Medical terms A–Z

A protein that is made by many different types of cells and is involved in processes that take place both inside and outside of the cell.

A protein that is made by many different types of cells and is involved in processes that take place both inside and outside of the cell.

Refers to the number of calories (energy content) consumed.

On nutrition labels, the Calorie is actually a kilocalorie, one thousand times the small calorie used as the strict scientific unit of energy.

The label groups acupuncture with herbal remedies and meditation, practices sharing nothing except their position outside conventional care.

A monoclonal antibody used to treat leukemia.

The smell of a chest rub, and one of the few household remedies that regularly sends small children to an emergency department.

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

An anticancer drug related in structure to camptothecin, a topoisomerase inhibitor.

Not one disease but hundreds, grouped by the tissue they start in, and it is invasion and spread that separate them from harmless growths.

A substance that may be found in high amounts in the blood of patients with certain types of cancer, including ovarian cancer.

The occurrence of a larger-than-expected number of cases of cancer within a group of people in a geographic area over a period of time.

The Cancer Information Service is the National Cancer Institute's link to the public, interpreting and explaining research findings in a clear and understandable manner, and providing personalized…

A rare cancer that forms in the outer layer of tissue of the adrenal gland (a small organ on top of each kidney that makes steroid hormones, adrenaline, and noradrenaline to control heart rate…

Cancer vaccines fall into two categories, preventive vaccines against cancer-causing viruses and therapeutic vaccines that train the immune system to attack existing tumors.

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

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

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

A protein that can stimulate an immune response.

Capillaries are the smallest blood vessels, forming thin walled networks where oxygen, nutrients, and waste products exchange between blood and surrounding tissue.

A condition in which fluid and proteins leak out of tiny blood vessels and flow into surrounding tissues, resulting in dangerously low blood pressure.

A substance used to detect prostate cancer.

Capsaicin is the compound responsible for the heat of chili peppers, used topically to help manage certain types of localized pain.

Capsule describes both the fibrous tissue enclosing an organ, joint, or tumor and the swallowable gelatin shelled form of many oral medications.

A capsule endoscope is a swallowed, camera equipped pill that photographs the digestive tract as it travels through the body.

A substance formed by the breakdown of protein in the liver.

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

Carbohydrates are energy-supplying molecules built from carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, ranging from simple sugars to complex starches, fiber, and structural compounds.

Carbolic acid, chemically known as phenol, was historically significant as the first widely used surgical antiseptic before becoming mainly an industrial chemical.

Colorless and odorless, carbon monoxide binds hemoglobin far more strongly than oxygen does, reducing the blood's capacity to deliver oxygen to tissue.

A bacterial enzyme that is used to neutralize the toxic effects of methotrexate.

Carcinoembryonic antigen is a blood protein used as a tumor marker, most established for monitoring colorectal cancer after treatment.

Classification states that an agent can cause cancer, not that it will, and dose, duration and individual susceptibility all shape the actual risk.

Because cancer is the endpoint of a long sequence, no single exposure can usually be named as the cause of one person's tumor.

A slow neuroendocrine tumor named for looking less dangerous than cancer, a description that has not aged well.

Carcinoid syndrome causes flushing, diarrhea, and other symptoms when a neuroendocrine tumor releases serotonin into general circulation.

Naming a tumor a carcinoma answers only the first question, since the subtype and the organ decide nearly everything that follows.

Abnormal cells that look like cancer under the microscope but have not yet crossed the boundary that would let them spread.

A case in which cancer cells are found in the body, but the place where the cells first started growing (the origin or primary site) cannot be determined.

Carcinomatosis describes carcinoma that has spread extensively through the body or throughout a body cavity, representing an advanced stage of disease.

A serious problem that may occur in cancer in which cancer cells spread from the original (primary) tumor to the meninges (thin layers of tissue that cover and protect the brain and spinal cord).

One tumor wearing two faces, and the evidence now says both faces grew from a single ancestor cell rather than two cancers colliding.

Carcinosis is an older term for widespread dissemination of carcinoma through the body, now generally used interchangeably with carcinomatosis.

Pertaining to slowing or stopping the growth of cancer.

One root with two destinations: nearly always the heart, but occasionally the stomach opening that happens to lie beside it.

Not a plumbing problem but an electrical one: the pump stops, the person drops, and everything downstream of circulation halts at once.

An electronic device that is implanted in the body to monitor heart rate and rhythm.

A rare cancer that develops in tissues of the heart.

