Cancer and Oncology Terms

Gastric cancer arises in the stomach lining, often linked to chronic infection with a common stomach bacterium, and frequently causes only vague early symptoms.

A tumor that causes overproduction of gastric acid.

An indolent (slow-growing) cancer that forms in cells that make hormones in the lining of the gastrointestinal tract (the stomach and intestines).

A type of tumor that usually begins in cells in the wall of the gastrointestinal tract.

Three letters standing for a diagnosis that now depends as much on molecular testing as on what the tumor looks like.

A substance being studied in the treatment of cancer.

An antineoplastic antibiotic drug that belongs to the family of drugs called ansamycins.

A chemotherapy combination used to treat malignant mesothelioma, advanced non-small cell lung cancer, advanced bladder cancer, advanced cervical cancer, pancreatic cancer, and epithelial ovarian…

A chemotherapy combination used to treat malignant mesothelioma, advanced non-small cell lung cancer, advanced bladder cancer, advanced cervical cancer, pancreatic cancer, and epithelial ovarian…

A monoclonal antibody combined with a toxic substance that is used to treat certain types of acute myeloid leukemia in older patients and is being studied in the treatment of other types of cancer.

Tumors of the cells that make eggs and sperm, which is why they appear in the chest and brain as well as the gonads.

An intensive juice, enema and supplement regimen promoted as a cancer cure for most of a century, never tested in a controlled trial.

Any of a group of tumors that develops from trophoblastic cells (cells that help an embryo attach to the uterus and help form the placenta) after fertilization of an egg by a sperm.

A rare type of soft tissue tumor marked by painless nodules in the dermis (the inner layer of the two main layers of tissue that make up the skin) and subcutaneous (beneath the skin) tissue.

GIST is a tumor arising from the gastrointestinal tract's specialized pacemaker cells, most often driven by a specific gene mutation and treated with targeted drugs.

Two numbers added together, one for the commonest growth pattern and one for the next, describing how far prostate cancer has strayed from normal.

A general term for tumors of the central nervous system, including astrocytomas, ependymal tumors, glioblastoma multiforme, and primitive neuroectodermal tumors.

What makes it so hard to remove is not its size but its edges, which merge into brain that looks and behaves normally.

The commonest malignant brain tumor in adults, named for how many different faces it presents under a microscope.

A glioma is a tumor arising from glial cells that support the nervous system, ranging from slow growing to highly aggressive.