If you’re facing a breast cancer diagnosis, you may feel devastated, overwhelmed, and uncertain. Some of the language used by online breast cancer communities to describe research, terms, acronyms, and abbreviations are difficult to learn. If you’re wondering what some of the common language used in the breast cancer community means, this glossary is for you.
This glossary hopes to ease the way for the newly diagnosed, empowering you to jump into discussions with the knowledge of general breast cancer terms. After reading this list of medical terms, you should better understand breast cancer-related terms.
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Breast cancer stage 1-3 that hasn’t metastasized to the bones or organs. Early-stage breast cancer is typically any breast cancer that is still contained to the breast.
Estrogen receptor/progesterone receptor. If someone asks you what your hormone receptor status is, they’re asking if your cancer is ER/PR-positive or ER/PR negative.
A type of post-mastectomy reconstruction that involves making a breast mound out of tissue harvested from other parts of your body.
Types of flap recon may include:
Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 – a protein that can play a role in the development of breast cancer. Treatment plans often depend on whether your HER2 status is negative or positive
Hormone therapy. These drugs, like tamoxifen, are used to block estrogen in some tissues, while aromatase inhibitors lower estrogen levels. Hormone therapies help to prevent the recurrence or slow progression of cancer.
Lymphatic dysfunction – swelling in the arms or other body parts after lymph nodes are surgically removed or damaged by radiation. Lymphedema may never develop, or it could develop years after a diagnosis.
Metastatic breast cancer – cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, such as the brain, bones, liver, or lungs. Metastatic breast cancer is stage 4 cancer, which is the most advanced stage.
Mets – short for metastatic, metastasized, or metastasis.
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Mastectomy – a breast cancer treatment that involves the removal of the entire breast.
An oophorectomy is the surgical removal of the ovaries. An oophorectomy is one of the ways that some people with ER-positive cancer suppress the estrogen in their bodies.
Radiation. Radiation therapy is a treatment for breast cancer that uses concentrated radiation to kill affected cancer cells.
Breast reconstruction – when breast mounds are made after a mastectomy. Reconstructed breasts can be made from implants of your own skin or fat tissue.
Survivor generally refers to someone who has had stage 1-3 breast cancer and is done with their surgeries or active treatment.
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Targeted therapy consists of non-cytotoxic chemotherapy drugs that target cancer cells but don’t affect healthy cells.
Targeted therapy may refer to drugs that can be used to treat HER2-positive breast cancers, such as:
TCHP is a common treatment course for triple-positive breast cancer consisting of Taxotere, carboplatin, Herceptin, and Perjeta.
Triple-negative breast cancer is a type of breast cancer where the cells don’t have ER/PR receptors or HER2 receptor trains.
ER/PR positive and HER2-positive breast cancer.
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