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

Cardiopulmonary describes anything involving both the heart and lungs, which work together to circulate blood and exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide.

Cardiotoxicity is heart damage or dysfunction caused by exposure to a medication or other substance, sometimes appearing only after treatment ends.

Pump and pipework are described as a single system because trouble in either one changes what reaches the tissues at the far end.

A drug used to treat high blood pressure and urinary problems caused by an enlarged prostate.

Most caregiving is unpaid and unrecorded, carried out by relatives who never chose the role and were never trained for it.

The fork in the airway, and the reason an inhaled object almost always ends up in the right lung rather than the left.

A rare, inherited disorder marked by dark spots on the skin and tumors in the heart, endocrine glands, skin, and nerves.

A rare, inherited disorder marked by tumors of the gastrointestinal tract and tumors that form in embryonic nervous tissue in the head, neck, and torso.

A rare, inherited disorder marked by dark spots on the skin and tumors in the heart, endocrine glands, skin, and nerves.

A very rare disorder marked by tumors of the gastrointestinal tract (usually the stomach), tumors that form in embryonic nervous tissue in the head, neck, and torso, and tumors that form in…

A rare, inherited disorder marked by tumors of the gastrointestinal tract and tumors that form in embryonic nervous tissue in the head, neck, and torso.

A rare, inherited disorder marked by tumors of the gastrointestinal tract and tumors that form in embryonic nervous tissue in the head, neck, and torso.

Carnitine is a naturally occurring compound that shuttles fatty acids into cells' mitochondria so they can be converted into usable energy.

Carotenoids are plant pigments responsible for red, orange, and yellow coloring in produce, some of which the body converts into vitamin A.

Narrowing here is one of the more treatable roads to stroke, which is why neck vessels are imaged after brief neurological symptoms.

The little finger is spared because a different nerve supplies it, and that pattern is the most useful clue available.

No blood supply and no nerves: cartilage neither heals well nor hurts directly, so joint pain comes from the structures around it.

A drug used to treat high blood pressure and certain heart problems.

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

A detailed report of the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of an individual patient.

A group or series of case reports involving patients who were given similar treatment.

A study that compares two groups of people: those with the disease or condition under study (cases) and a very similar group of people who do not have the disease or condition (controls).

Castleman disease is a rare disorder of lymph node tissue that ranges from a single, localized growth to a systemic form affecting the whole body.

Removal or destruction of the testicles or ovaries using radiation, surgery, or drugs.

A chemotherapy combination used to treat endometrial, ovarian, head and neck cancers, and non-small cell lung cancer that has spread.

The older name survives in speech, though modern scanners sweep in a spiral and the axial part of it no longer describes them.

A monoclonal antibody linked to a toxic substance.

A blood pressure tablet that works from inside the brain, quieting the nerve traffic that keeps vessels tight.

A condition in which the lens of the eye becomes cloudy.

A chemical originally isolated from a type of mimosa tree.

The chemical family behind the surge of a fright, named for a ring of carbon that every member shares.

One word covers devices as different as a bladder drain and a line threaded into a large vein near the heart.

One word covering procedures that share nothing but a tube: draining a bladder and steering a wire into the heart both qualify.

Deliberately destroying a small patch of tissue to seal a bleeding point or remove an unwanted growth.

Anatomy and dentistry use one word for opposite things: a normal hollow space, and a hole that has no business being there.

A CBC is often the first laboratory test ordered when evaluating unexplained fatigue, infection, bleeding, or bruising.

A type of psychotherapy that helps patients change their behavior by changing the way they think and feel about certain things.

Handwriting is the whole problem: a hurried cc reads as u, the old abbreviation for units, and the quantity changes entirely.

A substance being studied in the treatment of prostate cancer, multiple myeloma, and other types of cancer.

A type of monoclonal antibody used in cancer detection or therapy.

A drug that is similar to thalidomide, and is used to treat multiple myeloma and certain types of anemia.

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

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

A chimeric (made from human and mouse proteins) monoclonal antibody being studied in the treatment of advanced kidney cancer and other types of cancer.

Funds awarded to certain U.S.

A protein being studied in the treatment of cancer.

A protein found on the surface of some bone marrow and blood cells.

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

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

CEA abbreviates carcinoembryonic antigen, a blood protein tracked over time to help monitor colorectal cancer for recurrence after treatment.

A laboratory test to measure carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), a substance that is sometimes found in an increased amount in the blood of people who have certain cancers.