This list of International medical and oncology abbreviations and acronyms. The list is constantly being researched and updated with links being checked and added/updated regularly.
This is a searchable database. If there we have missed something please let us know.
| Abbreviation | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 5-FU | 5-Fluorouracil (anti cancer drug) |
| 6-MP | 6-Mercaptopurine (anti cancer drug) |
| 6-TG | 6-Thioguanine (anti cancer drug) |
| AA | Anaplastic Anaemia |
| ABC | Advanced Breast Cancer |
| ABMT | Autologous bone marrow transplant |
| ADR | Adverse Drug Reaction |
| AE | Adverse event |
| AFP | Alphafetoprotein - eg. expressed by germ cell tumours and other cancers |
| AIDS | Acquired immune deficiency syndrome |
| ALAT | Alanine aminotransferase / alinine transaminase |
| ALCL | Anaplastic Large-cell Lymphoma |
| ALL | Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia |
| ALT | Alanine Aminotransferase |
| AMKL | acute megakaryocytic leukemia |
| AML | Acute Myeloid leukaemia |
| ANC | Absolute neutrophil count |
| ANED | Alive no evidence of disease |
| ANLL | Acute non-lymphatic leukaemia |
| ARMS | Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma |
| ASR | Age Standardised Rate (Incidence) |
| AUC | Area under the curve |
| B-ALL | B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia |
| BAER | Brainstem Auditory Evoked Responce |
| BCC | Basal Cell Carcinoma |
| BID / BD | Twice a day (bis in die) |
| BM | Bone Marrow |
| BM | Blood Monitoring (eg for glucose) |
| BMJ | British Medical Journal |
| BMR | Basal Metabolic Rate |
| BMT | Bone Marrow Transplant |
| BNF | British National Formulary |
| BP | Blood pressure |
| BRM | Biological Response Modifier |
| BSA | Body Surface Area |
| BSE | Breast Self Examination |
| Bx | Biopsy |
| C/O | Complaining of |
| C/W | Continue With |
| C1 - C7 | Cervical vertebrae (spine eg. C7 = seventh cervical vertebra) |
| Ca | Cancer; carcinoma |
| Ca | Calcium |
| cALL | Common ALL |
| CAT | Computerised axial tomography (scan) |
| cc | Cubic centimeter |
| CCF | Congestive Cardiac Failure |
| CCR | Continuous complete remission |
| CEA | Carcinoembryonic Antigen (tumour marker) |
| CGH | Comparative Genomic Hybridisation - cytogenetics method |
| CGL | Chronic Granulocytic Leukaemia |
| cGy | Centi Gray (unit of radiation) |
| CHF | Congestive heart failure |
| CLL | Chronic lymphocytic Leukaemia |
| cm | centimeter - 0.01 meters |
| CML | Chronic myeloid leukaemia |
| CMML | chronic myelomonocytic leukemia |
| CMV | Cytomegalo virus |
| CNS | Central nervous system - the brain and spine |
| CPM | Cyclophosphamide (anti cancer drug) |
| CPR | Cardio pulmonary resuscitation |
| CR | Complete remission / complete response |
| CRA | Clinical Research Associate |
| CRC | Colorectal carcinoma |
| CRF | Case Report Forms |
| CRF | Chronic renal failure |
| CRO | Contract Research Organisation |
| CSF | Cerebro spinal fluid |
| CSF | Colony-stimulating Factor |
| CT | Computerised axial tumography (scan) |
| CT | Chemotherapy |
| CTC | Common Toxicity Criteria |
| CTCL | Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma |
| CTO | Clinical Trials Office |
| CTX | Clinical Trials Exemption |
| CUP | Cancer of Unknown Primary / Carcinoma of Unknown Primary |
| CVA | Cardiovascular Accident (stroke) |
| CVC | Central venous catheters |
| CVP | Central Venous Pressure |
| CXR | Chest X-Ray |
| D/C | Discharge |
| D/H | Drug History |
| D/W | Discussed With |
| DCIS | Ductal Carcinoma In Situ - type of breast cancer |
| DDAVP | Desmopressin test for urine osmolality |
| DDx | Differential diagnosis |
| DFI | Disease Free Interval |
| DFS | Disease Free Survival - time without disease prior to relapse or last follow-up |
| DI | Diabetes Incipidus |
| dl | deciletre - 0.01 litres |
| DLBCL | Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma |
| DLCL | Diffuse large-cell lymphoma |
| DLS | Date last seen |
| DLT | Dose limiting toxicity - determined by phase 1 studies |
| DMC | Data Monitoring Commitee |
| DNA | Deoxyribonucleic acid |
| DNA | Did Not Attend (clinic) |
| DNR | Do Not Resusitate |
| DOA | Dead on Arival |
| Dx | Diagnosis |
| EBM | Evidence-Based Medicine |
| EBV | Epstein-Barr Virus |
| ECG | Electrocardiogram - heart scan |
| EDTA | ethylendiaminetetraacetic acid - used in measuring kidney function |
| EEG | Electroencephalogram - brain scan |
