Glossary of terms

Treatment given after surgery to lower the chance the cancer comes back. Chemotherapy, radiation, and hormone therapy can all be adjuvant.

Not cancer. A benign growth does not spread to other parts of the body.

Removing a small piece of tissue so a pathologist can look at it under a microscope. It is the only way to know for certain what something is.

Internal radiation treatment, given by placing a radiation source inside or right next to the area being treated rather than aiming a beam from outside.

Two genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, that normally help repair damaged DNA. An inherited change in either one raises the risk of ovarian and breast cancer.

A protein measured in the blood. It can be raised in ovarian cancer, but it is also raised by many harmless conditions, which is why it is not used as a screening test.

Medicine that kills cancer cells or stops them dividing. It travels through the bloodstream, so it reaches cancer that has spread beyond where it started.

An office exam in which the cervix is looked at with a magnifying scope, usually after an abnormal Pap result, with small biopsies taken from anything that looks abnormal.

Removal of a cone-shaped piece of tissue from the cervix and cervical canal. It is both a way to make the diagnosis and, for many precancers, the treatment.

Often shortened to D and C. The cervix is gently opened and a sample is taken from the lining of the uterus, usually in the operating room under anesthesia.

Cells that look abnormal under the microscope but have not invaded surrounding tissue. It is a precancer, not a cancer, and treating it prevents cancer.

A sample of the lining of the uterus taken in the office through a thin flexible tube. It usually takes only a few minutes.

Cancer that starts in the lining of the uterus. It is the same thing most people mean by uterine cancer.

The lining of the uterus. It is the layer that builds up and sheds each month during the reproductive years.

Starting in the surface layer of cells. Most ovarian cancers are epithelial.

A doctor who trained first in obstetrics and gynecology and then completed extra fellowship training in cancers of the female reproductive organs. The same doctor does the surgery and manages the chemotherapy.

The group of human papillomavirus types that can cause cancer if the infection persists for years. Most HPV infections are cleared by the immune system and never cause a problem.

Treatment that blocks or lowers the hormones some cancers need in order to grow. It is used for certain uterine cancers.

Human papillomavirus, a common virus spread by skin-to-skin contact during sex. Long-lasting infection with a high-risk type causes nearly all cervical cancer.

A procedure that uses a thin lighted scope to look inside the uterus for abnormal areas, often done at the same time as a D and C.

Treatment that helps your own immune system recognize and attack cancer cells, rather than attacking the cancer directly.

Surgery done through several small incisions using a camera and long thin instruments, rather than through one large incision.

Surgery done through one larger incision in the abdomen. Sometimes called open surgery.

A small filter in the lymph system. Cancer often spreads first to the lymph nodes that drain the organ it started in, which is why they are checked.

An inherited condition that raises the risk of uterine cancer and colon cancer, among others. It is worth asking about if cancers cluster on one side of your family or appeared at young ages.

The rim of normal tissue removed around a cancer. A clear or negative margin means no cancer cells were found at the cut edge.

Cancer that has spread from where it started to another part of the body.

A mustard-colored medicine put on a biopsy site to stop bleeding. Mixed with blood it makes a brown discharge that looks like coffee grounds, which is normal.

Treatment, usually chemotherapy, given before surgery to shrink a cancer and make the operation more effective.

The apron of fatty tissue that hangs in front of the bowel. It is often removed during surgery for ovarian cancer because cancer cells settle there.

Removal of an ovary. Salpingo-oophorectomy means removing the fallopian tube and the ovary together.

A sample of cells taken from the cervix and looked at under a microscope. It screens for cervical cancer and for the cell changes that come before it. It does not check the ovaries or the uterus.

A type of targeted drug used in some ovarian cancers. It blocks a repair pathway that cancer cells rely on, and it works best in cancers with certain gene changes.

The study of tissue under a microscope. The pathology report is the document that says exactly what the cancer is, how it behaves, and whether it was fully removed.

Nothing in the vagina at all. No intercourse, no tampons, no douching, until the time your surgeon specifies.

Removal of the uterus, the cervix, part of the vagina, and a wide area of the surrounding ligaments and tissue. Used mainly for cervical cancer.

Cancer that has come back after treatment. It can return where it started or somewhere else.

A period when the signs and symptoms of cancer are reduced or gone. Complete remission means no cancer can be found on scans or exams. It is not the same word as cured, and your team will explain which one applies to you.

The first lymph node or two that a given area drains into. Testing only those, instead of removing all the nodes, gives most of the same information with much less risk of long-term leg swelling.

An over-the-counter medicine, sold as Gas-X, that breaks up trapped gas. It is recommended after meals for the bloating and gas pain that follow laparoscopic and robotic surgery.

Sitting in a few inches of warm water so it covers the hips and bottom. It cleans the area gently and eases soreness, and it is the main daily care instruction after vulvar surgery.

A small tube placed in the cervix to keep the canal open so that internal radiation treatments can be given later without dilating it each time.

Working out how far a cancer has spread. The stage is what drives the treatment plan, and for most gynecologic cancers it is not final until after surgery.

An ultrasound done with a slim probe placed in the vagina, which gives a much clearer view of the uterus and ovaries than scanning through the abdomen.

Shortened to VAIN. Abnormal cells in the lining of the vagina that have not invaded deeper tissue. It is a precancer.

Shortened to VIN. Abnormal cells in the skin of the vulva that have not invaded deeper tissue. Finding and treating it prevents vulvar cancer.

Removal of a cancer along with a rim of normal tissue around it, keeping as much normal anatomy as possible.