Glossary index
Medical terms beginning with Z
Browse medical definitions and meanings in the complete glossary, or choose a letter to narrow the list.
27 medical terms in this glossary begin with the letter Z, from Zactima onward. Every entry gives a plain-language definition, and most add a pronunciation, the word parts it is built from, and related terms.
This is also the place to look for medical words, health words, anatomy terms and disease names starting with Z.
Z terms
27 results-
A brand name that never launched: the drug behind it survived, changed disease, and reached the market under another name.
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An asthma tablet that blocks the receptor for leukotrienes, chemicals released during an allergic reaction that tighten the airways.
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A drug used to prevent and to treat influenza virus infections.
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A substance that is being studied in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and other types of cancer.
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A substance that is being studied in the treatment of cancer.
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A drug that is used to treat certain types of non-small cell lung cancer and is being studied in the treatment of other types of cancer.
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A substance that is being studied in the treatment of prostate cancer.
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A substance that has been studied in the treatment of several types of cancer.
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A substance that is being studied as a treatment for cancer.
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Zestril is the brand name for lisinopril, a medication that lowers blood pressure by blocking a hormone that narrows blood vessels.
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A monoclonal antibody that is used to treat certain types of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma and is being studied in the treatment and detection of other types of B-cell tumors.
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In traditional Chinese medicine, the overall pattern read from a person, which directs treatment more than the disease name does.
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A cone snail venom peptide turned painkiller, which works only when delivered straight into the fluid around the spinal cord.
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Zidovudine, known as AZT, was the first antiretroviral drug approved to treat HIV infection by blocking viral replication.
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An asthma tablet that shuts down the enzyme making leukotrienes, rather than blocking the receptors those chemicals act on.
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The white paste on a lifeguard's nose and in diaper cream, working as a physical barrier rather than as an absorbed drug.
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The soluble salt that actually delivers the element, unlike the insoluble oxide, which sits on the skin and delivers none of it.
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A drug used to reduce heart damage in women given doxorubicin for breast cancer that has spread.
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An infusion that shuts down the cells dismantling bone, given as rarely as once a year in some conditions.
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Zoledronic acid is an intravenous bisphosphonate used to treat cancer-related high blood calcium and to reduce fractures from bone metastases.
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A drug that is used to treat cutaneous T-cell lymphoma that does not get better, gets worse, or comes back during or after treatment with other drugs.
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Ulcers that keep coming back in unusual places, traced to a small hormone-producing tumor that leaves the stomach permanently switched on.
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Sleep arrives sooner, but tolerance, dependence and next day drowsiness are the reasons courses are kept short.
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Zometa delivers zoledronic acid intravenously to slow bone breakdown, treating cancer related high calcium levels and reducing skeletal complications from bone metastases.
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A substance being studied in the treatment of cancer.
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Its usefulness and its drawbacks come from the same source, a drug that acts on many receptor systems rather than one.
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A drug used to treat certain mental disorders.