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Cancerhelp - glossary Category: Health and Medicine > Cancer Date & country: 11/12/2007, UK Words: 1261

Staging
Working out what stage a cancer is. In other words, how large it is and whether it has spread. For most cancers there are four stages. Stage one is a small localized cancer. Stage four is a cancer that has spread away from where it started to another body organ. TNM is a more detailed staging system used by doctors. This stands for Tumour, Nod…

Staging Laparotomy
Operation sometimes performed in Hodgkin's Disease or Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. The surgeon opens the abdomen to check how far the disease has spread and whether any organs are involved, for example the stomach or spleen. The surgeon may remove any lymphoma tumours that are found. Sometimes the spleen is removed in a staging laparotomy.

Standard Treatment
The most commonly used treatment for a particular cancer. New treatments are often compared to standard treatments in research trials.

Statistician
Someone who works on trial results to find out whether they have happened by chance, or whether one treatment is really better than another. Also work out how many people are needed to take part in a trial and put them into groups at random.

Statistics
Collecting and analysing data to make comparisons and see patterns in research results.

Steatorrhoea
Particular type of diarrhoea caused by difficulty digesting fats. Can be a symptom of diseases of the pancreas or gall bladder.

Stem Cell Collecting Machine
(Blood Cell Separator, Cell Separator) Also called a blood cell separator. A machine which can separate out blood cells and remove them from your blood. A drip is put into a vein in each of your arms (or one of the drips is attached to your central line if you have one). Your blood circulates out of one drip, through the machine and back into the o…

Stem Cell Harvest
(Stem Cell Collection) Collecting blood stem cells for a stem cell transplant. Before the collection, you will be given injections of growth factors to help lots of stem cells to develop. When your white blood cell count is high enough, your stem cells will be collected using a stem cell collecting machine.

Stem Cell Transplant
Treatment for cancer. Stem cell transplant is similar to bone marrow transplant, but does not need an anaesthetic to collect the cells and recovery can be quicker. But donor transplants (allogeneic transplant) cannot be done with stem cells yet. So if a donor transplant is needed, a bone marrow transplant will still be done. Very high doses of chem…

Stem Cells
(Blood Stem Cells, Peripheral Blood Stem Cells) Stem cells are very early blood cells found in the bone marrow. All the blood cells, red cells, white cells and platelets develop originally from the same stem cells. Normally most stem cells are found in the bone marrow. When growth factor injections are given, so many extra stem cells are made that …

Stent
(Stents) A stent is a pipe. Stents are used to keep open tubes in the body that are in danger of becoming blocked off. For example, in cancer of the lung a stent may be used to keep open an airway that is becoming blocked by a tumour (cancer growth).

Sterilisation
Has two meanings: 1: To thoroughly clean something and kill any bacteria that might be there. 2: To prevent pregnancy by tying the tubes from a woman's ovaries, or cutting the tubes that carry sperm in a man.

Sterility
Inability to have children.

Sternum
(Chest Bone) The bone at the front of the chest where the ribs meet. Bone marrow is sometimes taken from the sternum during a bone marrow harvest.

Steroid Replacement Therapy
To give steroid tablets when the body is not producing them naturally.

Steroids
Substances made naturally in the body. Have many different uses, including the immune response. Steroids can now be made artificially and given as treatment in tablets or injections. In lymphomas they are given with chemotherapy as part of the treatment. They have side effects such as difficulty sleeping, increased appetite and water retention. Yo…

Stoma
An opening to the outside of the body formed during surgery. Can be a colostomy (opening of the large bowel onto the abdomen), ileostomy (opening of the small bowel onto the abdomen), urostomy (opening of the urine system onto the abdomen after bladder removal) or a tracheostomy (a hole in the neck into the airway).

Stoma Appliances
(Stoma Bag, Stoma Bags) Bags and seals that are made to use with a stoma. There are many different designs of these and it may take a few tries to find the one that suits you.

