Medical terms A–Z

Relief arrives in days rather than months, because the drug changes muscle tone instead of shrinking the gland causing the obstruction.

It does not shrink the prostate at all; it slackens the muscle wrapped around the outlet, so any relief arrives within days.

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

A substance being studied in the treatment of cancer.

A drug used to treat certain types of non-small cell lung cancer.

Treatment aimed at a single molecule a disease leans on, rather than at every fast-dividing cell in the body.

A drug used to treat skin problems caused by cutaneous T-cell lymphoma that have not gotten better after other treatment.

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

Tasigna targets the specific abnormal protein responsible for driving cell growth in a genetically defined form of chronic leukemia.

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

Yew-derived chemotherapy that freezes the cell's internal scaffolding solid, which is the opposite of what the other scaffolding drugs do.

A drug used with prednisone to treat hormone-resistant prostate cancer that has spread and that had been treated with docetaxel.

Taxol is the brand name for paclitaxel, a chemotherapy drug that stops cancer cells from dividing by disrupting their internal skeleton.

A brand of docetaxel, a chemotherapy drug that works by freezing the internal scaffolding a cell needs in order to divide.

Tazarotene is a topical retinoid medication used primarily to treat psoriasis and acne by normalizing skin cell growth and turnover.

A laboratory-made cousin of vitamin A whose established job is calming psoriasis and acne, not the cancer uses it is sometimes listed under.

Infection and disease are not the same thing here, and most people who carry the bacteria never become ill or infectious.

An Australian shrub with no relation to tea, whose oil is applied to skin and poisons children who swallow it.

A radiolabeled substance that is used to help identify sites of tumor development.

The word is loose in everyday speech, and several roles it gets applied to carry a formal title of technologist, reflecting longer training.

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

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

A substance used to treat bacterial infections.

Tiny surface vessels stretched permanently wide, visible as red threads that fade under pressure and refill the moment it lifts.

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

Distance stops being the obstacle, but a physical examination does not travel down a video link, so some visits cannot be replaced.

The enzyme that rebuilds chromosome ends, switched off in most adult tissue and switched back on in the great majority of cancers.

Telomeres are protective caps of repetitive DNA at chromosome ends that shorten with each cell division, limiting how many times a cell can divide.

The brand name for temozolomide, one of the few chemotherapy drugs that reaches brain tissue in useful amounts.

An anticancer drug that is also used in cancer prevention.

An oral chemotherapy that reaches brain tissue unaided, which is why it anchors treatment of the most aggressive brain tumors.

A drug used to treat advanced renal cell carcinoma (a type of kidney cancer).

Tendons are tough fibrous cords that transmit a muscle's pulling force to bone, distinct from ligaments that connect bone to bone.

Tissue from painful tendons usually shows disorganized collagen rather than inflammatory cells, which is why tendinopathy has largely replaced the name.

An anticancer drug that is a podophyllotoxin derivative and belongs to the family of drugs called mitotic inhibitors.

A procedure in which mild electric currents are applied to some areas of the skin.

A type of germ cell cancer that usually forms in the testes (testicles).

Its tissues are recognizable and in the wrong place, and whether that tissue is fully formed matters less in the testis than in the ovary.

An alpha blocker that relaxes the muscle collar around the bladder outlet, easing urine flow within days rather than months.

A drug used to treat urinary problems caused by an enlarged prostate.

A terminal disease has progressed beyond the possibility of cure, shifting the aim of care toward comfort rather than reversing the underlying condition.

A repeating five carbon unit builds all of them, which is why pine, citrus peel and lavender share one family of scent compounds.

Sperm production needs a temperature the abdomen cannot provide, which is why these glands hang outside the body in a thin skinned pouch.

Testicular cancer is a cancer of the testis that most often affects younger and middle-aged men and includes two main tumor types.

A cord-like structure in the male reproductive system that contains nerves, blood and lymph vessels, and the vas deferens (a coiled tube that carries sperm out of the testicle).

A testimonial is a personal account claiming benefit from a product, offered without the controlled evidence needed to confirm the claim scientifically.

The formal name for the male gonad, used in anatomy and reports, where the plural testes and the adjective testicular both appear constantly.

A hormone made mainly in the testes (part of the male reproductive system).

A substance that is derived from the toxin released by the bacterium that causes the disease tetanus.

