Glossary

A first test, one to which future test results are compared.

Not cancerous; benign tumors do not spread to tissue near them or to other parts of the body.

Fluid made by the liver and stored in the gallbladder; bile is excreted into the small intestine, where it helps digest fat.

A tube in the liver through which bile passes.

Dark-green substance formed when red blood cells are broken down. The bilirubin is part of the bile; the abnormal buildup of bilirubin because of an obstruction causes jaundice.

Treatment with drugs that boost the body's disease-fighting ability (immunotherapy) and drugs that kill fast-growing cells (chemotherapy).

The use of pulsed energy or magnetic fields to change the body’s electromagnetic fields and treat illness.

Various forms of energy work to assist in healing.

Treatments used to help the immune system fight disease in the body.

A measurable substance found in body fluid or tissue that may be a sign of disease or infection.

Process of removing tissue samples, which are then tested in a lab to check for disease.

Tissue removed from the body and examined under a microscope to determine whether disease is present.

Cancer that is confined to the pancreas but that approaches nearby structures or causes severe symptoms, so that it might not be possible to remove all the cancer with surgery.

The small and large intestine.

A gene that normally helps to suppress cell growth; a person who inherits an altered version of this gene has a higher risk of getting breast, ovarian, or prostate cancer, and possibly pancreatic cancer.

A gene that normally helps to suppress cell growth; a person who inherits an altered version of this gene has a higher risk of getting breast, ovarian, prostate, or pancreatic cancer.

A procedure used with endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP); a small brush is inserted through an endoscope and into the bile duct and pancreatic duct to scrape the inside of the ducts to collect cells for examination.