blood cell regeneration.

An old antihistamine kept in use less for allergy than for the two side effects it produces reliably: sleepiness and the settling of nausea.

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

(Other name for: porfiromycin)

An aggressive (fast-growing) type of acute myeloid leukemia in which there are too many immature blood-forming cells in the blood and bone marrow.

Timing is the whole distinction: the same medicine is prophylactic before a problem appears and therapeutic once it has.

Radiation therapy to the head to reduce the risk that cancer will spread to the brain.

Breast removal chosen before any cancer exists, lowering risk sharply while never quite reducing it to zero.

Surgery intended to reduce the risk of ovarian cancer by removing the ovaries before disease develops.

Surgery to remove an organ or gland that shows no signs of cancer, in an attempt to prevent development of cancer of that organ or gland.

Prophylaxis is a deliberate measure, such as a medication or vaccine, taken to prevent a specific disease or complication before it occurs.

Speed is the whole point: it takes effect within a breath or two and lets go just as fast, and it provides no pain relief.

A thiourea derivative with antithyroid property.

Proscar is the brand name for finasteride, a medication used to treat an enlarged prostate gland in men.

In medicine, a study or clinical trial in which participants are identified and then followed forward in time.

A research study that follows over time groups of individuals who are alike in many ways but differ by a certain characteristic (for example, female nurses who smoke and those who do not smoke) and…

A monoclonal antibody that is being studied in the detection and treatment of cancer.

Prostaglandins are lipid signaling compounds made throughout the body that promote inflammation, pain, fever, and smooth muscle contraction.

A drug that is used to treat impotence (inability to have an erection) and is being studied in the treatment of sexual problems in men who have had surgery for prostate cancer.

An enzyme that speeds up the formation of substances that cause inflammation and pain.

A substance used to detect prostate cancer.

An imaging test used to detect prostate cancer.

Its position explains its symptoms, since a gland wrapped around the urine channel cannot enlarge or inflame without the stream noticing.

The hard part is not finding it but judging which ones need treating, since many would never have caused harm.

(Other name for: cholecalciferol/d-alpha tocopherol/L-selenomethionine/green tea extract/saw palmetto berry extract/daidzein/genistein/lycopene prostate health supplement)

A blood test that measures the level of prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a substance produced by the prostate and some other tissues in the body.

Prostatectomy ranges from removing a small portion of prostate tissue to complete gland removal, most often to treat cancer or severe enlargement.

Prostatic acid phosphatase is an enzyme made by prostate tissue that once served as the primary blood marker for prostate cancer.

Prostatitis is inflammation of the prostate gland that can cause pelvic pain, urinary symptoms, or discomfort, arising from infection or other causes.

Surgery to remove the bladder (the organ that holds urine) and the prostate.

Replacing a missing part is only half the task, since the fit against the remaining tissue decides whether a device is used or abandoned.

Exhaustion so complete that a person cannot rouse themselves to act, a description of severity rather than a diagnosis.

(Other name for: recombinant vaccinia prostate-specific antigen vaccine)

The phrase covers two different things: proteins the body makes to protect itself, and a family of antiviral drugs named after them.

Cells that manufacture antibody by the ton depend most on clearing protein waste, which is why myeloma is unusually sensitive to the block.

Laws set by the U.S.

A protective factor is a characteristic or behavior associated with a lower likelihood of developing a particular disease or health problem.

One of a family of small proteins found in white blood cells in pigs.

Proteins are chains of amino acids folded into specific shapes that carry out most of the body's structural, enzymatic, and signaling work.

Two cells carrying identical genes can hold wildly different amounts of a protein, and that gap is what expression measures.

Information about all proteins that are made in blood, other body fluids, or tissues, at certain times.

A group of enzymes involved in several processes related to cell growth and survival.

Because several distinct forms of PKC exist, the enzyme influences cell growth, programmed cell death, and other processes well beyond a single role.

Information about all proteins that are made in blood, other body fluids, or tissues, at certain times.

A drug used to treat breast cancer that has spread or that has come back within 6 months after chemotherapy.

A molecule that contains both protein and glycosaminoglycans, which are a type of polysaccharide.

Built as harmless precursors and switched on only in the right place, because a cell that made them active would digest itself.

Information about all proteins that are made in blood, other body fluids, or tissues, at certain times.

The large-scale study of every protein a cell is making, a picture that changes far faster than its genes do.

A gene involved in normal cell growth.

Fixing the plan in writing before anything starts is what stops a result being explained away by choices made after the fact.

A particle of basic physics with an unusual clinical afterlife, because a beam of protons can be made to stop exactly where it is wanted.

A type of radiation therapy that uses streams of protons (tiny particles with a positive charge) that come from a special machine.

A noninvasive imaging method that provides information about cellular activity (metabolic information).

The ointment form of tacrolimus, valued in eczema mainly because it spares the skin from the thinning that steroids cause.

Having to do with the simplest organisms in the animal kingdom.

(Other name for: PV-10)

A treatment manufactured one patient at a time, which is why it is called a vaccine even though it treats rather than prevents.

A quick-relief inhaler brand whose active drug reopens narrowed airways within minutes but does nothing to the inflammation beneath.

Provera is a brand name for oral medroxyprogesterone acetate, a progestin used to regulate periods and treat abnormal uterine bleeding.

(Other name for: medroxyprogesterone)

(Other name for: promethazine hydrochloride)

Wakefulness is treated and the cause is not, which is why the drug sits alongside airway treatment rather than replacing it.

Proximal describes a body part positioned nearer to the trunk or point of attachment, the opposite of distal, and is used to describe anatomical location.

A substance being studied in the treatment of certain types of head and neck cancer.

Itching with no rash to explain it shifts attention away from the skin and toward the liver, kidneys, blood and thyroid.

A targeted prodrug consisting of a recombinant modified form of the Aeromonas protoxin proaerolysin (PA), bearing a prostate-specific protease cleavage site, with potential antineoplastic activity.

A drug used to treat multiple myeloma.

PSA is a protein measured in the blood that reflects prostate gland activity and can be elevated by cancer or noncancerous conditions.

A brief rise and then fall in the blood level of PSA (prostate-specific antigen) that occurs in some patients 1-3 years after receiving radiation treatment for prostate cancer.

A rise in the blood level of PSA (prostate-specific antigen) in prostate cancer patients after treatment with surgery or radiation.

This blood test measures prostate specific antigen, a protein that can rise with prostate cancer but also with several noncancerous prostate conditions.

A measurement of how fast PSA levels in the blood increase over time.

A structure found in some benign (not cancer) or malignant (cancer) tumor cells.

A substance that is being studied for its ability to prevent or overcome the resistance of tumor cells to some anticancer drugs.

A gradual buildup of thick, gelatinous mucus within the abdominal cavity characterizes this rare condition, most often traced to a ruptured appendix tumor.

The mushroom compound is a prodrug: what reaches the brain is psilocin, released once the body strips a phosphate group away.

An older spelling that persists in drug indexes and research listings, kept alive by cataloging rather than by any difference in chemistry.

A substance from plants that is sensitive to light (or can be activated by light).

Neither an infection nor catching, it runs in flares and quiet spells and can involve the nails and joints as well as the skin.