Blood and Lymphatic System Terms

A drug used to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Surgery to remove lymph nodes in the pelvis for examination under a microscope to see if they contain cancer.

The blood a needle can reach, defined by contrast with the marrow where its cells were made rather than by where it flows.

This test spreads a thin layer of blood on a slide so a technologist can examine the shape and appearance of individual blood cells directly.

One of a group of aggressive (fast-growing) non-Hodgkin lymphomas that begins in mature T lymphocytes (T cells that have matured in the thymus gland and goes to other lymphatic sites in the body…

A procedure in which blood is collected, part of the blood such as platelets or white blood cells is taken out, and the rest of the blood is returned to the donor.

The transfer of blood from a placenta to an individual whose own blood production system is suppressed.

Count and function are separate questions, so a bleeding problem can exist in someone whose platelet number looks entirely normal.

A drug that works by cutting a tether, so stem cells released from the marrow can simply be drawn off through a vein.

A disorder affecting a network of nerves, blood vessels, or lymph vessels.

Named for the shape of a cell rather than its lineage, so the abbreviation has always covered two separate diseases at once.

The word vera, Latin for true, separates it from a rise in red cells that is merely a reaction to something else.

Named for a nucleus that looks like several joined beads, these are the first white cells to reach an infection.

Portal hypertension is elevated blood pressure within the vein system draining the digestive organs into the liver, most often caused by cirrhosis.

A vein that ends in a second network of tiny vessels instead of heading back to the heart, most famously the one feeding the liver.

A lymph node in the area of the armpit (axilla) to which cancer has spread.

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

An aggressive (fast-growing) type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in which too many lymphoblasts (immature white blood cells) are found in the lymph nodes and the thymus gland.

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.

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.