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Glossary
  • Adjuvant therapy
    A treatment in which a drug is given in addition to the primary treatment to try to prevent the cancer from coming back
  • Alopecia
    Loss of hair from sites all over the body
  • Anemia
    Decreased number of red blood cells
  • Antiemetic
    A drug that helps relieve nausea and vomiting
  • Aromatherapy
    The use of plant essences for therapeutic purposes
  • Combination chemotherapy
    Treatment using more than one chemotherapy drug during the course of therapy
  • Formulary status
    Determines how much your insurance company will pay for a drug prescribed to you
  • Formulation
    A specific way of making or preparing medication for administration to a patient
  • Guided imagery
    Imagining scenes, pictures, or experiences in order to affect how you feel both physically and emotionally
  • Hypersensitivity reaction
    Refers to an exaggerated allergic-type response to a substance
  • Intravenously
    Administered into a vein
  • Massage therapy
    While massage is generally used to help relax muscle tension, its far-reaching benefits are well documented and may help control anxiety, nausea, and fatigue
  • Meditation
    An ancient practice in which your full mental attention is focused on a specific object, breathing patterns, or a repetition of words or phrases to quiet the mind (called a mantra)
  • Metastasized
    Cancer that has spread to other parts of the body
  • Neoadjuvant therapy
    A systemic treatment—one that affects the entire body—given to shrink tumors before surgery
  • Neutropenia
    A decrease in the number of infection-fighting white blood cells in your circulation
  • Resistant
    The term used to describe when cancer cells no longer respond to a particular medication
  • Solvents
    Chemicals used to dissolve an active drug before it can be injected into the bloodstream
  • Systemic treatment
    Treatment that affects the entire body
  • Targeted therapy
    A type of medication that kills or blocks the growth of cancer cells by identifying and attacking a specific molecule or molecules that are necessary for cancer cell growth