Medical terms A–Z

A word doing three jobs at once: the thread, the stitch it makes, and an immovable joint between two bones of the skull.

An increase in size that says nothing about the contents, which may be fluid, blood, pus, inflamed tissue or new growth.

The recovery is what defines it: consciousness returns on its own, quickly and completely, with nothing done to bring it back.

A T cell is an immune cell, matured in the thymus, that attacks infected or abnormal cells or helps direct the immune response.

White cells schooled in a gland behind the breastbone, and the reason a transplanted organ is recognized as belonging to somebody else.

The immune system's own restraint, written in shorthand: a cell whose entire purpose is stopping other cells from going too far.

A t test is a statistical method that determines whether an observed difference between the average values of two groups likely reflects a real effect.

A thyroid hormone.

An aggressive (fast-growing) type of leukemia (blood cancer) in which too many T-cell lymphoblasts (immature white blood cells) are found in the bone marrow and blood.

Treatment to destroy T cells, which play an important role in the immune response.

A type of leukemia in which large T lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell) that contain granules (small particles) are found in the blood.

A group of lymph system cancers arising from the immune cells that direct and carry out attacks rather than make antibodies.

A type of leukemia in which large T lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell) that contain granules (small particles) are found in the blood.

A type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in which too many T-cell lymphoblasts (immature white blood cells) are found in the lymph nodes and spleen.

A word-order variant of the same name, describing the cell that decides when an immune response has gone on long enough.

An anticancer drug that belongs to the family of drugs called mitotic inhibitors.

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

Three chemotherapy drugs given together for breast cancer, the letters taken from their older trade names.

An abbreviation for a chemotherapy combination used with other types of therapy to treat breast cancer.

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