Brain and Nervous System Terms

A substance being studied in the treatment of brain cancer.

Hilar describes the hilum, the specific point where vessels, nerves, and airways or ducts enter and exit an organ.

A substance being studied in the treatment of brain cancer.

The abnormal buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the ventricles of the brain.

The pituitary is called the master gland, yet it takes its orders from the structure sitting directly above it.

A substance being studied in the treatment of glioblastoma (a type of brain tumor) that has come back.

The introduction of fluids and drugs directly into the carotid artery, the main artery in the neck that carries blood from the heart to the brain.

A tumor that occurs in the brain.

Describes the fluid-filled space between the thin layers of tissue that cover the brain and spinal cord.

Treatment in which anticancer drugs are injected into the fluid-filled space between the thin layers of tissue that cover the brain and spinal cord.

The delivery of a drug into a fluid-filled cavity within the heart or brain.

The part of the nervous system that controls muscles of internal organs (such as the heart, blood vessels, lungs, stomach, and intestines) and glands (such as salivary glands and sweat glands).

Juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma, most often diagnosed in children, forms from star shaped supportive brain cells and typically grows slowly with well defined borders.

An adjective that quietly narrows the field to two of the three coverings, the pair the spinal fluid actually runs between.

Cancer that stops behaving like a lump and starts behaving like a fluid, settling wherever spinal fluid happens to flow.

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).

The limbic system is a group of interconnected brain structures that governs emotional response, motivation, and the formation of memories.

A portion of an organ, such as the liver, lung, breast, thyroid, or brain.

A lobectomy removes one entire lobe of an organ, most often the lung, sparing the rest of the organ and its function.

A procedure in which a thin needle called a spinal needle is put into the lower part of the spinal column to collect cerebrospinal fluid or to give drugs.