| EFS | Event Free Survival - time from diagnosis to defined events (eg relapse or deat |
| EJC | European Journal of Cancer |
| EMC | Extraskeletal Myxoid Chondrosarcoma |
| EMUO | Early Morning Urine Osmolality (evaluating urine concentration) |
| ENT | Ear nose throat |
| ESR | Erythrocyte Sedimentation rate |
| ETS | Environmental Tobacco Smoke |
| F/H | Family history |
| FAB | French American and British classification scheme for leukaemia |
| FBC | Full Blood Count |
| FEV | Forced expectorant volume (a lung test) |
| FFA | For Further Appointment |
| FIGO | Federation Internat. Gyn. Obst. (FIGO Gynaecological staging system) |
| FISH | Flourescence in situ Hybridisation |
| FMTC | Familial Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma |
| FNA | Fine Needle Aspiration - a type of biposy using a thin needle (or FNAB) |
| FU | Follow up |
| FVC | Forced Vital Capacity |
| g | gram - unit of weight |
| G-CSF | Granulocyte colony stimulating factor promotes production of white blood cells |
| GA | General Anaesthetic |
| GCP | Good Clinical Practice (guidelines) |
| GCT | Germ Cell Tumour |
| GCT | Giant Cell Tumour Context: bone tumours |
| GFR | Gromerular filtration rate |
| GI | Gastrointestinal |
| GIST | Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumours |
| GM-CSF | Granulocyte and macrophage colony stimulating factor |
| GPR | Good Partial Remission |
| GU | Genito-urinary |
| GvHD | Graft versus Host Disease |
| Gy | Grays (units of radiation) |
| H&E | Hematoxylin and Eosin (stain) |
| H/O | History of |
| Hb | Haemoglobin |
| HCC | Hepatocellular Carcinoma |
| HCG | Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin (hormone) |
| HCL | Hairy Cell Leukaemia |
| HCO3 | Bicarbonate |
| HD | Hodgkin's Disease (lymphoma) |
| HD | High dose |
| HDC | High Dose Chemotherapy |
| HIV | Human Immunodeficiency Virus |
| HL-A | Human Leukocyte Associated antigens (HL-A matching for BMT) |
| HNSCC | Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma |
| HNPCC | Hereditary NonPolyposis Colorectal Cancer |
| HPV | Human Papilloma Virus - implicated in some gynacological cancers |
| HR | High risk |
| HRT | Hormone replacement therapy |
| HTLV | Human T-cell leukemia-lymphoma virus |
| I-131 | Radioactive Iodine |
| ICD | International Classification of Diseases (coding system) |
| ICDO | International Classification of Diseases for Oncology (coding system) |
| ICF | Intercellular fluid |
| ICU | Intensive Care Unit |
| IL2 | Interleukin2 |
| IM | Intramuscular - into a muscle |
| IMRT | Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy |
| INSS | International Neuroblastoma Staging System |
| ITU | Intensive Therapy Unit |
| IU | International units |
| IV | Intravenous - into a vein |
| IVP | Intravenous Pyelogram - type of Xray after injection with iodine dye |
| JCO | Journal of Clinical Oncology |
| K+ | Potassium |
| kg | Kilogram - a thousand grams |
| l | liter - unit of volume |
| L1-L5 | Lumbar vertebrae 1 - 5 (spine eg. L1 = 1st lumbar vertebra) |
| LCH | Langerhans cell histiocytocis |
| LCIS | Lobular Carcinoma In Situ - type of breast cancer |
| LDH | Lactic dehydrogenase -high levels correlate with tumour volume in some cancers |
| LMM | Lentigo Maligna Melanoma |
| LMP | Low Malignant Potential (context: ovarian tumours) |
| LN | Lymph Node |
| LP | Lumbar puncture |
| LVEF | Left Ventricular Fjection Fraction - a heart function test |
| LVSF | Left Ventricular Shortening Fraction - a heart function test |
| Lx | Lumpectomy |
| m | meter (unit of length) |
| M/H | Medical history |
| MAB -mAb | Monoclonal antibody |
| MDR | Multi drug resistant |
| MDS | Myelo dysplastic syndrome |
| MEN | Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia - (familial) a.k.a. FMEN |
| mEq/l | milliequivalent per liter |
| mets | Metastases (where the tumour has spread to secondary sites) |
| Mg | Magnesium |
| mg | milligram - 0.001 gram |
| MI | Miocardial Infarction |
| mIBG | Radioactive Iodine Metaidobenzoguanidine (mIBG scans or mIBG therapy). |
| ml | millilitre 0.001 liter |
| MM | Malignant Melanoma |
| mM | millimole |
| mm | millimeter - 0.001 meters |
| MM | Malignant Myelanoma |
| MM | Multiple Myeloma |
| mOsm | milliosmole |
| MPNST | Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumour |
| MPO | Medical and Pediatric Oncology (journal) |
| MRI | Magnetic resonance imaging (scan) |
| MRT | Malignant Rhabdoid Tumour |
| MSSU | Mid stream specimen urine |
| MTD | Maximum tolerated dose - phase 1 studies |
