NOTE:  BE sure to do a "Site Search" (above right) for any word you might want additional information on.  A word may be missing here but used on the web site.

Numbers (leading)

3DCRT: 3-Dimensional Conformal Radiation Therapy. An approach to radiation treatment planning that focuses on directing the radiation energy to the tumor target while sparing surrounding normal tissues.

3DEBRT:(3DXRT) 3-Dimensional External Radiation Therapy. An approach to radiation treatment planning that focuses on directing the radiation energy to the tumor target while sparing surrounding normal tissues. 

5AR: 5-ALPHA REDUCTASE: Enzyme in prostatic cells that converts testosterone to the more active dihydrotestosterone (DHT). Certain drugs such as finasteride (Proscar), referred to as 5-alpha reductase inhibitors, block this enzyme. 

A

AA (ADRENAL ANDROGEN): a male hormone produced by the adrenal glands; actually, the adrenal makes AA precursors such as DHEA and androstenedione that are metabolized to androgens within the prostate cell; AA may be used in some publications to indicate antiandrogens or arachidonic acid.

AAT: androgen ablation therapy; a preferred term might be androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) 

AAWR: Anti-Androgen Withdrawal Response. When a patient in on Androgen Deprivation Therapy with an antiandrogen (bicalutamide - Casodex: flutamide - Eulexin) and the PSA is rising, dropping of the antiandrogen sometimes will temporary reduce the PSA usually for usually no more than 3 months. 

ABLATION: Destruction or removal. As used in Hormonal Ablation - the removal of hormones in Androgen Deprivation Therapy..

ABCD: A staging system: Older staging system to evaluate size and extent of prostate cancer. Now largely replaced by TNM system. Synonyms: American staging system, Whitmore-Jewett staging system. A system for determining the stage of a prostate cancer. The system uses ABCD. The letters "A" and "B" designate cancers that are confined to the prostate. The letter "C" applies to cancers that have grown out of the prostate but have not yet metastasized (spread) to lymph nodes or other sites. And the letter "D" refers to prostate cancer that has spread to lymph nodes or to other sites.

ac: Before meals. Take before meals. Usually used in conjunction with qid, tid etc. (Latin dosing abbreviations) 

ACUTE URINARY RETENTION: the sudden inability to urinate, causing pain and discomfort. Causes can include an obstruction in the urinary system, stress, or neurologic problems. Frequently a result of radiation applied to the area of the bladder/prostate as in seed implants with or without external radiation.

ADENOCARCINOMA: A form of cancer that develops from a malignant abnormality in the cells comprising a glandular organ, such as the prostate. Almost all prostate cancers are adenocarcinomas. 

ADJUVANT THERAPY: Additional treatment that acts independently or synergistically with the major or central treatment.

ADPC: Androgen Dependent Prostate Cancer. Requiring androgens for survival. Examples include benign or cancerous prostate cells whose growth is supported by (and dependent on) androgens.  

ADRENAL ANDROGENS: Androgens secreted by the adrenal gland. These account for about 5% of male androgens. 

ADRENAL GLANDS: Small triangular organ above each kidney which is hormonally active, producing about 5% of male androgens. Also called suprarenal gland. 

ADT: Androgen Deprivation Therapy. Treatment that decreases or eliminates androgens. Example: surgical castration removes the testicles, the principle source of androgens. Synonym: androgen blockade. 

ADT2: Androgen Deprivation Ttherapy with 2 drugs 

ADT3: Androgen Deprivation Therapy with 3 drugs 

ADVANCED PROSTATE CANCER: Prostate cancer that is no longer organ-confined; systemic prostate cancer, sometimes with metastases to lymph nodes, seminal vesicles, bone, or vital organs of the body such as liver and/or lungs. Advanced prostate cancer is treated with systemic therapies currently in use such as androgen deprivation and chemotherapy. 

ADVERSE EFFECT: Undesirable result of therapy.

