Lung and Breathing Terms

Long filed as an odd inflammatory reaction, it is now recognized as a clonal growth driven by a mutation in one signaling route.

Lung cancer in which the cells are large and look abnormal when viewed under a microscope.

Laryngeal cancer forms in the larynx, the structure used for breathing, swallowing, and speech, and most often begins in its lining cells.

Known as the voice box, though its first duty is closing the airway, and speech is the ability that was added later.

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

A portion of an organ, such as the liver, lung, breast, thyroid, or brain.

A lobectomy removes one entire lobe of an organ, most often the lung, sparing the rest of the organ and its function.

Cancer is found in the lining of the chest wall and may also be found in the lining of the lung, the lining of the diaphragm (the thin muscle below the lungs and heart that separates the chest from…

Breathing is muscle work done by the diaphragm and the rib muscles, since the lungs hold no muscle capable of moving air themselves.

The step that converts a shadow on a scan into a name, and the point at which treatment can finally be planned.

Tobacco smoke drives most cases, yet the disease also arises in people who never smoked, usually as adenocarcinoma.

A test used to measure how well the lungs work.

Cancer that has traveled to the lung from somewhere else, keeping the identity of the organ it started in.

A chronic, inflammatory, connective tissue disease that can affect the joints and many organs, including the skin, heart, lungs, kidneys, and nervous system.

A drug used alone or with another drug to treat certain types of non-small cell lung cancer and malignant pleural mesothelioma.

A substance being studied in the treatment of certain types of cancer, including non-Hodgkin lymphoma, breast, colon, lung, ovarian, and prostate.

Destructive growth of lymph cells, usually involving the lungs, skin, kidneys, and central nervous system.

Malignant pleural effusion is fluid buildup around the lung caused by cancer cells within the pleural space, most often from lung or breast cancer.

A test that measures the strength of the muscles used in breathing.

The thin membrane that lines the chest cavity in the area between the lungs.