Medical terms beginning with R

R-CHOP is a five drug chemotherapy and immunotherapy combination that is the standard treatment for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

A substance that is being studied as a treatment for cancer.

A substance that causes blood stem cells (cells from which other types of cells develop) to change into different types of blood cells and increases the number and actions of these cells in the blood.

A form of tissue plasminogen activator that is made in the laboratory.

A substance that is being studied for its ability to make cancer cells respond to drugs to which they have become resistant.

A substance that is being studied in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and other types of cancer.

A human monoclonal antibody being studied in the treatment of several types of cancer.

A substance being studied in the treatment of cancer and certain other diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Rabies is a viral infection transmitted through the saliva of an infected mammal, almost always fatal once neurological symptoms appear.

A substance that has been studied in the treatment of some types of cancer.

Everyday exposure is unavoidable and mostly natural; what medicine controls is the far smaller share delivered deliberately, aimed and measured.

A type of radiation therapy in which radioactive material sealed in needles, seeds, wires, or catheters is placed directly into or near a tumor.

A skin condition that is a common side effect of radiation therapy.

Inflammation of the small intestine caused by radiation therapy to the abdomen, pelvis, or rectum.

The formation of scar tissue as a result of radiation therapy.

The death of healthy tissue caused by radiation therapy.

A health professional who specializes in caring for people who are receiving radiation therapy.

A radiation oncologist plans and oversees radiation treatment for cancer, working alongside surgeons and medical oncologists as part of a coordinated care team.

Almost none of the work happens in front of a patient, yet no plan reaches the machine until the physics checks are done.

A type of external radiation therapy that uses special equipment to position the patient and precisely give a single large dose of radiation to a tumor.

Because treatment usually runs daily for weeks, this is often the team member a patient sees more than anyone else.

Treatment can come from a machine outside the body, from a source placed inside it, or from a radioactive drug carried in the blood.

An operation that removes the bladder entirely, along with neighboring organs, and requires a new route built for urine to leave.

Surgery to remove the uterus, cervix, and part of the vagina.

Surgery to remove a tumor and a large amount of normal tissue surrounding it.

A surgical procedure to remove most or all of the lymph nodes that drain lymph from the area around a tumor.

Surgery for breast cancer in which the breast, chest muscles, and all of the lymph nodes under the arm are removed.

Taking the whole kidney out inside its fatty envelope, an operation now kept for tumors too large or awkward to cut around.

Surgery to remove all of the prostate through an incision between the scrotum and the anus.

Removal of the whole prostate rather than part of it, performed to cure cancer that still appears confined to the gland.

Surgery to remove all of the prostate and nearby lymph nodes through an incision in the wall of the abdomen.

Surgery to remove the entire vulva (the external female genital organs, including the clitoris, vaginal lips, and the opening to the vagina) and nearby lymph nodes.

A type of wave made when an electric field and a magnetic field are combined.

Radioactive describes a substance whose unstable atomic nuclei give off energy as radiation while decaying into more stable forms.

A drug that contains a radioactive substance and is used to diagnose or treat disease, including cancer.

Debris lifted by a nuclear explosion and dropped downwind, dangerous largely through isotopes the body mistakes for nutrients and stores.

Iodine carrying a radioactive label, taken up by thyroid cells so that it can either photograph them or destroy them.

A radioactive form of palladium (a metallic element that resembles platinum).

A small, radioactive pellet that is placed in or near a tumor.

A type of radiation therapy used to treat liver cancer that is advanced or has come back.

A procedure that uses radio waves to heat and destroy abnormal cells.

A method that uses radioactive substances to make pictures of areas inside the body.

The use of radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies to help diagnose diseases, including cancer.

A procedure that uses radioactive substances to locate tumors so that they can be removed by surgery.

The use of radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies to treat diseases, including cancer.

A type of systemic radiation therapy in which a radioactive substance is linked to an antibody that locates and kills tumor cells when injected into the body.

An unstable form of a chemical element that releases radiation as it breaks down and becomes more stable.

Any compound that has been joined with a radioactive substance.

A test that uses radiation or other imaging procedures to find signs of cancer or other abnormalities.

