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Words You Might Encouter Concerning Prostate Cancer (9)
QUALITY OF LIFE: an evaluation of health status relative to the
patient's age, expectations, and physical and mental capabilities
RADIATION ONCOLOGIST: a physician who has received special training
regarding the treatment of cancers with different types of radiation
RADIATION THERAPY (RT): the use of x-rays and other forms of radiation
to destroy malignant cells and tissue
RADICAL: (in a surgical sense) directed at the cause of a disease;
thus, radical prostatectomy is the surgical removal of the prostate
with the intent to cure the problem believed to be caused by or within
the prostate
RADICAL PROSTATECTOMY: an operation to remove the entire prostate
gland and seminal vesicles
RADIOISOTOPE: a type of atom (or a chemical which is made with a type
of atom) which emits radioactivity
RADIO SENSITIVITY: the degree to which a type of cancer responds to
radiation therapy
RADIOTHERAPY: see RADIATION THERAPY
RANDOMIZED: the process of assigning patients to different forms of
treatment in a research study in a random manner
RECTAL EXAM: see DIGITAL RECTAL EXAM
RECTUM: the final part of the intestines which ends at the anus
RECURRENCE: the reappearance of disease
REFRACTORY: resistant to therapy; e.g., hormone refractory prostate
cancer is resistant to forms of treatment based on the use of
hormones; see mutation.
REGRESSION: reduction in the size of a single tumor or reduction in
the number and/or size of several tumors
REMISSION: the real or apparent disappearance of some or all or the
signs and symptoms of cancer; the period (temporary or permanent)
during which a disease remains under control, without progressing;
even complete remission does not necessarily indicate cure
RESECTION: surgical removal
RESECTOSCOPE: instrument inserted through the urethra and used by a
urologist to cut out tissue (usually from the prostate) while the
physician can actually see precisely where he is cutting
RESISTANCE: (in a medical sense) a patient's ability to fight off a
disease as a result of the effectiveness of the patient's immune
system
RESPONSE: a decrease in disease that occurs because of treatment
RETENTION: difficulty in initiation of urination or the inability to
completely empty the bladder
RETROPUBIC PROSTATECTOMY: surgical removal of the prostate through an
incision in the abdomen
RISK: the chance or probability that a particular event will or will not happen
RP: see RADICAL PROSTATECTOMY
RTPCR: see RT-PCR
RT-PCR: reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; a technique
which allows a physician to search for tiny quantities of a protein,
such as PSA, in the blood or other body fluids and tissues; because
today's reproducibility is poor, the test results are reported in
vague terms like "positive" or "negative" rather than as numbers; see
PSA RT-PCR
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Words You Might Encouter Concerning Prostate Cancer (9)
