Additional Information
Glossary
- Biopsy - A test in which a piece of tissue is removed either by surgery or through a needle and examined under a microscope to determine if the cells are cancerous and to identify the type of cancer.
- Chemotherapy - Treatment with anticancer drugs.
- Clinical Trial - A study conducted with cancer patients, usually to evaluate new treatments such as surgery, drugs, or radiation techniques, although methods of prevention, detection, or diagnosis may also be the subject of such studies.
- Investigational New Drug (IND) - A drug allowed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be used in specific clinical trials but not approved by the FDA for general commercial use.
- Metastasis - The movement of cancer cells from the original tumor through the blood-stream and lymph system to another part of the body.
- Radiation Therapy - Treatment using X-rays, radium, neutrons, or other types of cell-destroying radiation.
- Side Effect - A secondary, unintended, and usually unpleasant effect, as from a drug or other treatment; for example, nausea is a side effect of some anticancer drugs.
- Sputum Cytology - Examination under a microscope of cells coughed up from the lungs or breathing tubes.
- Staging - A classification system used to describe how much the cancer has spread. Physicians use the TNM system to divide NSCLC into stages. A simplified description of this grouping follows:
- Occult Stage: Cancer cells are present in lung secretions but no tumor can be found in the lung.
- Stage 0: The tumor is found in a local area and only in a few layers of cells. It has not grown through the surface lining of the lung. Another term for this type of lung cancer is carcinoma in situ.
- Stage I: The tumor is completely surrounded by normal lung tissue.
- Stage II: The tumor has spread only to lymph nodes located near the lungs.
- StageIII: Cancer has spread to the chest wall, diaphragm, or other organs or blood vessels near the lung; or the cancer has spread to specific lymph nodes.
- Stage IV: The cancer has spread to other parts of the body.
For example, T2, N2, M1 means that the tumor is larger than 2 cm in diameter (which is about an inch), has spread to the lymph nodes beyond the chest area and has metastasized.
- Tumor - An abnormal mass of tissue that results from excessive cell division. Tumors perform no useful body function. They may be either benign (not cancer) or malignant (cancer).
Suggested Reading
National Institutes of Health
National Cancer Institute
Building 31, Room 10A18
Bethesda, MD 20892
- Cancer of The Lung. NIH Publication No. 90-526
- Chemotherapy & You: A Guide to Self-Help During Treatment.
NIH Publication No. 88-1136.
- Radiation Therapy and You: A Guide to Self-Help During
Treatment.
- What Are Clinical Trials All About? NIH Publication No.
86-2706.
- What You Need to Know About Lung Cancer. NIH Publication
No. 88-1553.
Spirit and Breath - A nonprofit education and advocacy group.
500 W. 8th Street, Suite 100A
Vancouver, WA 98660
- A Program on Rehabilitation by a Lung Cancer Patient.
- Spirit and Breath After Surgery. A Program in Rehabilitation by
a Lung Cancer Patient.
- Spirit and Breath & The Miracle of Believing. Treading The Right
Path to Health and Fitness.
Triad Publishing Co.
1110 NW 8th Avenue
Gainesville, FL
- Cox BG, Carr DC, Lee RE. Living With Lung Cancer: A Guide for
Patients and Their Families.