Most patients never meet the radiologist who reads their scan, though the report shapes what happens next as much as any bedside examination.

The name says radiation, yet several of the field's most used methods, ultrasound and magnetic resonance among them, involve none at all.

An unstable form of a chemical element that releases radiation as it breaks down and becomes more stable.

A procedure that produces pictures (scans) of structures inside the body, including areas where there are cancer cells.

A radiopharmaceutical is a medication containing a radioactive component, used to produce diagnostic images or deliver targeted radiation treatment.

The use of a drug that makes tumor cells more sensitive to radiation therapy.

A drug that makes tumor cells more sensitive to radiation therapy.

A type of external radiation therapy that uses special equipment to position the patient and precisely give a single large dose of radiation to a tumor.

High-energy radiation aimed at a tumor to break its DNA, given in many small doses so healthy tissue can recover.

Nothing about the gas can be sensed, so the only way to learn whether a building holds it is to measure the air.

A substance that is used to improve the health of the digestive system and bones and is being studied in the prevention of colon cancer.

Raloxifene is a medication used to prevent and treat osteoporosis and to lower breast cancer risk in certain postmenopausal women.

A drug used to reduce the risk of invasive breast cancer in postmenopausal women who are at high risk of the disease or who have osteoporosis.

An anticancer drug that stops tumor cells from growing by blocking the ability of cells to make DNA.

An approved antibody that starves tumors of new blood vessels by occupying the receptor rather than the growth signal itself.

Deciding treatment by chance, which remains the only method that balances the factors nobody involved thought to measure.

A study in which the participants are assigned by chance to separate groups that compare different treatments; neither the researchers nor the participants can choose which group.

A substance being studied in the treatment of cancer.

Named for the island where the soil bacterium was dug up, and the enzyme it blocks was later named after the drug.

Rapamycin, now known chiefly as sirolimus, suppresses immune activity by blocking a cell signaling pathway that lymphocytes and other cells need to divide.

Roughly a fifth of adult sleep, returning in longer and longer bouts so that it dominates the last hours before waking.

A procedure in which drugs that block the production of male hormones are alternated with male hormones and/or drugs that promote the production of male hormones.

A substance that acts quickly to treat moderate to severe pain.

A monoclonal antibody used to treat psoriasis (a chronic skin disease).

A family of genes that may cause cancer when they are mutated (changed).

A short piece of the ras protein, which is made by the ras gene.

A manufactured copy of an enzyme humans lost during evolution, given to strip uric acid out of the blood within hours.

One word covering an enormous range of skin eruptions, which is why clinicians describe the shape, spread and feel instead.

An eastern North American perennial herb.

An herb native to islands in the South Pacific.

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

A substance that is being studied in the treatment of infections caused by fungi.

RBC abbreviates red blood cell, the abundant blood cell that carries oxygen from the lungs to tissues throughout the body.

A reagent is a substance used in a laboratory reaction to detect, measure, or produce another substance, forming the basis of many diagnostic tests.

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

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

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

The lock a hormone, drug or nerve signal must fit before a cell will act on the message it carries.

Being on the receiving end of a donation is defined less by the material itself than by how well the two people match.

Recombinant describes DNA, proteins, or organisms engineered in a laboratory by joining genetic material from more than one source.

A drug used to increase the number of blood cells, especially platelets, in some cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.

A drug used to treat some types of cancer.

A drug used to treat some infections caused by viruses and several types of cancer.

A form of tissue plasminogen activator that is made in the laboratory.

A drug used to treat high blood levels of uric acid in patients with leukemia, lymphoma, and other types of cancer who are receiving certain types of cancer treatment.

A doctor who can surgically reshape or rebuild (reconstruct) a part of the body, such as a woman's breast after surgery for breast cancer.

Surgery that is done to reshape or rebuild (reconstruct) a part of the body changed by previous surgery.

Getting better is not one event but a slope, and where the slope stops is what the word has to describe.

Recreational therapy uses structured activities such as arts, music, and sports to support physical, emotional, and social functioning during illness or disability.

One word doing two jobs: it either places a finding at the end of the bowel or names how a medicine was given.

Rectal cancer forms in the final segment of the large intestine nearest the anus and is often evaluated and treated somewhat differently from colon cancer.