Cancer and Oncology Terms

Side effects of cancer treatment that appear months or years after treatment has ended.

A term used to describe cancer that is far along in its growth, and has spread to the lymph nodes or other places in the body.

A drug being studied in the treatment of cancer.

Treatment with drugs that become active and may kill cancer cells when exposed to light.

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

Leiomyosarcoma is a rare malignant tumor arising from smooth muscle cells, most often found in the uterus, abdomen, or retroperitoneum.

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).

A cancer with no lump to find, because the affected cells travel in the bloodstream instead of forming a mass.

A serious problem that may occur in leukemia.

A serious problem that may occur in leukemia.

Leuprolide is a hormone-suppressing injectable used for advanced prostate cancer, early puberty, and certain gynecologic conditions, sold under names including Lupron.

An old deworming drug now met far more often as a cocaine adulterant, capable of wiping out the white cells that fight infection.

A drug used to treat actinic keratosis (a skin condition that may become cancer).

A drug used to treat skin problems caused by cutaneous T-cell lymphoma that have not gotten better after other treatment.

A rare, inherited predisposition to multiple cancers, caused by an alteration in the p53 tumor suppressor gene.

An anticancer drug that promotes differentiation by increasing the levels of retinoic acid within the tumor.

The process of tying off blood vessels so that blood cannot flow to a part of the body or to a tumor.

Treatment with drugs that become active and may kill cancer cells when exposed to light.

Cancer is found in one lung, the tissues between the lungs, and nearby lymph nodes only.