Feel free to refer to this list of abbreviations to assist you as you navigate through the LCSM chats and conversations. If there are other terms used that you aren’t familiar with and you don’t see them listed here, please contact us and we will be happy to add new words to the list. Special thanks to the staff at GRACE (Global Resource for Advancing Cancer Education) for creating this list.
MEDICAL ABBREVIATIONS
ADL
activities of daily living
ANC
absolute neutrophil count, the absolute number of bacterial infection fighting blood cells low means notably higher risk for infection
Atalectasis
incomplete expansion of a portion of the lung or the whole lung
BAC
bronchioloalveolar carcinoma, a unique and uncommon subtype of lung cancer; Variant of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer that is characterized by a lepidic or non-invasive growth pattern. Now referred to by the World Health Organization as carcinoma in-situ.
CR
complete response (after treatment), leading to no evidence of disease (NED)
CT
computerized tomography, “cat scan”, a detailed look at the body at varying levels internally, “slice by slice”
CT/PET
a combined scan that does a simultaneous CT, which measures the shape and size of body structures, with PET, which measures metabolic activity. The images can then
CTC
circulating tumor cells, in blood
CTCs
circulating tumor cells
CXR
chest x-ray
DCR
disease control rate, the combination of response rate and proportion of patients achieving stable disease
DNI
“do not intubate”, an order to not place an endotracheal (“breathing”) tube down the trachea (windpipe) in order to be placed on a mechanical ventilation machine
DNR
“do not resuscitate”, an order to not perform chest compressions, defibrillation, etc., in the event that a person is unresponsive and has no pulse, etc.
Dx
diagnosis
EGFR
epidermal growth factor receptor, a key target that modulates growth and division of cancer cells
FISH
fluorescence in situ hybridization, a method for detecting the number of copies of a gene in tumor cells, “positive” being higher than expected for a normal cell
GGO
Ground glass opacity. Refers to a type of lung nodule that may be amorphous in appearance like ground glass, or often characterized as a fried egg appearance. A GGO may represent a bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (see BAC).
Gy
Gray, the units of radiation dosing
HCT
the percentage of blood that is comprised of red blood cells, normally approximately 38-45%, but commonly below that in patients receiving cancer treatment
Hematocrit
the percentage of blood that is comprised of red blood cells, normally approximately 38-45%, but commonly below that in patients receiving cancer treatment
IHC
immunohistochemistry, a method for detecting levels of specific proteins on tumor cells
Indolent
Refers to slow growing, often in reference to a lung nodule.
INR
international normalized ratio, a measurement of the degree of blood thinning, compared to an international standard, in which an INR of 2 corresponds to blood requiring twice as long as normal blood to develop a clot
IV
intravenous
LAN
lymphadenopathy, abnormally enlarged lymph nodesmedian the number within a population for which half of the values are above and half are below it; this reflects the general trend of how a population does but discounts the “pull” of the extremes on either side
MRI
magnetic resonance imaging, a type of scan particularly good at evaluating brain, muscle, bone, nerves
N/V
nausea and vomiting
NED
no evidence of disease, a nice report to get
NSCLC
non-small cell lung cancer, main subtypes including adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and large cell carcinoma
ORR
objective response rate
OS
overall survival
p value
the probability that an observed occurrence would occur by chance alone; convention is that something is considered “statistically significant” if the “p-value” is less than 0.05, translating to a less than 5% chance of the event occurring by chance.
pack-years
The product of the number of years a person has smoked by the average number of cigarette packs smoked per day
PCR
polymerase chain reaction, a sensitive method for detecting gene mutations in cancer cells
PD
progressive disease
PEG
percutaneous endoscopic gastrostromy tube, or G-tube tube placed endoscopically that is anchored in the stomach and passes out through the abdominal wall, through which “tube feedings” of nutrition and fluids, as well as medicines, can be administered
PET
positron-emission tomography, a type of scan that measures metabolic activity, which tends to highlight areas of cancer
PFS
progression-free survival, the time before a patient demonstrates progression
platelets
blood cells that contribute to the clotting process, normally in the 150,000 450,000 range, although commonly below that in patients receiving cancer treatment
PLT
platelets
PO
oral, by mouth (Latin term, per os)
PR
partial response (generally defined as ~50% tumor shrinkage, or greater)
PRN
as needed (abbreviation for the Latin term, “pro re nata”)
PS
performance status, commonly measured on a scale from 0 (asymptomatic, unrestricted) to 5 (dead)
Pt
patient
Px
prognosis
QOL
quality of life
RATS
robotic-assisted thoracic surgery. Similar to VATS (see VATS). Refers to minimally invasive thorascopic surgery, but utilizing a surgeon controlled robot to perform the majority of the surgery.
RBC
red blood cells, the oxygen carrying blood cells (anemia means low RBC levels)
RR
response rate
RT
Radiation therapy
Rx
treatment
SCLC
small cell lung cancer staged as LD and ED for limited disease and extensive disease, respectively (often written as SCLC-ED, for instance)
SD
stable disease
SUV
standard uptake value, the unit of measuring metabolic activity on a PET scan
Tx
treatment
VATS
video-assisted thoracic surgery. Refers to minimally thorascopic surgery that involved visualization via a camera and no spreading of the ribs.
VEGF
vascular endothelial growth factor, the most important modulator of new blood vessel formation, and the target for “anti-angiogenic” agents
WBC
white blood cells, infection fighting blood cells, of which there are a few types
XRT
external beam radiation therapy (basically, standard radiation)
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