Page 23 - Family Help

Glossary

with cancer and they may need advice from Health
Professionals/Dietitians.
Nutritional supplements
Specially formulated drinks, powders and foods to
increase calorie intake and help weight gain.
Oesophagus The tube that runs from the mouth to the stomach.
Oncologist Specialist doctor treating cancer. A Consultant Clinical
Oncologist usually treats patients with radiotherapy,
chemotherapy and hormone therapy. A Consultant
Medical Oncologist normally specialises in
chemotherapy and hormone therapy.
Oncology Study and practice of treating cancers. Can be divided
into medical, surgical and radiation oncology.
Palliative care Palliative care is designed to manage symptoms rather
than cure. It can be used at any stage of the illness if
there are symptoms such as pain or sickness. Palliative
care may help someone to live longer and to live
comfortably, even if they cannot be cured.
Pathology The study of diseased tissues.
PET Scan Positron Emission Tomography. A scanner which uses a
radioactive drug (tracer) which shows how the body
tissues are working as well as what they look like.
Physiotherapist A person who has specialised in exercises required to
help patients to regain fitness following surgery.
PICC Line Percutaneous Intravenous Central Catheter – a long
intravenous line going into your arm, to give antibiotics
or chemotherapy.
Primary Cancer/ Tumour
Site where the cancer started. The type of cell that has
become cancerous will be the primary cancer. For
example, if a biopsy from a liver, lung or breast contains
cancerous cells, then the primary cancer is where these
cells originate.
Prognosis The predicted or likely outcome of what might happen in
a specific case of cancer.
Pylorus/Pyloric Sphincter
The sphincter is at the bottom of your stomach (pylorus).
This sometimes needs to be stretched after an
oesophagectomy.
Radiotherapy Cancer treatment using high-energy rays. It can take the
form of ‘external beam radiation’, which is aimed to
destroy the tumour and surrounding tissue or ‘conformal’
radiotherapy, which is a more targeted approach to
minimise radiation to the surrounding area or
‘intraluminal radiation’ which places a radioactive source
close to the cancer. Gy (Gray) is a measurement unit of
absorbed radiation.
Radiographer Person qualified to operate radiotherapy machines and
take X-rays. Radiographers specialise in either
diagnostic or therapeutic functions.

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