Words You Might Encouter Concerning Prostate Cancer 1

Words You Might Encouter Concerning Prostate Cancer 1

ABDOMEN: the part of the body below the ribs and above the pelvic bone that contains organs like the intestines, the liver, the kidneys, the
stomach, the bladder, and the prostate

ABLATION: reduction of; for example, in the management of prostate
cancer, hormonal ablation means the use of hormonal techniques to
reduce the spread of prostate cancer cells and cryoablation means the
use of deep freezing techniques to reduce the number of live prostate
and prostate cancer cells

ADENOCARCINOMA: a form of cancer that develops from a malignant abnormality in the cells lining a glandular organ such as the
prostate; almost all prostate cancers are adenocarcinomas

ADJUVANT: an additional treatment used to increase the effectiveness
of the primary therapy; radiation therapy and hormonal therapy are
often used as adjuvant treatments following a radical prostatectomy

ADRENAL GLANDS: the two adrenal glands are located above the kidneys; they produce a variety of different hormones, including sex hormones -- the adrenal androgens

ADRENALECTOMY: the surgical removal of one or both adrenal glands

AGE-ADJUSTED: modified to take account of the age of an individual or group of individuals; for example, prostate cancer survival data and
average normal PSA values can be adjusted according to the ages of
groups of men

ALKALINE PHOSPHATASE: an enzyme in blood, bone, kidney, spleen, and lungs; used to detect bone or liver metastasis

ALPHA-BLOCKERS: pharmaceuticals that act on the prostate by relaxing certain types of muscle tissue; these pharmaceuticals are often used in the treatment of BPH

ANALOG: a synthetic chemical or pharmaceutical that behaves very like
a normal chemical in the body, e.g., LHRH analogs

ANANDRON: trade or brand name for nilutamide

ANDROCUR: trade name for cyproterone, and antiandrogen

ANDROGEN: a hormone which is responsible for male characteristics and the development and function of male sexual organs (e.g.,
testosterone) produced mainly by the testicles but also in the cortex
of the adrenal glands

ANESTHETIC: a drug that produces general or local loss of physical
sensations, particularly pain; a "spinal" is the injection of a local
anesthetic into the area surrounding the spinal cord

ANEUPLOID: having an abnormal number of sets of chromosomes; for
example, tetraploid means having two paired sets of chromosomes, which
is twice as many as normal; aneuploid cancer cells tend not to respond
well to hormone therapy; see also diploid

ANGIOGENESIS: the formation of new blood vessels; a characteristic of tumors

ANTERIOR: the front; for example, the anterior of the prostate is the
part of the prostate that faces forward

ANTIANDROGEN: a compound (usually a synthetic pharmaceutical) which blocks or otherwise interferes with the normal action of androgens at cellular receptor sites

ANTIANDROGEN WITHDRAWAL RESPONSE (AAWR): a decrease in PSA caused by the withdrawal of an antiandrogen such as Casodex or flutamide after CHT begins to fail; occurs when there are PCa cells that have mutated to feed on the anti-androgen rather than T and DHT; withdrawal kills those cells.

ANTIBIOTIC: a pharmaceutical that can kill certain types of bacteria

ANTIBODY: protein produced by the immune system as a defense against an invading or "foreign" material or substance (an antigen); for
example, when you get a cold, your body produces antibodies to the
cold virus

ANTICOAGULANT: a pharmaceutical that helps to stop the blood from clotting

ANTIGEN: "foreign" material introduced into the body (a virus or
bacterium, for example) or other material which the immune system
considers to be "foreign" because it is not part of the body's normal
biology (e.g., prostate cancer cells)

APEX: the tip or bottom of the prostate, e.g., the part of the
prostate farthest away from the bladder

APOPTOSIS: natural cell death caused by natural genetic processes that
occur in the cell; often called "programmed cell death"; cells may
become cancerous (immortal) or resistant to drugs that cause apoptosis
if there is a mutation in the genes that regulate apoptosis.

AREDIA: medicine that inhibits bone resorption; used for treating high
calcium content in blood associated with malignancy, and sometimes in
bone pain palliation; also see web page at Prostate Pointers.

ASPIRATION: the use of suction to remove fluid or tissue, usually
through a fine needle (e.g., aspiration biopsy)

ASYMPTOMATIC: having no recognizable symptoms of a particular disorder

AUTOLOGOUS: one's own; for example, autologous blood is a patient's
own blood which is removed prior to surgery in case a patient needs a
transfusion during or after surgery