Cancer and Tumor Terms

A rare cancer that forms in germ cells in the testicle or ovary, or in germ cells that have traveled to areas of the body other than the brain (such as the chest, abdomen, or tailbone).

A rare cancer that develops in germ cells that are found in areas of the body other than the ovary or testicle (such as the brain, chest, abdomen, or tailbone).

A rare cancer that forms in the part of the bile duct that is outside the liver.

Eye cancer includes several distinct cancer types affecting different eye tissues, ranging from pigment producing cells to the retina itself.

Cancer that occurs in families more often than would be expected by chance.

An inherited form of medullary thyroid cancer (cancer that forms in the cells of the thyroid that make the hormone calcitonin).

A diagnosis that has shrunk as laboratory testing improved, since most tumors once given the name proved to be something else.

A rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (cancer of the lymphatic system) with large cells that look cleaved (split) or non-cleaved under the microscope.

Slow growth cuts both ways: the disease is usually widespread when found, yet often watched rather than treated at once.

An indolent (slow-growing) type of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (cancer of the lymphatic system) in which there are both small and large cancer cells.

Cancer that forms in follicular cells in the thyroid.

A tumor that is found in endocrine tissue and makes hormones (chemicals that travel in the bloodstream and control the actions of other cells or organs).

Because early gallbladder cancer rarely causes noticeable symptoms, it is often identified only after the disease has already reached an advanced stage.

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

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.

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

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.

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.