Stoma Nurse
Nurse who is specially trained and experienced at working with people who have a colostomy, ileostomy or urostomy. The stoma nurse can help you find the right type of stoma appliances for you and help solve any problems or difficulties that you may be having coping with your stoma.

Stomach
Organ of the digestive system. The stomach digests food and absorbs water. Lymphoma can sometimes develop in the stomach.

Stridor
Rasping noise made when breathing. Stridor usually means that an airway is partly blocked in some way.

Stroke
Damage to part of the brain due to lack of blood supply. Can happen when a blood vessel bursts or gets blocked. A stroke can result in many problems including paralysis and speech loss, and sometimes unconsciousness or death.

Strontium
(Metastron, Sr89) A radioactive isotope used to treat bone cancer. A small dose is injected into the body. It finds it way into the bones where it delivers a high local dose of radiotherapy.

Subcapsular Orchidectomy
Removal of the inner part of a testicle from inside its covering, or capsule.

Subcutaneous Breast Reconstruction
Type of Breast Reconstruction where the skin and nipple are left in place, the breast tissue removed from underneath, and an implant put in under the skin.

Subcutaneous Injection
(Subcutaneously) Injection under the skin.

Subcutaneous tissue
Beneath the layers of the skin.

Subglottis
Part of the voice box (larynx) - the area below the vocal cords that contains the cricoid cartilage and continues down into the windpipe (trachea).

Submuscular Breast Reconstruction
Type of Breast Reconstruction where an implant is put under the muscles of the chest wall after the breast has been removed.

Sun Protection Factor
(SPF) This is a rating given to sun creams. If you normally burn in the sun after 15 minutes with no sun protection, a lotion with an SPF of 4 will allow you to stay out for 4 times as long - or for one hour - without burning. But you have to put a lot of lotion on to get as much protection as the SPF on the bottle indicates. And you have to reappl…

Superficial Spreading Melanoma
The most common type of malignant melanoma. This has an early phase (called the radial phase) where it grows outwards rather than downwards into the skin. So if you catch it early when it has not begun to grow downwards into the skin layers, it is unlikely to recur after it has been removed.

Support Group
(Cancer Support Group, Support Groups) Groups of patients (and sometimes their relatives or friends) who have the same type of disease. Get together to talk about their experiences and find ways of helping themselves.

Supportive care
Treatment given to alleviate the symptoms caused by cancer or treatment.

Suppository
A suppository is a way of giving drugs so they can be absorbed by the lining of the back passage (rectum). The drugs are inside a soft, waxy substance that is often torpedo shaped. You slip the suppository into the back passage, from where the drug is absorbed. This is a fast way of getting drugs into your system and is particularly helpful if e…

Suppressor T Cell
Specialised type of white blood cell that tells B cells when to stop making antibodies. Part of the immune response.

Supraglottis
Part of the voice box (larynx) - the area above the vocal cords that contains the epiglottis cartilage

Surgery
Medical treatment to remove or repair body tissue during an operation. Surgery can be done with a scalpel (knife) or with lasers.

Surgical biopsy
Removing a piece of tissue during a surgical operation.

Surgical voice restoration
A specialised type of surgery that creates a small hole between the windpipe and food pipe for a voice valve. This helps people learn to speak again after they have had their voice box removed (laryngectomy).

Surveillance
Doctors watching to see if you have signs of cancer before you have symptoms. Surveillence may be used if you have an increased risk of developing a certain type of cancer or if you have had cancer or a precancerous condition in the past. You have regular tests or examinations to look for signs of early cancer.

Symptom
(Symptoms) Anything noticed by a patient that indicates there is something wrong. Can help the doctor diagnose a particular disease.

Symptom Control
Treatment to manage or control the effects of a disease such as pain or sickness.

Symptom Control Team
Team of doctors, nurses and other health workers who specialise in managing or controlling the effects of diseases such as pain, sickness.

Synovial
Of the tissues lining the joints. Synovial fluid is the fluid inside a joint. Synovial sarcoma is a type of cancer that starts in the cells inside a joint.