| MTX | Methotrexate (anti cancer drug) |
| MUD | Matched Urelated Donor - for bone marrow transplant |
| Mx | Mastectomy |
| N/V | Nausea and vomiting |
| Na+ | Sodium |
| NAD | No Abnormality Detected |
| NBCCS | Nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome |
| NBM | Nil by mouth |
| NED | No evidence of disease |
| ng | nanogram - 0.000000001 gram |
| NHL | Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma |
| NK | Natural Killer cells (large lymphocytes, part of the immune system) |
| NK | Not known |
| NM | Nodular Melanoma |
| NMR | Nuclear magnetic resonance (scan) |
| NMSC | Non Melanoma Skin Cancer |
| NOS | Not otherwise specified (see ICDO) |
| NPC | Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma |
| NRSTS | Non-Rhabdomyosarcoma Soft Tissue Sarcoma |
| NSCLC | Non-small cell lung cancer |
| NSE | Neuron-Specific Enolase - a neural marker |
| NSR | Non significant result |
| NSR | Normal Sinus Rhythem |
| O/E | On Examination |
| ONB | Olfactory Neuroblastoma |
| OS | Overall Survival |
| OS | Osteogenic sarcoma (context bone tumours) |
| PBSC | Peripheral Blood Stem Cell (see PBSCT) |
| PBSCH | Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Harvest |
| PBSCR | Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Rescue (transplant) |
| PBSCT | Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplant |
| PD | Progressive disease |
| PDQ | Physician's Data Query (CancerNet) |
| PET | Positron Emmission Tomography- a scan after a small radioactive injection. |
| PET | Pancreatic Endocrine Tumor |
| PFS | Progression Free Survival |
| pg | picogram - 0.000000000001 gram |
| pH | hydrogen-ion concentration - acid / alkaline |
| PH | Past History |
| PLB | Primary Lymphoma of Bone |
| PNET | Primitive neuroectodermal tumour Context: CNS tumours |
| PNET | Peripheral neuroectodermal tumour Context: Bone tumours - see Ewing's tu |
| PNS | Peripheral nervous system - nervous system outside the brain and spine. |
| PR | Partial Responce / Partial Remission |
| PR | per rectum |
| prn | as required |
| prn | whenever necessary (pro re nata) |
| PSA | prostate-specific antigen - PSA test used in screening for prostate cancer |
| PUD | Peri-Urethral Diathermy (associated with superficial bladder cancer) |
| QALY | Quality-Adjusted Life Year |
| qid | Four times a day (quater in die) |
| QoL | Quality of Life |
| RBC | Red blood cell / red blood count |
| RCC | Renal Cell Carcinoma |
| RCT | Randomised Controlled Trial |
| RFS | Relapse free survival - Time from diagnosis to relapse or death. |
| RIGS | Radioimmunoguided surgery |
| RMS | Rhabdomyosarcoma |
| RNA | ribonucleic acid |
| RT | Radiotherapy |
| RTPCR | Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction |
| Rx | Treatment |
| SA | Surface area (see BSA) |
| SAE | Serious Adverse Event |
| SC | Subcutaneous |
| SCC | Squamous Cell Carcinoma |
| SCLC | Small cell lung cancer |
| SD | Stable Disease |
| SDV | Source Data Verification |
| SGOT | Serum glutamic oxalacetic transaminase - a liver function test |
| SGPT | Serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase - a liver function test |
| SH | Social history |
| SHO | Senior House Officer |
| SIADH | Syndrome of Inappropriate Antidiuretic Hormone |
| SNP | Single Nucleotide Polymorphism |
| SOB | Short of breath |
| SSM | Superficial Spreading Melanoma |
| T1 - T12 | Thoracic vertebrae 1-12 (spine eg. T10 = tenth thoracic vertibra) |
| TAMs | tumour-associated macrophages |
| TBI | Total body irradiation |
| TCC | Transitional Cell Carcinoma (usually bladder cancer) |
| TCP | Thrombocytopenia |
| tds / tid | Three times a day (ter in die) |
| TNF | Tumour Necrosis Factor |
| TNM | Staging system - primary tumour |
| TPN | total parenteral nutrition |
| TRK | Transketolase |
| U&Es | Urea and Electrolites |
| UA | Urine analysis |
| ug | microgram - 0.000001 gram |
| ULN | Upper Limits of Normal |
| URTI | Upper respiratory tract infection |
| US | Ultasound (scan) |
| UTI | Urinary Tract Infection |
| UVR | Ultra Violet Radiation |
| VEF | Ventricular ejection fraction (tests lung function) |
| VM-26 | Teniposide (anti cancer drug) |
| VMA | Vanillylmandelic Acid |
| VP-16 | Etoposide (anti cancer drug) |
| WBC | White blood cell count |
| WCC | White cell count |
| WM | Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia |
| XRT | Radiotherapy (external) |
| YST | Yolk sac tumour - (aka. germ cell tumour) |
