General Medical Terms

Clostridium difficile is a spore forming bacterium that causes diarrhea and colon inflammation, often following antibiotic use that disrupts normal gut bacteria.

CML is a slow progressing blood cancer marked by overproduction of white blood cells, most often driven by a specific chromosomal abnormality.

CNS designates the brain and spinal cord together, the central hub that processes information and coordinates the body's motor and sensory activity.

Chemotherapy or radiation therapy given to the central nervous system (CNS) as a preventive treatment.

A chimeric (made from human and mouse proteins) monoclonal antibody being studied in the treatment of advanced kidney cancer and other types of cancer.

A T cell that has been coated with monoclonal antibodies to enhance its ability to kill tumor cells.

A radioactive form of the metal cobalt, which is used as a source of radiation to treat cancer.

The coccyx, or tailbone, is the small triangular bone at the base of the spine formed from several fused segments.

In research, a cohort is a defined group of people sharing a characteristic or experience, followed over time to study health outcomes.

A research study that compares a particular outcome (such as lung cancer) in groups of individuals who are alike in many ways but differ by a certain characteristic (for example, female nurses who…

In surgery, the time between the chilling of a tissue, organ, or body part after its blood supply has been reduced or cut off and the time it is warmed by having its blood supply restored.

When radioactive material is used to examine the thyroid with a scanner, nodules that collect less radioactive material than the surrounding thyroid tissue are considered "cold." A nodule that is…

The last part of a long, twisting tube that collects urine from the nephrons (cellular structures in the kidney that filter blood and form urine) and moves it into the renal pelvis and ureters.

A substance that stimulates the production of blood cells.

Colorectal describes anything relating to the colon and rectum together, the final segments of the large intestine, most often in the context of cancer.

An opening into the colon from the outside of the body.

Examination of the vagina and cervix using a lighted magnifying instrument called a colposcope.

The reason it is gastroenterology but gastritis: a linking vowel appears only when the next part starts with a consonant.

Comfort care focuses on relieving symptoms and improving quality of life, most often used to describe care provided near the end of life.

The common bile duct is the tube through which bile travels from the liver and gallbladder into the small intestine.