Cancer and Oncology Terms

A substance being studied in the treatment of brain cancer.

A type of herpesvirus that may cause Kaposi sarcoma (a rare cancer that can cause skin lesions) and a type of lymphoma (cancer that begins in the lymph system), especially in patients who have a…

Built from empty shells of the virus coat, so it shows the immune system the right shape while containing no genetic material at all.

A type of virus that infects T cells (a type of white blood cell) and can cause leukemia and lymphoma.

A drug used to treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) that has not gotten better with other chemotherapy.

An uncommon type of thyroid tumor that can be benign or malignant.

A slow-growing tumor 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 drug that is used to treat many types of cancer and is being studied in the treatment of other types of cancer.

The most common type of kidney cancer.

Warming tissue a few degrees above normal to make tumor cells more vulnerable to the treatments given alongside it.

A procedure in which a warmed solution containing anticancer drugs is used to bathe, or is passed through the blood vessels of, the tissue or organ containing the tumor.

Cancer that forms in tissues of the hypopharynx (the bottom part of the throat).

ICE is a combination chemotherapy regimen used for certain lymphomas that have returned or resisted earlier lines of treatment.

A drug used to treat certain types of breast cancer in postmenopausal women.

An anticancer drug that stops tumor cells from growing by blocking the ability of cells to make DNA.

A radiolabeled monoclonal antibody that is used to treat certain types of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma and is being studied in the treatment of other types of B-cell tumors.

A drug used to treat some infections caused by viruses and several types of cancer.

A procedure that uses a computer to create a picture of a tumor to help guide the radiation beam during radiation therapy.

A substance being studied in the treatment of breast cancer that has come back.

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