Head & Neck Cancer: Glossary

Listed below are terms you may hear when meeting with your head and neck cancer care team. The terms have been broken down into categories. Knowing these terms can help you understand your treatment plan.

Treatment Team

The treatment team is the medical providers who will care for you.

• Medical oncologist: A doctor who has special training in diagnosing and treating cancer.
• Radiation oncologist: A doctor who specializes in using radiation to treat cancer.
• Radiation therapist: A health professional who gives radiation treatment (runs the machine, sets the patient up for treatment, etc).
• Surgical oncologist: A surgeon who has special training for doing biopsies and surgical procedures in cancer patients.
• Speech-language pathologist (SLP): A specialist who evaluates and treats people with speaking and swallowing problems. Also called a speech therapist.

Treatment Related Terms

• Chemoradiation: Treatment using a both chemotherapy and radiation.
• Chemotherapy: Medication used to treat cancer.
• Hyperfractionated radiation therapy: Radiation therapy that is given in smaller doses, twice a day.
• Local treatment: Treatment to a certain area of your body. For example, radiation aimed at only the part of your body with cancer is considered a local treatment, as is surgery.
• Mask (thermoplastic mask): A mask shaped to fit snugly over your head and face will be made for use during radiation treatment. It is made of a hard mesh material and helps keep your head still during treatment.
• Regimen: A specific dosage, schedule, and length of a treatment. Often used to describe chemotherapy or other medication treatment plans.
• Simulation: A process used to plan radiation therapy so that the target area is precisely located and marked.
• Systemic Treatment: Treatments that go throughout the body, most often a medication (chemotherapy, targeted therapy).
• Treatment Plan: The course of treatment you are planned to have. It may be used to describe treatments like chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, and/or other therapies.
• Treatment field: One or more places on your body where the radiation will be aimed. Also called a treatment port.
• Follow-up care: Checkup appointments that you have after treatment is done. You will have follow-up care with each specialist (surgeon, radiation, and medical oncologist).

Diagnosis & Testing

• Imaging Tests: These are radiology tests used to look at the inside of your body before, during, and after treatment. Includes CT scan, MRI, etc.
• Staging: A standard way to describe the size and extent of the cancer.
• CT scan: A series of detailed pictures of areas inside the body, taken from different angles; the pictures are made by a computer linked to an x-ray machine.
• Endoscopy: A medical test in which a thin tube with a camera attached to it is placed inside the body or into a specific organ to look at it.
• MRI: An imaging test where radio waves and a powerful magnet linked to a computer are used to create detailed pictures of areas inside the body.

Common Concerns During Treatment

• Side Effects: An issue, usually unpleasant, caused by cancer treatment or the cancer itself.
• Late side effects (late effects): Side effects that occur 6 or more months after treatment has finished. 
• Alopecia: Hair loss; when some or all of your hair, eyebrows, and/or eyelashes fall out.
• Anemia: A low number of red blood cells. Red blood cells carry oxygen throughout the body.
• Aspiration: The accidental breathing in of food, fluid, medications, or secretions into the lungs. This can cause serious problems, like pneumonia and other lung problems.
• Dry heaves: When your body tries to vomit even though your stomach is empty.
• Dysphagia: A term used to describe difficulty swallowing.
• Esophagitis: Inflammation of the esophagus, which can cause a sore throat.
• Inflammation: Redness, swelling, pain, and/or feeling of heat in an area of the body.
• Lymphedema: A build-up of fluid in the body, which causes swelling.
• Mucositis: Inflammation in the lining of the digestive system which can cause sores and pain.
• Taste Changes: May be called dysgeusia, is a change in your taste buds from treatment.
• Thrush: A condition in which Candida albicans, a type of yeast, grows out of control in moist skin areas of the body. It is often the result of a weakened immune system, but can be a side effect of chemotherapy or treatment with antibiotics. Thrush usually affects the mouth (oral thrush) or areas where the skin folds over itself. In rare cases, it can spread through the blood system and you may need medications to treat it. Also called candidiasis and candidosis.
• Xerostomia: Dry mouth. This occurs when the body is not able to make enough saliva.