Medical terms A–Z

A plant whose leaves, stems, and flowers have been used in some cultures to treat certain medical problems.

The injury of a joint pushed past its range, damaging the bands that hold one bone to the next.

Sprycel is the brand name for dasatinib, a targeted drug used to treat certain leukemias driven by an abnormal fusion protein.

Mucus and other matter brought up from the lungs by coughing.

Examination under a microscope of cells found in sputum (mucus and other matter brought up from the lungs by coughing).

A drug that belongs to the family of drugs called angiogenesis inhibitors.

Squamous cells are flat, scale like cells that form the surface layer of skin and the lining of many internal passages.

One name across many organs, united by the flat lining cell the cancer starts from rather than by where it is found.

This term names abnormal squamous cell changes on the cervix, graded as low or high grade depending on severity and extent.

A drug that may protect healthy tissue from the toxic effects of anticancer drugs.

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

A substance being studied in the treatment of cancer.

Three letters for an antimony compound whose established job is a parasitic infection, not the cancer research the abbreviation is usually filed under.

The word selective refers to serotonin alone, which is what separates this class from antidepressants acting on several messengers at once.

A plant whose leaves, stems, and flowers have been used in some cultures to treat certain medical problems.

A yellow-flowered plant sold as a supplement, best known in medicine for how strongly it interferes with other drugs.

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

Cancer that is neither decreasing nor increasing in extent or severity.

Abnormal cells are found in the cervical epithelium (the innermost lining of the cervix).

Abnormal melanocytes (cells that make melanin, the pigment that gives skin its color) are found in the epidermis (outer layer of the skin).

A prostate cancer stage defined by the Jewett staging system.

A prostate cancer stage defined by the Jewett staging system.

A prostate cancer stage defined by the Jewett staging system.

A prostate cancer stage defined by the Jewett staging system.

Cancer of the adrenal gland that is smaller than 5 centimeters (smaller than 2 inches) and is found in the adrenal gland only.

Stage I AIDS-related lymphoma is divided into stages I and IE.

The tumor is no larger than 2 centimeters.

Cancer has spread to the layer of tissue under the inner lining of the bladder.

Stage I breast cancer is divided into stages IA and IB.

Cancer is found in the cervix only.

Cancer has spread from the mucosa (innermost layer) of the colon and/or rectal wall to the submucosa (layer of tissue under the mucosa) of the colon and/or rectal wall.

Cancer is found in the uterus only.

Cancer has spread beyond the innermost layer of tissue to the next layer of tissue in the wall of the esophagus.

Stage I is divided into stage IA and stage IB, depending on where the cancer has spread.

The tumor is found only in one area of the hypopharynx and is 2 centimeters or smaller.

The tumor is 7 centimeters or smaller and is found in the kidney only.

Cancer is found only in the area where it started.

Cancer is found in the lining of the chest wall and may also be found in the lining of the lung, the lining of the diaphragm (the thin muscle below the lungs and heart that separates the chest from…

The earliest invasive stage, in which the melanoma has grown into the skin but nothing suggests it has traveled anywhere.

Relatively few cancer cells have spread throughout the body.

Cancer is found in the nasopharynx (the upper part of the throat behind the nose) only.

Cancer that is 2 centimeters or smaller and has not spread outside the oropharynx.

Cancer is found in the pancreas only.

Cancer is found in connective tissue just under the skin of the penis.

Cancer is found in the prostate only.

Stage I is divided into stage IA, stage IB, and stage IS, and is determined after a radical inguinal orchiectomy (surgery to remove the testicle) is done.

Stage I uterine sarcoma is divided into stages IA, IB, and IC based on how far the cancer has spread into the wall of the uterus.

Cancer that is found only in the vagina (birth canal).

Stage I vulvar cancer is divided into stages IA and IB.

The tumor was completely removed by surgery and all of the following are true: (1) cancer was found only in the kidney and did not spread to blood vessels of the kidney; (2) the outer layer of the…

Stage I breast cancer is divided into stages IA and IB.

Stage I gallbladder cancer is divided into stages IA and IB.

Stage I non-small cell lung cancer is divided into stages IA and IB.

Stage I breast cancer is divided into stages IA and IB.

Stage I gallbladder cancer is divided into stages IA and IB.

Stage I non-small cell lung cancer is divided into stages IA and IB.

A hollow tube and a taut membrane, unchanged in principle since its invention, and still the fastest way to hear inside a chest.

The muscle counterpart of a sprain, and a word carrying a completely unrelated second meaning in microbiology.

Damage shows up as lost function rather than pain, and which abilities vanish depends on which patch of brain lost its blood.

Attached at the end, it decides whether a term names a disease, a procedure, a specialist or a plain description.

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.

A fast heart is usually the body responding correctly to something else, and the real question is what that something else is.

Tachypnea is a breathing rate that is abnormally high for a person’s age and clinical circumstances.

Tacrolimus suppresses the immune system by blocking a step in T cell activation, and is used mainly to prevent rejection after organ transplantation.

Its long duration sets it apart from others in its class, and it is the one also used for urinary symptoms of an enlarged prostate.

A protein/sugar complex found on the surface of many cancer cells, including breast, colon, and pancreatic cells.

Constant transfer of weight through a slow sequence trains balance in a way that seated exercise and straight-line walking do not.

The small bone at the bottom of the spine.

The use of communication, drugs, or other types of treatments that are specific for an individual or a group to improve health or change behavior.

A substance being studied in the treatment of cancer, including certain types of lung, pancreas, and brain cancer.

A substance being studied in the treatment of cancer, including certain types of lung, pancreas, and brain cancer.

Talactoferrin is a laboratory made version of human lactoferrin studied as an investigational treatment, without established approved use.

A drug being studied in the treatment of kidney cancer that has spread.

A substance that is being studied in the treatment of brain tumors and other brain disorders, such as epilepsy and Parkinson disease.

A drug used in photodynamic therapy.

A soft mineral with two unrelated medical stories: one about sealing a chest cavity shut, the other about what else the rock contains.

Treatment of mental, emotional, personality, and behavioral disorders using methods such as discussion, listening, and counseling.

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

Timing dominates this one: it stops new virus particles escaping infected cells, so it does most good early, before the infection has peaked.

Selective is the operative word, since the same drug blocks estrogen in breast tissue while imitating it in bone and the uterus.

A tablet that blocks estrogen in breast tissue while imitating it elsewhere, which explains both its benefits and its risks.