NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms (2024)

FAQs

What is the NCI definition of cancer? ›

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is the federal government's principal agency for cancer research and training. Established under the National Cancer Institute Act of 1937, NCI is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), one of 11 agencies that make up the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

In medicine, an abnormal lesion or growth in or on the body may be benign (not cancer), precancerous or premalignant (likely to become cancer), or malignant (cancer).

(KAN-ser) 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.

In situ. In place. Refers to cancer that has not spread to nearby tissue, also called non-invasive cancer.

Three designations are recognized: Comprehensive Cancer Centers, Clinical Cancer Centers, and Basic Laboratory Cancer Centers.

The eight distinct hallmarks consist of sustaining proliferative signaling, evading growth suppressors, resisting cell death, enabling replicative immortality, inducing angiogenesis, activating invasion and metastasis, deregulating cellular energetics and metabolism, and avoiding immune destruction.

Celsus ( c. 25 BC – 50 AD) translated carcinos into cancer, the Latin word for crab or crayfish. In the 2nd century AD, the Greek physician Galen used oncos (Greek for 'swelling') to describe all tumours, reserving Hippocrates' term carcinos for malignant tumours.

Cancer is a generic term for a large group of diseases that can affect any part of the body. Other terms used are malignant tumours and neoplasms.

The origin of the word cancer is credited to the Greek physician Hippocrates (460-370 BC), who is considered the “Father of Medicine.” Hippocrates used the terms carcinos and carcinoma to describe non-ulcer forming and ulcer-forming tumors.

How long can you have cancer without knowing it? While some cancers grow very quickly, other cancers are very slow growing and can even go undetected for ten years or more. One example is certain types of thyroid cancer, which are very slow growing and may never spread beyond the thyroid gland.

What's the difference between cancer and cancerous? ›

A tumor can be cancerous or benign. A cancerous tumor is malignant, meaning it can grow and spread to other parts of the body. A benign tumor means the tumor can grow but will not spread. Some types of cancer do not form a tumor.

Carcinoid tumors are a type of slow-growing cancer that can arise in several places throughout your body. Carcinoid tumors, which are one subset of tumors called neuroendocrine tumors, usually begin in the digestive tract (stomach, appendix, small intestine, colon, rectum) or in the lungs.

The process by which cancer cells spread to other parts of the body is called metastasis. When observed under a microscope and tested in other ways, metastatic cancer cells have features like that of the primary cancer and not like the cells in the place where the metastatic cancer is found.

Complete remission. In contrast, in a complete remission the tumor shrinks so much that at the end of treatment there is no longer any clinical evidence of disease by physical examination, by biochemical and radio- graphic evaluation, or by the patient's symptoms.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) conducts and supports research, training, health information distribution, and other programs related to the cause, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cancer, rehabilitation from cancer, and the continuing care of cancer patients and the families of cancer patients.

Listen to pronunciation. (ad-VANST KAN-ser) A term that is often used to describe cancer that is unlikely to be cured.

The Division of Cancer Prevention furthers the mission of the National Cancer Institute by leading, supporting, and promoting rigorous, innovative research and training to prevent cancer and its consequences to improve the health of all people.

Fatigue from chemotherapy (chemo fatigue).

Chemotherapy destroys healthy cells while treating cancer cells, causing you to feel fatigued. Some people feel the most tired after each chemotherapy treatment, whereas others may have worse fatigue halfway through their course of treatment.