Glossary

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Ablation: treatment of tumors using different forms of targeted energy such as heat, cold, or forms of microwaves

Active: viable with possibility of success

Active Surveillance: Also called "watch and wait," is a disease management approach where patients are closely monitored through imaging, blood tests, and physical exams.

Arterial: involving arteries

Ascites: fluid accumulating in the abdomen

Baseline: first scan results against which all subsequent scans will be compared

Clear surgical margins: the tumor is removed with a layer of normal tissue all around the tumor surface

Comorbidities: the simultaneous presence of two or more diseases or medical conditions in a patient

Contraindication: reason not to receive a particular treatment or procedure

Cytokine: any of a number of substances, such as interferon, interleukin, and growth factors, which are secreted by certain cells of the immune system and have an effect on other cells

Epidemiology: the study and analysis of the distribution, patterns, and determinants of health and disease conditions in defined populations

Extrahepatic: anywhere in the body outside the liver

Hepatic: in the liver

Indolent: naturally stable cases to very slow-growing

Isolated limb perfusion: a treatment technique by which chemotherapy is only delivered in the affected region of the limb

Lesion: location of a tumor

Locoregional treatments: treatment not reaching every part of the body, but only the single treated site

Median survival: a statistic that refers to how long the majority of people survive with a disease in general or after a certain treatment

Multimodality: using different forms of therapy during a phase of treatment

Palliative care: a set of treatments providing relief from pain and other symptoms associated with cancer

Pathogenesis: development of a disease

Pathophysiology: the disordered physiological processes associated with disease or injury

Pleura: lining of the lungs

Pleural effusion: fluid accumulating in the lining of the lungs

Pleural stripping: surgical removal of pleural layers

Pneumonectomy: surgical removal of the lung or a part of the lung

Prognosis: explanation and forecast of how a person's EHE will progress and develop

Prospective clinical trials: studies in which included people are followed over time and data about them is collected as their characteristics or circumstances change

Pulmonary: in the lung

Radioembolization: radioactive beads deliver a small amount of radiation to the tumor and block blood supply at the same time

Radiosensitive: potentially responsive to radiation

Resected: removed by surgery

Reticulonodular opacities: a pattern resembling a net with small nodules

Retrospective series: studies including EHE cases looking backward at their clinical history

Sarcoma reference centers, sarcoma networks: centers with a recognized expertise in the treatment of sarcomas

Sarcoma: cancer originating in connective tissues, including cartilage, fat, muscle, blood vessels, fibrous tissue, bone

Shared decision-making: a collaborative process in which a patient and their healthcare provider work together to make decisions about care, combining the provider's clinical expertise with the patient's own values, preferences, circumstances, and goals.

Thoracic: in the chest cavity

Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE): delivering chemotherapy combined with blocking the blood supply to the tumors

Translocation: swapping of genetic material between two genes

Vascular: composed of neoplastic cells resembling blood vessels

Vascular graft: replacement of the removed segment of the vessel

Venous: involving veins