Medical terms A–Z

A type of glioma (cancer of the brain that comes from glial, or supportive, cells).

Glossectomy removes part or all of the tongue, most often to treat cancer arising from the tongue's tissue.

The middle part of the larynx; the area where the vocal cords are located.

Insulin takes the attention, but the opposing hormone is what keeps blood sugar from falling too far between meals and overnight.

A rare pancreatic tumor that produces a hormone called glucagon.

A glucocorticoid is a steroid hormone that regulates metabolism and suppresses inflammation, produced naturally by the body or manufactured as medication.

The process of making glucose (sugar) from its own breakdown products or from the breakdown products of lipids (fats) or proteins.

The brain depends on it almost exclusively and stores none, which is why the body defends the blood level so aggressively.

One molecule doing two unrelated jobs: a disposal tag in the liver and a structural thread in cartilage and joint fluid.

An anticancer drug that belongs to the family of drugs called alkylating agents.

A protein building block that doubles as the brain's main go signal, and as the flavor behind monosodium glutamate.

Its working end is a single sulfur atom, which is what lets the molecule absorb damage and then be restored for reuse.

A family of enzymes involved in metabolism and in making toxic compounds less harmful to the body.

A large carbohydrate molecule.

A study of the types of carbohydrate (sugar) molecules attached to proteins in cells.

A measurement rather than a substance: the word names how much glucose is in the blood, which is why it takes prefixes.

Glycemic index ranks how quickly a carbohydrate food raises blood glucose compared with a standard reference amount of glucose.

A product from a plant of Asian origin that produces beans used in many food products.

Glycolic acid is a small alpha hydroxy acid derived from plant sugars that exfoliates skin in cosmetic and dermatologic products.

Every cell in the body runs it, it needs no oxygen, and for a red blood cell it is the only source of energy available.

A short chain of amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) that has sugar molecules attached to it.

A glycoprotein is a protein molecule with one or more sugar chains attached, which influence its shape, stability, and function.

gp100.

A type of long, unbranched polysaccharide molecule.

A signal that tells the marrow to produce the cells that fight infection, and that doubles as an alarm molecule in inflamed tissue.

Timing is everything with this hormone: released in pulses it switches the pituitary on, delivered steadily it switches the same gland off.

Goiter is a visibly or palpably enlarged thyroid gland that can occur whether thyroid hormone levels are normal, low, or high.

A procedure that uses gold salts (a salt form of the metal element gold) to treat diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.

The part of the reproductive system that produces and releases eggs (ovary) or sperm (testicle/testis).

Abnormal development of a gonad (ovary or testicle).

A hormone made by the hypothalamus (part of the brain).

A hormone made in the laboratory that has the same effect as the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) produced naturally by the body.

Gonioscopy is an eye examination that visualizes the drainage angle of the eye, helping distinguish open angle from narrow angle glaucoma.

An alternative therapy that is being studied as a treatment for pancreatic cancer.

Two aims in one standard: protect the people taking part, and make the resulting numbers trustworthy enough for a regulator to act on.

A genetic condition that causes unusual facial features and disorders of the skin, bones, nervous system, eyes, and endocrine glands.

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

An arthritis caused by crystals rather than by wear, which is why it arrives overnight and can leave the joint untouched between attacks.

A tumor-specific antigen used in the development of cancer vaccines.

A peptide (short piece of protein) made from the tumor-specific antigen gp100, and used to make vaccines being studied in the treatment of melanoma.

A description of a tumor based on how abnormal the cancer cells look under a microscope and how quickly the tumor is likely to grow and spread.

A fast-growing type of central nervous system tumor that forms from glial (supportive) tissue of the brain and spinal cord and has cells that look very different from normal cells.

Answers how the cells look, never how far the disease has traveled, which is why the number is so often quoted alone and misread.

Healthy skin, bone, or other tissue taken from one part of the body and used to replace diseased or injured tissue removed from another part of the body.

An immune response to a person's tumor cells by immune cells present in a donor's transplanted tissue, such as bone marrow or peripheral blood.

A gram is a small metric unit of mass, widely used in clinical medicine to measure medication doses, body substances, and laboratory quantities.

The active ingredient in a drug used to treat nausea and vomiting caused by cancer treatment.

A type of immune cell that has granules (small particles) with enzymes that are released during infections, allergic reactions, and asthma.

Granulocytes are white blood cells containing microscopic granules of enzymes, including neutrophils, eosinophils, and basophils, each specialized for a different immune role.

