Cancer and Oncology Terms

Eye cancer includes several distinct cancer types affecting different eye tissues, ranging from pigment producing cells to the retina itself.

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

A radiolabeled substance being studied as an imaging agent in breast cancer.

A substance being studied in the prevention of palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia (pain, swelling, numbness, tingling, or redness of the palms of the hands or soles of the feet) in breast cancer…

Cancer that occurs in families more often than would be expected by chance.

A condition that runs in certain families in which at least two members have dysplastic nevi (atypical moles) and have a tendency to develop melanoma.

An inherited form of medullary thyroid cancer (cancer that forms in the cells of the thyroid that make the hormone calcitonin).

An inherited condition marked by the following: (1) one or more first- or second-degree relatives (parent, sibling, child, grandparent, grandchild, aunt, or uncle) with malignant melanoma; (2) many…

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

FEC is a chemotherapy combination of three drugs given together for breast cancer, including disease that has spread or returned.

A fibroadenoma is a common, benign breast tumor made of fibrous and glandular tissue, most frequent in younger women.

Lumpiness, tenderness and cysts that shift with the monthly cycle, common enough to be considered a normal variation.

The older name for ordinary cyclical breast lumpiness, kept in many records although the word disease is now considered inaccurate.

A benign smooth-muscle tumor, usually in the uterus or gastrointestinal tract.

A diagnosis that has shrunk as laboratory testing improved, since most tumors once given the name proved to be something else.

A drug used to increase numbers of white blood cells in patients who are receiving chemotherapy.

Initial treatment used to reduce a cancer.

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

Flow cytometry rapidly measures thousands of individual cells as they stream past a laser, characterizing their size, internal structure, and surface markers.

A drug that increases the number of immune cells and may stimulate the immune system to kill cancer cells.