Cancer Care in India

Glossary

Cancer terms, defined

Definitions for the words that turn up in a pathology report, a trial consent form or a hospital estimate. Every entry cites its sources and says when it was last checked.

105 terms
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C

15 terms

Cancer stage

Also: cancer stage grouping · cancer staging

Cancer stage is a description of how far a cancer has spread, often grouped from stage 0 to stage IV.

Cancer survivorship

Also: survivorship care · cancer survivorship care

Cancer survivorship is comprehensive care after a cancer diagnosis, beginning at diagnosis and continuing for life.

CAR-T cell therapy

Also: CAR-T · CAR T-cell therapy

CAR-T cell therapy is a personalised immunotherapy that engineers a patient's T cells to target cancer, mainly certain blood cancers.

Cashless treatment

Also: cashless hospitalisation · cashless hospitalisation

Cashless treatment is hospital care in which the insurer or government scheme pays the empanelled hospital directly for covered services.

Cervical cancer

Also: cancer of the cervix · cervix cancer

Cervical cancer is cancer that starts in the cervix, and about 95% of cases are linked to persistent high-risk HPV infection.

Chemotherapy

Also: chemo · cytotoxic chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is cancer treatment with medicines that kill or slow fast-growing cells, often given in cycles.

Chemotherapy-induced hair loss

Also: chemotherapy-induced alopecia · chemo hair loss

Chemotherapy-induced hair loss is hair thinning or loss caused by chemotherapy, affecting about 65% of patients.

Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting

Also: CINV · chemo nausea

Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) is nausea or vomiting caused by cancer chemotherapy, with acute symptoms often starting within 24 hours.

Clinical trial phases I to IV

Also: clinical trial phases · phases of clinical trials

Clinical trial phases I to IV are the four main stages used to test a medical treatment, from early safety studies to post-approval monitoring.

Clinical Trials Registry - India (CTRI)

Also: CTRI · Clinical Trials Registry India

Clinical Trials Registry - India (CTRI), launched in 2007, is India's free public registry for clinical studies conducted in the country.

Colorectal cancer

Also: bowel cancer · colorectal carcinoma

Colorectal cancer is cancer of the colon or rectum and accounts for about 10% of all cancer cases worldwide.

Colposcopy

Also: colposcopic examination

Colposcopy is a magnified examination of the cervix, vagina, or vulva, often with biopsy, usually done after an abnormal screening test.

Compassionate use

Also: compassionate access · compassionate use programme

Compassionate use is access to an unapproved medicine outside a clinical trial for a patient with a serious disease when no satisfactory options exist.

Control arm

Also: control group · trial control arm

A control arm is the comparison group in a clinical trial, often receiving standard treatment, placebo, or no investigational therapy.

Core needle biopsy

Also: core biopsy · Tru-Cut biopsy

Core needle biopsy is a procedure that uses a hollow needle to remove a small cylinder of tissue for lab testing.

M

10 terms

Mastectomy

Also: breast removal surgery

Mastectomy is surgery to remove a whole breast, and it may involve 1 or both breasts depending on the reason for surgery.

Medical visa

Also: Indian medical visa · India medical visa

A medical visa is a travel permit for treatment abroad; in India, the e-Medical visa is meant for foreign patients seeking care.

MET exon 14 skipping

Also: MET exon 14 skipping mutation · METex14

MET exon 14 skipping is an actionable MET gene alteration found in about 3% to 4% of non-small-cell lung cancers.

Metastatic cancer

Also: metastatic disease · metastases

Metastatic cancer is cancer that has spread from its original site to distant parts of the body, which is stage IV for many solid tumours.

Microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H)

Also: MSI-H · MSI-high

Microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) is a tumour biomarker showing defective DNA mismatch repair; about 15% of colorectal cancers are MSI-H.

Mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR)

Also: dMMR · deficient mismatch repair

Mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR) is a tumour biomarker showing loss of DNA repair function, seen in about 15% of colorectal cancers.

Monoclonal antibodies

Also: monoclonal antibody therapy

Monoclonal antibodies are lab-made proteins that bind one specific target, and many cancer treatments use them by IV infusion.

MRI scan

Also: MRI · magnetic resonance imaging

MRI scan is a noninvasive imaging test that uses a strong magnetic field and radio waves to create detailed body images.

Multidisciplinary team

Also: multidisciplinary cancer team · multidisciplinary care team

A multidisciplinary team is a group of cancer specialists who review a patient's case together to plan care, a model widely adopted since the 1990s.

Multiple myeloma

Also: myeloma · plasma cell myeloma

Multiple myeloma is a plasma cell cancer that makes abnormal monoclonal protein and accounts for about 10% of blood cancers.

P

15 terms

Palliative care

Also: palliative medicine

Palliative care is specialised care that improves quality of life for people with serious illness; globally, only about 14% who need it receive it.

PARP inhibitors

Also: PARP inhibitor therapy · poly ADP-ribose polymerase inhibitors

PARP inhibitors are targeted cancer drugs that block DNA repair; olaparib was first FDA-approved in 2014.

Patient assistance programme

Also: patient assistance programme · medicine assistance programme

A patient assistance programme is a scheme that helps eligible patients get prescribed medicines at low or no cost; evidence reviews note access can improve but data are limited.

PD-L1 combined positive score (CPS)

Also: PD-L1 CPS · combined positive score

PD-L1 combined positive score (CPS) is an immunohistochemistry score from 0 to 100 that estimates PD-L1 expression in tumour and immune cells.

PD-L1 expression

Also: PD-L1 testing · PDL1 expression

PD-L1 expression is the amount of programmed death-ligand 1 seen on tumour or immune cells, often reported as a percentage on pathology testing.

PD-L1 tumour proportion score (TPS)

Also: PD-L1 TPS · tumour proportion score

PD-L1 tumour proportion score (TPS) is the percentage of viable tumour cells showing PD-L1 staining, often grouped as <1%, 1-49%, or ≥50%.

Performance status

Also: functional performance status

Performance status is a clinical rating of how well a person functions in daily life, often scored from 0 to 5.

Peripheral neuropathy

Also: peripheral nerve damage

Peripheral neuropathy is damage to nerves outside the brain and spinal cord, often causing numbness, tingling, burning pain, or weakness.

PET-CT scan

Also: PET-CT · PET/CT

A PET-CT scan is a combined imaging test that joins PET and CT in one session to show both body function and anatomy.

Placebo

Also: placebo treatment

Placebo is an inactive treatment used in research and care; in trials, it helps show whether a therapy works beyond expectation effects.

Platinum agents

Also: platinum chemotherapy · platinum-based chemotherapy

Platinum agents are cancer chemotherapy drugs, including cisplatin, carboplatin, and oxaliplatin, that damage tumour DNA.

PR status

Also: progesterone receptor status · PR testing

PR status is the progesterone receptor test result in breast cancer, usually reported as positive or negative on tumour cells.

Progression-free survival

Also: PFS · progression free survival

Progression-free survival (PFS) is the time from random assignment in a trial until cancer grows, spreads, or death occurs.

Prostate cancer

Also: prostate carcinoma · prostrate cancer

Prostate cancer is a cancer of the prostate gland, and about 95% of cases are adenocarcinomas.

Proton therapy

Also: proton beam therapy · proton radiotherapy

Proton therapy is a type of radiation treatment that uses proton beams to deliver most of the dose at a chosen depth in tissue.