A device used to look at tissues in the esophagus.

A substance being studied in the treatment of cancer.

One quirk explains both its research use and its drawback: the drug locks on to calcium wherever bone and teeth are forming.

A substance being studied in the treatment of leukemias and lymphomas.

A substance that makes tumor cells more sensitive to radiation therapy and is being studied in the treatment of cancer.

A substance that is being studied as an anticancer drug.

Less a relay station than a gatekeeper, since it decides which signals reach awareness and which are damped down before arriving.

A sedative withdrawn after causing catastrophic birth defects, later brought back under strict control for myeloma and leprosy reactions.

A drug that is used to treat multiple myeloma in patients who have just been diagnosed, and a painful skin disease related to leprosy.

The gap between a helpful amount and a harmful one is narrow, which is why blood levels are checked during treatment.

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

The label marks intent rather than outcome, so a therapeutic dose is one aimed at benefit, not one guaranteed to deliver it.

A hand-hovering practice performed mostly without contact, resting on an energy field that testing has repeatedly failed to detect.

One of the least specific words in medicine, it marks that treatment is happening while the word in front of it carries the detail.

A procedure using heat to remove tissue or a part of the body, or destroy its function.

In medicine, a procedure in which a heat-sensing infrared camera is used to record the surface heat produced by different parts of the body.

Treatment of disease using heat.

Thiamine, or vitamin B1, helps enzymes convert dietary sugars into usable energy, and prolonged deficiency produces the disorder beriberi.

A drug used to prevent or reduce nausea and vomiting.

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

An old alkylating drug that persists in use because it crosses into the brain and can be instilled into the bladder.

The last tooth to come in at the back of each side of the upper and lower jaws.

Thoracalgia refers to pain in the chest wall or chest region, a symptom that can stem from muscular, skeletal, or internal organ causes.

One needle answers two questions at once, easing the pressure squeezing the lung and supplying the sample that explains why fluid gathered.

Thoracic describes the chest region and the organs it contains, including the heart, lungs, esophagus, and the section of spine behind them.

A surgeon who specializes in operating on organs inside the chest, including the heart and lungs.

A surgeon who specializes in operating on tumors found inside the chest.

Thoracodynia is a clinical term for pain located in the chest wall, arising from causes that range from muscular strain to underlying disease.

A rigid lighted telescope passed between two ribs to look directly at the lung surface and its lining.

Looking inside the chest cavity through a small opening between the ribs, usually to explain fluid that keeps returning.

Ribs are spread apart to reach the lung, heart or esophagus, which is why recovery takes far longer than keyhole surgery.

The one place where the routes for breathing and swallowing share a corridor, which is why a swallow has to be so precisely timed.

Not one disease: the three levels of the throat differ enough in cause and behavior that the shared name conceals more than it explains.

Surgery to remove a thrombus (blood clot) from a blood vessel.

A tiny piece of a cell found in the blood that breaks off from a large cell found in the bone marrow.

Three mechanisms cover nearly all of it: too few made, too many destroyed, or too many held back in the spleen.

A process that involves either a blood clot or bleeding, such as a heart attack or stroke.

Thrombolysis uses medication to actively dissolve an existing blood clot, distinct from anticoagulation, which only prevents new clots from forming.

The name splits into three parts, clot, vein and inflammation, and all three are present at once in the affected segment.

A substance made by the body that helps make blood cells, especially platelets.

Thrombosis is the formation of a blood clot within a blood vessel or the heart, which can partially or completely block blood flow.

A thrombus is a blood clot that forms inside a blood vessel or the heart and can partly or completely obstruct normal blood flow.

A condition in which Candida albicans, a type of yeast, grows out of control in moist skin areas of the body.

A cancer of the gland behind the breastbone that behaves nothing like the far commoner tumor it was once filed under.

The one building block that belongs to DNA alone, and a convenient handle for tracking which cells are dividing.

A protein involved in making and repairing DNA (molecules inside cells that carry genetic information and pass it on from parent to child).

A drug that blocks DNA synthesis and may prevent tumor cell growth.

A chemical compound that is used to make one of the building blocks of DNA.

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

A type of immune cell that can attack foreign cells, cancer cells, and cells infected with a virus.

A slow-growing growth in the front of the chest, often discovered because of unrelated muscle weakness.