Systematic review
Study of the published results of several trials that have investigated a particular treatment or therapy. The results of these trials are looked at together to draw a conclusion.

Systemic Disease
A disease that affects the whole body. Leukaemias and lymphomas are systemic diseases because the blood system and the lymphatic system are all over the body. Systemic diseases are treated with treatments that cover the whole body such as chemotherapy, rather than local treatments such as surgery.

Systemic Treatment
Treatment that covers the whole body. For example, chemotherapy is usually a systemic treatment because it circulates throughout the body in the blood stream. Systemic treatments are best for cancers that have spread.

Tai chi
(Pronounced tie chee.) An ancient Chinese form of co-ordinated body movements to develop and harmonise internal energy ('chi' or 'qi'). It aims to harmonise the mind, body and spirit to promote mental and physical well-being through softness and relaxation.

Tamoxifen
(Nolvadex, Tamofen) Hormone treatment for breast cancer. Stops breast cancer cells from picking up Oestrogen. Oestrogen can encourage breast cancer to grow.

Tamoxifen Retinopathy
A very rare long term side effect of Tamoxifen. The light sensitive cells at the back of the eye are affected which causes problems with vision. This side effect usually goes away when the drug is stopped.

Taste Buds
Areas on the tongue which pick up different tastes - salty, sweet, sour and bitter. Can be damaged by radiotherapy.

Taste Changes
Side effect of some chemotherapy drugs and of radiotherapy to the head. Some foods can taste metallic. Others may not taste of anything at all. Taste is usually back to normal after treatment is finished. But some radiotherapy treatment can cause permanent loss of taste.

Tattoo
(Tattoos, Pinprick Tattoos) Permanent ink mark on the skin. Tiny pinprick tattoos are sometimes made during radiotherapy planning. These are used to help line up the machine for treatment.

Taxane
Taxanes are a group of chemotherapy drugs. They block the growth of cancer cells by stopping cells dividing. They were originally developed from the yew tree. This group of drugs includes paclitaxel (Taxol) and docetaxel (Taxotere).

Taxol
Anti-cancer drug (chemotherapy).

Temperature
Means how hot or cold something is. Used commonly to mean a body temperature above normal (98.4oF or 37oC) as in 'I have a temperature'.

Temporary Colostomy
Opening of the bowel onto the surface of the abdomen (tummy) that is not permanent. You have the colostomy while your bowel is recovering from surgery. When the operation site has healed, the colostomy is reversed (closed up) and you pass bowel motions normally again.

Temporary Infertility
Infertility that is not for ever. Some chemotherapy treatment can cause infertility while you are having the treatment. But your fertility can come back 6 months or so after treatment has finished. This will depend on the drugs, but also on other things such as your age and whether you are male or female. It is sometimes difficult for doctors to sa…

Ten Year Survival
The proportion (percentage) of people with a particular type of cancer who are still alive 10 years after the cancer was first diagnosed.

Tendon
Fibrous tissue that attaches muscles to bones.

Teratoma
Type of testicular cancer most common in men between 20 and 30 years old.

Terminal Illness
(Terminally Ill) Illness which will eventually cause death.

Termination of pregnancy
Intentional or planned end to a pregnancy (commonly called an abortion).

Testes
Another word for testicles. Glands in the scrotum which produce sperm.

Testicular Cancer
Cancer of one or both testicles.

Testicular microlithiasis
a build up of tiny pieces of calcium in the testicle.

Testicular Prosthesis
Fake testicle - silicon ball put into scrotum to replace removed testicle.

Testicular Self-Examination
(TSE) Process of feeling one's own testicles for lumps or other abnormalities.

Testosterone
Male sex hormone produced by the testicles.

Tetanus
(Tetanus Vaccine) Infectious disease. You can have a vaccination against tetanus if you are having chemotherapy.

Thalidomide
Infamous drug that caused birth defects. Now being investigated as a cancer treatment because it is antiangiogenic (stops blood vessels growing).

