Resources

Oncologist

A doctor who treats cancer and provides medical care for a person diagnosed with cancer. The five main types of oncologists are medical, surgical, radiation, gynecologic, and pediatric oncologists.

Patient Navigator

A person, often a nurse or social worker, who helps guide patients, survivors, families, and caregivers through the health care system. Navigators offer numerous services including:

• Arranging financial support
• Transportation
• Childcare during treatment
• Coordinating care among several doctors
• Providing emotional support

Cancer Patient Resource Navigator

Trained individual to help break down barriers to Cancer care so you can focus on your health and wellness. Navigate Cancer patients, survivors and caregivers to free Cancer services, resources such as:

• Spiritual support
• Financial assistance
• Childcare
• Free transportation
• Support groups
• Prayer lines
• Second opinions
• Going back to school
• Scholarships for cancer survivors or their children
• Cancer screenings
• Cancer coaching
• Patient navigators in Cancer Centers
• And more

What are Barriers to Cancer Care

Problems or concerns that get in the way of you focusing on your health, Cancer treatment, survivorship or well being such as:

• Financial barriers
• Lack of insurance
• Underinsured
• Communication and information barriers
• Knowledge of medical system
• Fear
• Distrust
• Emotional barriers

Social Workers

Help people solve and cope with problems in their everyday lives.

Clinical social workers also diagnose and treat mental, behavioral, and emotional issues.

Prognosis

Chance of recovery; a prediction of the outcome of a disease. Learn more about survival statistics used to estimate a patient’s prognosis.

Tumor

A mass formed when normal cells begin to change and grow uncontrollably. A tumor can be benign (noncancerous) or malignant (cancerous, meaning it can spread to other parts of the body). Also called a nodule or mass.

Benign

Refers to a tumor that is not cancerous. The tumor does not usually invade nearby tissue or spread to other parts of the body.

Premalignant

In these tumors, the cells are not yet cancerous, but they have the potential to become malignant.

Malignant

Malignant tumors are cancerous. The cells can grow and spread to other parts of the body.

Staging

A way of describing cancer, such as where it is located, whether or where it has spread, and whether it is affecting the functions of other organs in the body. Learn more about stages of cancer.

Mass

A lump in the body.

Polyp

A growth of normal tissue that usually sticks out from the lining of an organ, such as the colon.

Primary cancer

Describes the original cancer.

Precancerous

Refers to cells that have the potential to become cancerous. Also called pre-malignant.

Invasive cancer

Cancer that has spread outside the layer of tissue in which it started and has the potential to grow into other tissues or parts of the body, also called infiltrating cancer.

Localized cancer

Cancer that is confined to the area where it started and has not spread to other parts of the body.

Metastasis

The spread of cancer from the place where the cancer began to another part of the body. Cancer cells can break away from the primary tumor and travel through the blood or the lymphatic system to the lymph nodes, brain, lungs, bones, liver, or other organs.

Secondary cancer

Describes either a new primary cancer (a different type of cancer) that develops after treatment for the first type of cancer, or cancer that has spread to other parts of the body from the place where it started.

Recurrence

Cancer that has returned after a period during which the cancer could not be detected. “Local recurrence” means that the cancer has come back to the same general area where the original cancer was located. “Regional recurrence” refers to cancer that has come back in the lymph nodes or other tissues near the original cancer site, usually by direct spread. “Distant recurrence” refers to cancer that has come back and has spread to other parts of the body, usually by traveling through the lymph system or bloodstream.

Treatment

Cancer treatment is the use of surgery, radiation, medications, and other therapies to cure cancer, shrink cancer, or stop the progression of cancer. Depending on your particular situation, you may receive one treatment or you may receive a combination of treatments.

Treatment for cancer depends on the following factors:

• Type of cancer
• Size, location, and stage of the disease
• General health of the individual

Pathological Staging

Is based on the same information as clinical staging, plus any new information gained during surgery if surgery was the first treatment for the cancer.

Post-therapy Staging

Is used in cases where surgery is not the first treatment, but other treatments are given before surgery.

Tumor (T)

The letter T and the number after it describe the tumor by answering these questions:

• How large is the primary tumor?
• Does it go into other tissues or organs in the same area?
• Where is it located?

The letter T is followed by a letter, number, or combination of letters after it. This gives additional information about the tumor. The different letters and numbers that may see include:

• TX means that there is no information about the tumor or it cannot be measured.
• T0 means that there is no evidence of a tumor.
• Tis refers to a tumor "in situ." This means that the tumor is only found in the cells where it started. It has not spread to any surrounding tissue.
• T1-T4 describe the size and location of the tumor, on a scale of 1 to 4. A larger tumor or a tumor that has grown deeper into nearby tissue will get a higher number.

Stage 0

This stage describes cancer in situ. In situ means "in place." Stage 0 cancers are still located in the place they started. They have not spread to nearby tissues. This stage of cancer is often curable. Surgery can usually remove the entire tumor.

Stage I

This stage is usually a cancer that has not grown deeply into nearby tissues. It also has not spread to the lymph nodes or other parts of the body. It is often called early-stage cancer.

Stage II and Stage III

In general, these 2 stages are cancers that have grown more deeply into nearby tissue. They may have also spread to lymph nodes but not to other parts of the body.

Stage IV

This stage means that the cancer has spread to other organs or parts of the body. It may be also called advanced or metastatic cancer.

Node (N)

The letter N and the number after it describe if cancer has affected the lymph nodes. The lymph nodes are small, bean-shaped organs that help fight infection.