AFUD: American Federation for Urologic Disease

AGE-ADJUSTED: modified to take account of the age of an individual or group of individuals. This is frequently to the PSA as a man gets older - the gland grows in size (BPH) and the PSA increases. There are several different tables in use but to use any of them as a decision tool to get a biopsy may be flirting with danger.  

AGONIST: A chemical substance, such as a drug, capable of combining with a receptor on a cell and initiating a reaction or activity. In PC, the LHRH agonist is also called LHRH-A. The most commonly used LHRH-As are Lupron and Zoladex. Either of these agents interacts with the LHRH receptor and forms a complex that results in a decrease in the release of LH over a period of 2 weeks and hence a lowering in serum testosterone.

AIPC: Androgen Independent Prostate Cancer. Not requiring androgens for survival. Example: prostate cancer cells that do not respond to androgen deprivation therapy.  

ALENDRONATE SODIUM: a drug that affects bone metabolism used in treating osteoporosis and being studied in the treatment of hypercalcemia (abnormally high levels of calcium in the blood) and in treating and reducing the risk of bone pain caused by cancer; active ingredient in Fosamax. 

ALGORITHM: In prostate cancer, one of a group of systems whereby the human experiences of a number of patients are statistically or numerically analyzed to produce data that can be generalized to predict the probable disease status of patients who have not yet been treated and therefore have no empirical data of their own on which to base judgments regarding their disease status. Examples include the Partin Tables, Narayan Stage, and Kattan Nomograms. 

ALKALINE PHOSPHATASE (ALK PHOS): Alkaline phosphatase is an enzyme found in all tissues. Tissues with particularly high concentrations of ALP include the liver, bile ducts, placenta, and bone. Damaged or diseased tissue releases enzymes into the blood, so serum ALP measurements can be abnormal in many conditions, including bone disease and liver disease. Serum ALP is also increased in some normal circumstances (for example, during normal bone growth) or in response to a variety of drugs. 

ALPHA-1 BLOCKERS: Oral medications prescribed to improve urine flow by relaxing periurethral smooth muscle tissue; those of the quinazoline class (Hytrin and Cardura) have been shown to be synergistic with Proscar in causing programmed cell death in prostate cells, both benign and malignant. 

ALPHA-BLOCKER: A drug that relaxes smooth muscle tissue. Commonly used in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia. 

ALPHA RECEPTORS: A cell site that responds to adrenaline (epinephrine) or adrenaline-like substances, causing various physiological changes related to blood vessels getting smaller

ALPHA-TOCOPHEROL ISOMER: A component of vitamin E. 

AMERICAN STAGING SYSTEM: Older staging system to evaluate size and extent of prostate cancer. Now largely replaced by TNM system. Synonyms: Whitmore-Jewett staging system, ABCD system.

AMERICAN UROLOGICAL ASSOCIATION (AUA) SYMPTOM INDEX SCORE: A series of subjective questions used by physicians to evaluate the extent of existing lower urinary tract symptoms. 

ANALGESIA: Pain relief without loss of consciousness

ANALOG: Synthetic equivalent of a natural substance.

ANANDRON: trade or brand name for nilutamide, an antiandrogen; in the USA this is called Nilandron®.

ANDROCUR: trade name for cyproterone, an antiandrogen with progestational activity; also called CPA for cyproterone acetate/  

ANDROGEN: a hormone which is responsible for male characteristics and the development and function of male sexual organs (e.g., testosterone) produced mainly by the testicles but also in the cortex of the adrenal glands; androgens have far reaching effects on blood formation, muscle and bone mass, cognitive function, emotional lability, skin and hair, etc. 

ANDROGEN DEPRIVATION SYNDROME (ADS): A constellation of symptoms directly or indirectly due to the drop in testosterone that occurs following surgical castration or the suppression of testicular and adrenal androgens by the use of medications. 

ANDROGEN DEPRIVATION THERAPY (ADT): Treatment that decreases or eliminates androgens. Example: surgical castration removes the testicles, the principle source of androgens. Synonym: androgen blockade. 

