Benign
Refers to a tumor that is not cancerous. The tumor does not usually invade nearby tissue or spread to other parts of the body.
Biopsy
The removal of a small amount of tissue for examination under a microscope. Other tests can suggest that cancer is present, but only a biopsy can make a definite diagnosis.
Bone Marrow biopsy
A procedure in which a small sample of bone with bone marrow inside it is removed, usually from the hip bone. A small area of skin and the surface of the bone underneath are numbed with an anesthetic. Then, a special, wide needle is pushed into the bone and rotated to remove a sample of bone with the bone marrow inside it. The sample is sent to a laboratory to be looked at under a microscope. This procedure may be done at the same time as a bone marrow aspiration.
Cancer
A term for diseases in which abnormal cells divide without control and can invade nearby tissues. Cancer cells can also spread to other parts of the body through the blood and lymph systems. There are several main types of cancer. Carcinoma is a cancer that begins in the skin or in tissues that line or cover internal organs. Sarcoma is a cancer that begins in bone, cartilage, fat, muscle, blood vessels, or other connective or supportive tissue. Leukemia is a cancer that begins in blood-forming tissue, such as the bone marrow, and causes too many abnormal blood cells to be made. Lymphoma and multiple myeloma are cancers that begin in the cells of the immune system. Central nervous system cancers are cancers that begin in the tissues of the brain and spinal cord. Also called malignancy.
Case Manager
A health care professional, often a nurse with experience in cancer, who helps coordinate the care of a person with cancer before, during, and after treatment. At a medical center, a case manager may provide a wide range of services for patients that may include managing treatment plans, coordinating health insurance approvals, and locating support services. Insurance companies also employ case managers.
Chemotherapy
The use of drugs to kill cancer cells.
Claim
A request made to an insurance company to pay for services covered by a patient’s policy.
Clinical Significance
An assessment that a research finding will have practical effects on patient care.
Co-insurance
The percentage of health care costs an insured patient pays after meeting a health care plan’s yearly deductible. For example, an 80/20 co-insurance rate means that the insurance company pays 80% of approved health care costs, and the patient pays the remaining 20% of costs out-of-pocket.
Co-pay
A set fee, in dollars, that an insurance provider requires a patient to pay each time care is received. For example, a visit to the oncologist may cost a patient $30 each time; the insurance provider pays the rest of the visit’s costs. The amount of the co-pay is set by the insurance provider, not the doctor’s office.
Deductible
The amount of approved health care costs an insured patient must pay out-of-pocket each year before the health care plan begins paying any costs.
DNR Order
A type of advance directive in which a person states that healthcare providers should not perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (restarting the heart) if his or her heart or breathing stops. Also called do not resuscitate order
End-of-life care
Care given to people who are near the end of life and have stopped treatment to cure or control their disease. End-of-life care includes physical, emotional, social, and spiritual support for patients and their families. The goal of end-of-life care is to control pain and other symptoms so the patient can be as comfortable as possible. End-of-life care may include palliative care, supportive care, and hospice care.
Healthcare proxy
A type of advance directive that gives a person (such as a relative, lawyer, or friend) the authority to make healthcare decisions for another person. It becomes active when that person loses the ability to make decisions for himself or herself. Also called HCP.
HIPAA
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This is a set of national rules that help protect the privacy of a patient’s personal medical information, provide patients with access to their medical records, and help people with health problems, such as cancer, get health insurance for themselves and their family members.
HMO
Health Maintenance Organization; a type of private health insurance. In an HMO, a person chooses a primary care doctor from an approved list called the network. Specialist care must be approved by that primary care doctor, called a referral.
Immunotherapy
A type of cancer treatment designed to boost the body’s natural defenses to fight the cancer. It uses materials made either by the body or in a laboratory to improve, target, or restore immune system function. It may also be called biologic therapy.
Leukemia
A cancer of the blood. Leukemia begins when normal white blood cells change and grow uncontrollably.
Long-term care insurance
Insurance that helps people with long-lasting illnesses or disabilities pay for non-medical daily services and care that ordinary health plans don’t cover, such as help with eating, bathing, and dressing. Depending on the plan, care can be given in the home or outside the home.
Lymphoma
A cancer of the lymphatic system. Lymphoma begins when cells in the lymph system change and grow uncontrollably. Sometimes a tumor is formed.
Malignant
Refers to a tumor that is cancerous. It may invade nearby healthy tissue or spread to other parts of the body.
Metastasis
The spread of cancer from the place where the cancer began to another part of the body. Cancer cells can break away from the primary tumor and travel through the blood or the lymphatic system to the lymph nodes, brain, lungs, bones, liver, or other organs.
Oncologist
A doctor who treats cancer and provides medical care for a person diagnosed with cancer.
Palliative care
Palliative care is any form of treatment that concentrates on reducing a patient’s symptoms or treatment side effects, improving quality of life, and supporting patients and their families. It may also be called supportive care.
POLST
POLST originally stood for Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment. Some POLST programs still use this name; your state may call it something else. Within the many acronyms used for POLST, the P can stand for: Professional (including Physician Assistant, Advance Practice Registered Nurses, Nurse Practitioners, Physicians, and other health care Professionals), Patient, Preferences, Palliative. All adults should have advance directives to help guide their future health care plans and identify a surrogate decision maker. A POLST form is for when you become seriously ill or frail and its purpose is to provide medical orders to emergency personnel based on your current medical situation. POLST forms and advance directives are both advance care plans but they are not the same. POLST is a process beginning with conversation between you and your doctor, nurse, or physician assistant. The conversation should include information about your current medical condition and what is important to you. You may choose to have a POLST form after this conversation—you should never be forced to have a POLST form. POLST is a way for you to express end-of-life treatment wishes such as whether you would want: (1) emergency personnel to attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in the event that you were found unconscious, not breathing, or without a pulse; (2) to go to the hospital, to be put on a breathing machine (if necessary), or if you want to be made comfortable where you are. A POLST Form is a medical order that emergency personnel can follow whenever, and wherever, you have a medical emergency can cannot speak for yourself. Your doctor, nurse, or physician assistant must sign a POLST form for it to be valid (who can sign varies by state). Talk to your doctor, nurse of physician assistant if you are seriously ill or frail and toward the end of life and would like a POLST form.
Power of attorney (POA), healthcare
A legal document that allows a person to select another person to act on their behalf on healthcare matters
PPO
Preferred Provider Organization. This is a type of private health insurance in which a person has access to a network of approved doctors, called in-network doctors. In PPOs, patients typically do not need a referral for specialist care.
Precancerous
Refers to cells that have the potential to become cancerous. Also called pre-malignant.
Prognosis
Chance of recovery; a prediction of the outcome of a disease.
Recurrence
Cancer that has returned after a period during which the cancer could not be detected. “Local recurrence” means that the cancer has come back to the same general area where the original cancer was located. “Regional recurrence” refers to cancer that has come back in the lymph nodes or other tissues near the original cancer site, usually by direct spread. “Distant recurrence” refers to cancer that has come back and has spread to other parts of the body, usually by traveling through the lymph system or bloodstream.
Remission
The disappearance of the signs and symptoms of cancer but not necessarily the entire disease. The disappearance can be temporary or permanent.
Sarcom
A cancer that develops in the tissues that support and connect the body, such as fat and muscle.
Staging
A way of describing cancer, such as where it is located, whether or where it has spread, and whether it is affecting the functions of other organs in the body. Learn more about stages of cancer.