Tumor patients often communicate and contact with doctors, sometimes what doctors say or explain their condition, due to professional It is unavoidable to bring some medical terms, which patients and their families often do not understand or only half understand.
In order to allow patients and their families to understand medical terms more accurately and communicate with medical staff better, we have summarized the followingtumor-related medical terms and drugs Name, hope to help you.
1. Terms related to treatment effect
1. Complete response (complete response, CR):This is One of the situations we are most looking forward to is that the tumor has completely disappeared and cannot be found.
2. Partial response (PR): This is also a good condition, the tumor size has shrunk by 30% % or more, but does not reach CR, it is a “partial response”.
3. Stable disease (SD):meaning that the tumor size has shrunk by less than 30% and increased by less than 20%.
4. Progressive disease (PD): means that the tumor size has increased by more than 20%.
If the tumor shrinks, it is not necessarily a “partial remission”, it must be shrunk by more than 30% to be counted; if the tumor grows, it may not be “disease progression”, it must be increased by 20% That counts.
If the tumor changes are still within these intervals, we can relax our minds.
Second, related to the survival rate
After talking about the size of the tumor, let’s talk about the “survival rate” that patients are most concerned about, such as progression-free survival and recurrence-free Survival period and overall survival period (PFS/DFS/OS) are terms related to survival rate.
1. Progression-free survival (PFS): It is the time interval from the first day of taking the medicine to the disease progression (including death).
For example, if a patient starts taking medicine on May 1, 2021, and discovers disease progression (PD) on May 1, 2022, then the PFS is 12 months .
2. Relapse-free survival (DFS): Disease-free survival, starting from the first day of taking medicine Calculate the time interval until the disease relapse or the patient’s death.
3. Overall survival (OS): The interval between the start of treatment and the death of the patient. OS is considered to be the overall survival period of tumors, and it is also a statement commonly used in clinical trials of tumors.
It refers to the time from randomization to death of patients in clinical trials.
4. What do the 1-year survival rate, 2-year survival rate, and 5-year survival rate represent?
No matter how many years the annual survival rate is, it counts a certain number of people. percentage of people are still alive.
Currently, our clinic has the most statistics and the most valuable reference The most important thing is the 5-year survival rate.
Because of the characteristics of the tumor, in the “5-year” time period, most tumors are either cured or relapse and metastasis. Drug resistance and even death.
If patients can live for five years, most of them can live for ten, twenty, or thirty years in good health, so there is no need to count Too long.
Third, diagnosis-related
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1. Cell malignancy/grade (grade 1-4):< /strong>In the process of cell proliferation, the function and shape will change, which is called cell differentiation.
There are unidentified abnormal cells in cancerous Differentiated cells, poorly differentiated cells, grow and proliferate faster than highly differentiated cells.
Therefore, the degree of malignancy of the tumor can be determined according to the degree of differentiation of the cells. Usually divided into 1 -4 four levels, the highest degree of malignancy is level 4.
2.TNM staging: A way of pathological staging. According to the size of the cancer tissue (T), whether it has metastasized to the surrounding lymph nodes (N, and whether it has metastasized to other organs (M), the pathological staging is divided into five stages from 0 to IV.
The closer to stage 0, the smaller the cancer tissue and the smaller the confinement; the closer to stage IV, the wider the spread of cancer tissue. It is different from the pathological cytology classification at the time of diagnosis, so do not confuse it.
3. Tumor markers: Various substances that proliferate simultaneously with tumor cells. Usually detected by blood tests. According to The location and specificity of markers are different for different tumor types.
Currently, the specificity of tumor markers is very limited, and there are still few tumors that can be detected early by relying on tumor marker detection. It does not exist, and it is usually used as a reference index for monitoring tumor recurrence and evaluating the effect of treatment.
4. Related to treatment
1. Palliative care ( Palliative therapy):In order to improve the quality of life of cancer patients, relieve pain and other symptoms, and provide patients with physical, psychological, and social care and support.
2. Personalized treatment: According to the characteristics of the tumor gene and the physical condition of the patient, the most suitable treatment plan is determined. Note: Do not misinterpret this as treating as requested by the patient.
3. Recurrence/metastasis: After standard treatment such as surgery, radiotherapy, and drug therapy, the disease has subsided When the tumor reappears, it is called “recurrence”; if it spreads to other organs, it is called “metastasis.”
4. Supportive therapy: Relieve the discomfort associated with the tumor (such as pain, etc.) ), prevent and reduce the side effects of treatment, and supportive treatment to improve the quality of life of patients.
In recent years, new drugs and new treatment methods have emerged in this field. For example, drugs for the treatment of vomiting caused by chemotherapy drugs have achieved good results.
Seeing this, do you know more about these medical terminology? To keep learning is also to keep understanding yourself and the disease.
Wish you all the best of luck on your journey against cancer!