Thoracic Duct
The main channel of the lymphatic system that returns lymph fluid (circulating tissue fluid) to the blood circulation. The thoracic duct joins the blood circulatory system just above the heart.

Thoracocentesis
Taking fluid out of the space between the tissues that cover the lungs (the pleural cavity).

Thoracotomy
Surgical operation to open the chest cavity. Done to operate on the lungs.

Thorascope
A tube with a camera, eyepiece and light that enables a surgeon to look inside the chest.

Thromboembolism
Medical term for a blood clot.

Thrush
Fungus infection which usually affects the mouth or vagina. White patches appear and the surrounding skin is red and sore. Occurs most often in people with low resistance to infection (eg after chemotherapy) or in areas that have been treated with radiotherapy (eg in the mouth).

Thymus
A small gland under the top of the breast bone. It is part of the immune system.

Thyroid
Gland at the base of the neck that produces hormones which control the metabolic rate (how much energy the body uses) and level of calcium in the blood. Cancer of the thyroid is often treated with Iodine 131.

Tibia
The shin bone.

Tinnitus
Noises heard in the ear without any external cause, such as ringing in the ears. Can be a side effect of some chemotherapy drugs.

Tissue Expander
(Tissue Expansion) Type of breast reconstruction. The skin where the breast was is slowly stretched by an inflatable implant until it is the same size as the natural breast.

Tomudex
Anti-cancer (chemotherapy) drug.

Tonsils
Lymph glands at the back of the nose and throat. Fight infections in the throat and respiratory system (lungs and airways).

Topical
Putting something directly onto the skin surface. For example, topical medication can be a cream applied to the skin.

Total Androgen Blockade
Treatment with Anti-Androgens and Pituitary Downregulators at the same time. Completely blocks the production and effects of the sex hormones. Used in the treatment of prostate cancer.

Total Body Irradiation
(TBI) Giving radiotherapy to the whole body. Can be part of the treatment necessary for a bone marrow or stem cell transplant.

Total laryngectomy
Removal of the whole voicebox (larynx).

Total Prostatectomy
Operation to remove the whole prostate. The operation cannot be done via the penis (transurethrally) so there will be a scar. The lymph glands around the prostate are usually removed as well. Also called a Radical Prostatectomy.

Toxicity
Side effects.

Trachea
(Windpipe) Main airway that runs from the base of the throat down to the lungs. Divides into the two main bronchi (right and left) that supply each lung with air.

Tracheostomy
An artificial opening made surgically in the front of your neck, through the skin and into your windpipe. This allows you to breathe after surgery to your neck, throat or mouth. The hole is called a stoma. Air enters and leaves your windpipe (trachea) and lungs, through this. If you have had your voice box completely removed, you have a permanen…

Tracheostomy tube
A plastic tube placed in your windpipe (trachea) after surgery, to make sure there is a good air supply to your lungs.

Tram Flap
Type of breast reconstruction. Part of the rectus abdominus muscle in the Abdomen is transplanted to the chest wall and used to create a new breast shape. Sometimes an implant is also used.

Transformation Zone
Area at the opening of the cervix into the womb. This is the area where pre-cancerous cells are most likely to be found during a cervical smear test. And so where cervical cancer is most likely to start.

Transitional Cell
(s) Cell type found in the bladder. Transitional cell tissue can stretch, as it does when the bladder fills up. Transitional cell cancer is the commonest type of bladder cancer in the UK.

Transurethral Resection
(TUR, TURP) Operation to remove the part of an enlarged prostate which is pressing on the urethra (tube which carries urine from the bladder out of the penis). The prostate is chipped away in tiny pieces removed through the urethra and so there is no scar. Can be done for benign enlarged prostate or prostate cancer.

Treatment Angle
Term used in radiotherapy planning. Radiotherapy is often given at an angle to the body rather than directly from in front or behind the patient. This is to prevent major body organs from being in the radiotherapy field as much as possible.

Trial centres
The hospitals that are taking part in this trial.

Trial structure
How the trial has been designed.