Cancer and Oncology Terms

A tumor of the central or peripheral nervous system.

Neuroendocrine tumors arise from hormone releasing cells scattered throughout the body and can secrete excess hormones causing varied symptoms.

A benign tumor that develops from the cells and tissues that cover nerves.

A neuroma is a benign growth composed of nerve tissue that can develop after nerve injury or arise along an existing nerve pathway.

A nevus, more commonly called a mole, is a benign cluster of pigment producing skin cells that can be flat or slightly raised.

An NK cell is a white blood cell of the innate immune system able to kill infected or abnormal cells on first contact.

A type of immune cell that has granules (small particles) with enzymes that can kill tumor cells or cells infected with a virus.

A type of leukemia in which large natural killer (NK) cells (a type of white blood cell) that contain granules (small particles) are found in the blood.

A type of leukemia in which large natural killer (NK) cells (a type of white blood cell) that contain granules (small particles) are found in the blood.

A rare type of Hodgkin lymphoma, which is a cancer of the immune system.

Cancer that has not spread to the lymph nodes.

Cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes.

Most are found by accident on imaging ordered for something else entirely, and most of those turn out to mean nothing at all.

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

Named for what it is not, this family of lymphocyte cancers spans many separate diseases with very different growth rates and outlooks.

A group of lung cancers that are named for the kinds of cells found in the cancer and how the cells look under a microscope.

Lymphoma in which the lymph nodes containing cancer are not next to each other, but are on the same side of the diaphragm (the thin muscle below the lungs that helps breathing and separates the…

A tumor that is found in endocrine tissue but does not make extra hormones.

Cancer that does not begin in the blood or bone marrow.

Abnormal cells are found in the lower part of the epidermis (the outer layer of the skin).