Adjuvant Therapy: Additional treatment (chemotherapy or radiotherapy) after main treatment or surgery, not given because there is evident disease in the body, but because there is a statistical risk of relapse. Many patients who have adjuvant therapy will already have been cured by surgery.

Allogenic: Tissue from a donor (often referred to with bone marrow transfusions).

Anesthetic: A drug given to a patient to stop him or her feeling pain during a procedure. It can be given as a local anesthetic to numb the area or as a general anesthetic to put a person in a sleep-like state.

Analgesic: A drug that relieves pain.

Anemia: When the body has too few red blood cells.  This makes a person weak and tired.

Antibiotics: A drug used to treat or prevent an infection.

Anti-emetics: Drugs that help control and prevent nausea and vomiting.

Autologous: Tissue taken from oneself (the reverse of allogenic).

Benign: Non-cancer or non-malignant.

Biopsy: The removal of a small sample of tissue from the body. This sample is then viewed under a microscope. A biopsy helps in the diagnosis of disease.

Blood Count: Different numbers of the types of blood cells in the body.

Blood Transfusion: Red blood cells given through the IV.

Bone Marrow: The soft, spongy area in the middle of bones where red and white blood cells and platelets are made.

Bone Marrow Biopsy: The removal of a small amount of bone marrow, usually from the hip.

Bone Marrow Transplant: This involves transfusing healthy bone marrow to replace bone marrow destroyed by high doses of chemotherapy.

Cancer: A general term for a large group of diseases that have uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells.

Carcinoma: Cancer that forms in the tissue at the base of the skin that lines the body’s organs.

CAT Scan (or CT scan): A picture of the inside of the body.

Central Line: A catheter placed into a vein in the chest. It is used to give IV fluids, blood products and take blood counts.

Chemotherapy: The most common form of cancer treatment. ‘Chemo’ uses drugs called cytotoxins to kill or slow the growth of cancer cells.

Clinical Trial: Research that involves giving medications to patients and studying the results. The aim of a clinical trial is to find better ways to treat or prevent disease.

Core Needle Biopsy: Removes small but solid samples of tissue using a hollow "core" needle.

CT Scan: A procedure that takes lots of x-rays of the body from all different angles so that a good picture can be formed.

Cytotoxic Drugs: Drugs that are given that damage or kill off cancer cells.

Diagnosis: The identification of a person’s disease.

Edema: Swelling cause by an accumulation of fluid in the body or tissues.

Excisional Biopsy: When the entire lesion or cyst is removed.

Exploratory: Surgery undertaken to investigate a situation that other, primarily external diagnostic tests have failed to clarify.

External Beam Radiation: Common form of radiation treatment.

Fractions: The name given to each radiotherapy treatment.

Frozen Section: A sample of tissue is taken and then frozen quickly so it can be examined immediately under a microscope.

Hematology: The type of medicine that studies the blood.

Hematologist: A doctor who specializes in the treatment of disorders of the blood.

Hereditary: The description given when something is pasted down from one generation to the next.

Hodgkin’s Lymphoma: Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is a type of cancer that affects the lymphatic system.

Immune System: The network of cells and organs that help to fight infections.

Immuno-compromised: A weakened of the immune system often caused by disease or treatment.

Incision Biopsy: When only a sample of the suspicious lesion or cyst is removed.

Infusion: Slow injection of a fluid into a vein or tissue.

Intravenous: Giving fluids, drugs or blood directly into a vein.

Localized Cancer: Cancer that has not spread to other parts of the body.

Late Effects (Long Term Effects): These are the impacts on the body that may occur as a result of your cancer treatment.  They may not show up for years after completing treatment.

Lumpectomy: An operation to remove the part of a person’s breast where a tumor is located.

Lymph: A clear fluid that flows through the body carrying cells through the lymphatic system to help fight infection.

Lymph Nodes: Small, bean shaped structures that help to fight infection by removing bacteria and other cells, such as cancer cells.

Malignant: Cancerous. Can spread to other parts of the body.

Mammography: A specialized x-ray of the breast used to find early breast cancers.

Mastectomy: An operation to remove a person’s breast.

Metastasis: When some cancer cells break off the tumor and spread to other parts of the body where it starts to grow.

MRI: Another way to take pictures of the inside of the body.  This one uses magnets.

Neurosurgeon: A doctor that specializes in the surgical treatment of diseases of the brain including brain tumors.

Neoadjuvant Therapy: Treatment (chemotherapy or radiotherapy) before the main treatment, usually given to decrease the size of a tumor prior to surgery to make surgery easier.

Nodule (or Node): A lump or bump. Not all nodules are cancerous.

Oncologist: A doctor that specializes in the treatment of cancer.

Open Surgical Biopsy: A large mass or lump is removed during a surgical procedure. This is normally performed in an operating room under general anesthetic, although local anesthetic is also sometimes used.

Orthopedic Surgeon: A doctor that specializes in the surgical treatment of bone disease including cancer.

Palliative Care: Treatment that focuses on improving quality of life and managing symptoms such as pain. The goals are physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual comfort rather than cure.

Pathology: Study of disease, how it behaves and how it's progressing.

Plasma: The fluid portion of the blood in which cells and platelets are found.

Platelets: Part of the blood that stops bleeding by aiding blood clotting.

Prognosis: A doctor’s best guess about how well a person with cancer will do.

Radiation: Energy in the form of waves that can injure and destroy cells, particularly cancer cells.

Radiotherapy: A type of treatment using radiation used to kill cancer cells in a particular part of the body.

Relapse (or Recurrence): The return of the cancer after treatment and a time of improvement.

Remission: After treatment or surgery when there are no signs or symptoms of active cancer. Remission can last for a short or long time.

Sarcoma: A kind of cancer that starts in the bone, nerve or muscle.

Staging: A way to identify the extent of disease. It is then used to determine treatment.

Stem Cells: Immature cells found in the bone marrow from which blood cells are formed.

Stem Cell Transplant: Stem cells are taken from the blood prior to chemo, and then later returned after chemo.

Surgery: An operation for the removal or change of a particular part of the body typically performed under an anesthetic.

Survival Rate: The percentage of people who are still alive after a particular length of time with a certain disease.

Temporary: Lasting only a short time.

Terminal: When a disease cannot be cured.

Total Body Irradiation: Radiotherapy of the whole body usually given prior to bone marrow transplants.

Toxicity: Harmful side effects caused by a drug.

Tumor: An abnormal growth in the body.

Tumor Marker: A substance found in the blood produced by a tumor, which can indicate how treatment is working.

X-Ray: Another kind of picture of the inside of the body.