The body's own instruction to the bone marrow to step up production of the white cells that handle bacteria.

A substance that helps make more white blood cells, especially granulocytes, macrophages, and cells that become platelets.

A malignant, green-colored tumor of myeloid cells (a type of immature white blood cell).

A condition in which there is a lower-than-normal number of granulocytes (a type of white blood cell).

An ovarian tumor arising from the cells that nurse a developing egg, and one that usually keeps making estrogen.

The inner bark of this plant has been used in some cultures to treat certain medical problems.

A tool used by researchers to study the symptoms of menopause.

It moves in waves rather than through tidy stages, and shows up in sleep, appetite and concentration as much as in mood.

The process by which a trained counselor or a support group helps a person work through normal feelings of sorrow after a loss, such as the death of a loved one.

Treatment that helps a person work through a greater than normal reaction to a loss, such as the death of a loved one.

The groin lies at the junction of the thigh and abdomen and contains major vessels, nerves, and lymph nodes.

Goals for the expected sizes of infants and children and activities they should be able to do at specific ages, such as sit, stand, play, speak, think, and interact with others.

Cells do not decide alone when to multiply; these protein messages from neighboring tissue grant or withhold the permission.

Growth hormone is a pituitary hormone that stimulates growth during childhood and continues regulating metabolism and tissue repair in adults.

A vaccine used to prevent cervical cancer caused by human papillomaviruses (HPV) types 16 and 18.

A tree resin pressed into service as a chemistry set for finding blood that the eye cannot see.

Guanine is one of the four nucleobases in DNA and RNA, pairing with cytosine to help form the genetic code's structure.

The gums are the firm tissue covering the jawbones and surrounding the base of the teeth, clinically termed the gingiva.

Bacteria and other organisms that live inside the intestines.

Bacteria and other organisms that live inside the intestines.

A disease caused when cells from a donated stem cell graft attack the normal tissue of the transplant patient.

A drug used with another anticancer drug to treat breast cancer that is HER2 positive and has advanced or metastasized (spread to other parts of the body) after treatment with other drugs.

A drug that is used to treat kidney cancer and is being studied in the treatment of other types of cancer.

Having to do with the female reproductive tract (including the cervix, endometrium, fallopian tubes, ovaries, uterus, and vagina).

Cancer of the female reproductive tract, including the cervix, endometrium, fallopian tubes, ovaries, uterus, and vagina.

A doctor who specializes in treating cancers of the female reproductive organs.

A doctor who specializes in treating diseases of the female reproductive organs.

A type of bacterium that causes inflammation and ulcers in the stomach or small intestine.

A substance being studied in the treatment of several types of lymphoma.

The combination approach that turned HIV infection from a fatal illness into a manageable long-term condition.

A hair follicle is the tunnel shaped skin structure surrounding a hair root, distinct from the visible hair shaft that extends above the skin surface.

A slow-growing blood cancer named for the fringed look of its cells, marked by a large spleen and low counts across the board.

Which sense is involved narrows the cause sharply, because heard voices and seen figures point in quite different clinical directions.

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

A benign (not cancer) growth made up of an abnormal mixture of cells and tissues normally found in the area of the body where the growth occurs.

A condition marked by pain, swelling, numbness, tingling, or redness of the hands or feet.

A plant whose seeds and root have been used in some cultures to treat certain medical problems.

The front, bony part of the roof of the mouth.

An autoimmune condition of the thyroid gland (a gland located beneath the larynx).

An autoimmune condition of the thyroid gland (a gland located beneath the larynx).

The fruit of the hawthorn tree or bush.

A measure of how often a particular event happens in one group compared to how often it happens in another group, over time.

HCA refers to heterocyclic amines, chemical compounds formed when meat is cooked at high temperatures and classified as possible carcinogens.

A substance being studied in the treatment of several types of lymphoma.

HCP most often abbreviates healthcare provider or healthcare professional, though the same letters also denote a health care proxy, an unrelated advance directive role.

A substance being studied in the treatment of brain cancer.

An enzyme that removes a small molecule called an acetyl group from histones (proteins found in chromosomes).

The short form used in oncology for drugs acting on the packaging of DNA rather than on the sequence written in it.

Cancer that arises in the head or neck region (in the nasal cavity, sinuses, lips, mouth, salivary glands, throat, or larynx [voice box]).

A nursing-derived practice whose claimed mechanism, a flow of vital energy, has never been detected by any physical measurement.

One word stretched across a solo therapist and a thousand bed hospital, useful in billing and records precisely because it specifies nothing.