Cancer and Oncology Terms

A technique used to help determine the stage (extent) of melanoma and certain squamous cell cancers.

A type of treatment in which body tissue is exposed to high temperatures to damage and kill cancer cells or to make cancer cells more sensitive to the effects of radiation and certain anticancer…

A type of treatment in which body tissue is exposed to high temperatures to damage and kill cancer cells or to make cancer cells more sensitive to the effects of radiation and certain anticancer…

A type of breast imaging test that is used to detect cancer cells in the breasts of some women who have had abnormal mammograms, or who have dense breast tissue.

A substance that comes from the mistletoe plant and that is being studied as a treatment for cancer.

A drug used to treat some types of testicular cancer.

A drug used to treat advanced prostate cancer that does not respond to hormones, adult acute nonlymphocytic leukemia, and advanced or chronic multiple sclerosis.

A brain tumor that forms from more than one type of brain cell, usually astrocytes and oligodendrocytes.

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

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

A substance that is being studied in the treatment of prostate cancer.

A substance being studied in the treatment of cancer.

A substance being studied in the treatment of myelodysplastic syndromes and some types of leukemia.

Removal of the whole breast together with the armpit lymph nodes, sparing the chest muscles the older operation sacrificed.

A surgical procedure used to treat skin cancer.

A surgical procedure used to treat skin cancer.

A molar pregnancy occurs when abnormal fertilization causes placental tissue to overgrow into fluid filled cysts instead of a viable embryo.

A benign (not cancer) growth on the skin that is formed by a cluster of melanocytes (cells that make a substance called melanin, which gives color to skin and eyes).

In cancer treatment, substances that kill cancer cells by targeting key molecules involved in cancer cell growth.

A monoclonal antibody is a laboratory-made protein engineered to bind one specific target, with uses spanning cancer, autoimmune disease, and infection.