Cancer and Oncology Terms

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

A substance used to detect prostate cancer.

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

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.

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.

A rare cancer that develops in tissues of the heart.

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.