ANDROGEN RECEPTOR: A structural entity that is essentially a docking site for androgen to communicate with the cell and affect cell function. The substance interacting with the receptor is called a ligand. The interaction of ligand and receptor is a major mode of biochemical communication in all life forms. 

ANDROGEN-DEPENDANT PC (ADPC): Requiring androgens for survival. Examples include benign or cancerous prostate cells whose growth is supported by (and dependent on) androgens. 

ANDROGEN-INDEPENDENT PC (AIPC): Not requiring androgens for survival. Example: prostate cancer cells that do not respond to androgen deprivation therapy. 

ANEMIA: A pathological deficiency in the oxygen-carrying component of the blood, measured in unit volume concentrations of hemoglobin, red blood cell volume, or red blood cell number. Frequently a side effect of ADT (Androgen Deprivation Therapy)

ANESTHESIA: Treatment that decreases or eliminates pain, usually associated with a surgical procedure. Examples include general anesthesis (going to sleep during surgery), regional anesthesia (numbing of part of the body such as below the umbilicus), and local anesthesis (limited area of numbing of the body).

ANEUPLOID: Cells that have an abnormal number of sets of chromosomes. Aneuploid cancer cells tend not to respond as well to androgen deprivation therapy.

ANGIOGENESIS: Creation of new blood vessels. 

ANROOGEN BLOCKADE: Treatment which decreases or eliminates androgens. Example: surgical castration removes the testicles, the principle source of androgens. Synonym: Androgen deprivation, total androgen blockade. 

ANTAGONIST: A chemical that acts within the body to reduce the physiological activity of another chemical substance.

ANTERIOR: the front; for example, the anterior of the prostate is the part of the prostate that faces forward

ANTIANDROGEN: A drug which blocks the effect of androgen (the male sex hormone). Example: flutamide (Eulexin), bicalutamide (Casodex), nilutamide (Nilandron). Pages 

ANTI-ANDROGEN WITHDRAWAL RESPONSE: AARW. When a patient in on Androgen Deprivation Therapy with an antiandrogen (bicalutamide - Casodex: flutamide - Eulexin) and the PSA is rising, dropping of the antiandrogen sometimes will temporary reduce the PSA usually for usually no more than 3 months. 

ANTIANGIOGENESIS: Halting the creation of new blood vessels. 

ANTICOAGULANT: A drug that blocks the formation of blood clots. 

ANTIGEN: A substance that elicits a cellular-level immune response or causes the formation of an antibody. 

ANTIBODY: Blood protein which reacts with foreign material or chemical in the body.

ANTIGEN: A "foreign" material introduced into the body (a virus or bacterium, for example) or other material which the immune system considers to be "foreign" because it is not part of the body's normal biology (e.g., prostate cancer cells); a substance that elicits a cellular-level immune response or causes the formation of an antibody.

ANTIOXIDANT: A substance that inhibits oxidation or reactions promoted by oxygen or peroxides. Antioxidant nutrients protect human cells from damage caused by "free radicals" (highly reactive oxygen compounds).

ANUS: Rectal opening. 

APEX: Anatomic site at the top of an organ. Example: The prostatic apex is the extreme end of the prostate that surrounds the urethra at the pelvic brim. 

APOPTOSIS: Programmed cell death due to an alteration in a critical substance or chemical necessary for cell viability. For example, the lack of male hormones causes apoptosis of androgen-dependent prostate cancer cells.  

ARACHIDONIC ACID (AA): An omega-6 fatty acid that is known to generate free radicals and is considered an unfavorable eicosanoid. AA is metabolized via enzymes of the COX and LOX family to generate prostaglandins, thromboxanes, leukotrienes, hydroxylated fatty acids, lipoxins, and 5-HETE compounds that are implicated in cancer, inflammatory disease, immune dysfunction, and degenerative disorders. Organ meats and egg yolk are rich in AA.  

ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NET (ANN): An approach to analyzing data that uses statistical analysis of historical data to produce systems that can predict probabilities of future outcomes based on inputted variables. 

