Words You Might Encouter Concerning Prostate Cancer (10)

Words You Might Encouter Concerning Prostate Cancer (10)

SALVAGE: a procedure intended to "rescue" a patient following the
failure of a prior treatment; for example, a salvage prostatectomy
would be the surgical removal of the prostate after the failure of
prior radiation therapy or cryosurgery

SCROTUM: the pouch of skin containing a man's testicles

SCREENING: to separate patients with tumors from those without tumors;
multiple criteria are often used; the following PSA screening "cutoff"
levels for PCa are replacing the older 4.0 value:

Age PSA "cutoff"
40-49 2.5 ng/ml
50-59 3.5
60-69 4.5
70-79 6.5
J.E. Oesterling, Cancer Supplement, Apr. 1, 1995,
75:1795-1804

SECONDARY TO: derived from or consequent to a primary event or thing

SELENIUM: a relatively rare nonmetallic element found in food in small
quantities which may have some effect in prevention of cancer

SEMEN: the whitish, opaque fluid emitted by a male at ejaculation

SEMINAL: related to the semen; for example, the seminal vesicles are
glands at the base of the bladder and connected to the prostate that
provide nutrients for the semen

SENSITIVITY: the probability that a diagnostic test can correctly
identify the presence of a particular disease assuming the proper
conduct of the test; specifically, the number of true positive results
divided by the sum of the true positive results and the false negative
results; see SPECIFICITY

SEXTANT: having six parts; thus, a sextant biopsy is a biopsy that
takes six samples

SIDE EFFECT: a reaction to a medication or treatment (most commonly
used to mean an unnecessary or undesirable effect)

SIGN: physical changes which can be observed as a consequence of an
illness or disease

SPECIFICITY: the probability that a diagnostic test can correctly
identify the absence of a particular disease assuming the proper
conduct of the test; specifically, the number of true negative results
divided by the sum of the true negative results and the false positive
results; a method that detects 95% of true PCa cases is highly
sensitive, but if it also falsely indicates that 40% of those who do
not have PCa do have PCa then its specificity is 60%, rather poor

STAGE: a term used to define the size and physical extent of a cancer

STAGING: the process of assigning a stage to a particular cancer in a
specific patient in light of all the available information; it is used
to help determine appropriate therapy; there are two staging methods:
the Whitmore-Jewett staging classification (1956) and the more
detailed TNM (tumor, nodes, metastases) classification (1992) of the
American Joint Committee on Cancer and the International Union Against
Cancer.

Stage A (Whitmore-Jewett) becomes T1 (TNM)
Stage B becomes T2
Stage C becomes T3
A more detailed cross reference for TNM and Jewett-
Whitmore is in Jerry Bostick's posting of 6/11/96 10:27
am with Subject:"Re:2 Questions:CS+Prostasure"

Whitmore-Jewett stages:
Stage A is clinically undetectable tumor confined to
the gland and is an incidental finding at
prostate surgery.
A1: well-differentiated with focal involvement
A2: moderately or poorly differentiated or involves
multiple foci in the gland
Stage B is tumor confined to the prostate gland.
BO: nonpalpable, PSA-detected
B1: single nodule in one lobe of the prostate
B2: more extensive involvement of one lobe or
involvement of both lobes
Stage C is a tumor clinically localized to the
periprostatic area but extending through the
prostatic capsule; seminal vesicles may be
involved.
C1: clinical extracapsular extension
C2: extracapsular tumor producing bladder outlet
or ureteral obstruction
Stage D is metastatic disease.
DO: clinically localized disease (prostate only)
but persistently elevated enzymatic serum acid
phosphatase
Dl: regional lymph nodes only
D2: distant lymph nodes, metastases to bone or
visceral organs
D3: D2 prostate cancer patients who relapse after
adequate endocrine therapy