ARTIFICIAL SPHINCTER: Synthetic device which acts in place of natural sphincter. Example: inflatable device place around the upper urethra to treat incontinence. 

ASPIRATION: Removal by suction. Example: fine needle aspiration is a technique for removing cells by suction. 

ASTRO DEFINITION: A definition of failure created for external beam patients that creates a high rate of disease freedom. Sometimes used for other types of treatments that may give erroneous figures since it was written for external beam radiation.

ASYMPTOMATIC: Free of symptoms.

ATHEROSCLEROSIS: a disorder of the arteries leading to reduced blood flow caused by the narrowing of blood vessels due to the accumulation of plaques composed up of cholesterols and fats

ATROPHIC: undergoing atrophy or shrinkage in size and usually function

ATROPHY: a wasting or decrease in size of a body organ, tissue, or part owing to disease, injury, or lack of use: muscular atrophy of a person affected with paralysis. a wasting away, deterioration, or diminution: intellectual atrophy.

AUA: (American Urological Association): the official society of American urologists

AUA Symptom Score: an evaluation of the lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) based on questions published by the American Urological Association

AUTOLOGOUS BLOOD: Blood from one’s own body. Example: Blood donated by the patient which is used to replace blood lost during surgery. 

B

BASE: Anatomic site at the top of an organ. Example: The prostatic base is the extreme end of the prostate that surrounds the urethra adjacent to the bladder. 

BASELINE PSA: The PSA level before a new treatment has begun; used to establish the efficacy of a therapy based on response of the PSA to treatment.

BENIGN PROSTATE HYPERPLASIA OR HYPERTROPHY (BPH): A noncancerous condition of the prostate that results in the growth of both glandular and stromal (supporting connective) tissue, enlarging the prostate and potentially leading to obstructive symptoms relating to urine flow (see American Urological Association Symptom Index Score).  BENIGN: Not malignant; noncancerous.

bid: Twice a day (Latin dosing abbreviations) 

BILATERAL: Both sides; for example, a bilateral nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy is one in which the nerves on both sides of the prostate are left intact.

BIOCHEMICAL FAILURE:  The failure as defined by a rising PSA.  This may or may not show as a clinical failure of a failure at all.  It is used mainly in studies to define a failure.  For example in prostatectomies anything rise of the PSA above 0.2 would be defined as a failure in the study.  (It is my belief that 0.2 should be used for all prostate treatment procedures.)  Sometimes used as "Biochemical recurrence" "Biochemical free survival" and other similar definitions.

BIOMARKER: An indicator of biological activity of cells or tissues that can be used as a means to monitor a state of health or disease. PSA is one of the most useful biomarkers in medicine.

BIOPSY: Removal of tissue. Example: needle biopsy of the prostate yields delicate tissue cores that can be examined microscopically by a pathologist to determined if there is cancer. 

BISPHOSPHONATES: A class of compounds that stops bone loss (resorption) by actions directed against the osteoclast.  

BLADDER: Hollow organ that stores and excretes fluid: Examples: urinary bladder, gallbladder. 

BONE SCAN: An imaging technique using a radioactive isotope that is selectively taken up by bone tissue to identify abnormal or cancerous growths within bone such as metastases.  

BPH: Abbreviation for benign prostatic hyperplasia. 

BPSA: baseline PSA (e.g., prior to diagnosis). The PSA level before a new treatment has begun; used to establish the efficacy of a therapy based on response of the PSA to treatment.

BRACHYTHERAPY: (Brachy) A form of radiation therapy in which radioactive seeds or wires are used to deliver the radiation dose close to the site of a tumor. Seeds can be permanently implanted or radioactive wires can be temporarily introduced and then withdrawn after the radiation dose is delivered.  

BS: bone scan - An imaging technique using a radioactive isotope that is selectively taken up by bone tissue to identify abnormal or cancerous growths within bone such as metastases.  

BX: biopsy - Removal of tissue. Example: needle biopsy of the prostate yields delicate tissue cores that can be examined microscopically by a pathologist to determined if there is cancer.