This section aims to provide a reference list of abbreviations and acronyms that are frequently used within oncology. As well as many widely used medical abbreviations this text includes abbreviations that have meaning only within oncology,sub-specialities or even particular organisations. No definitive list of standard abbreviations exists therefore it is important to understand the context in which they have been used in. For example "PNET" usually refers to a type of brain tumour,however, within orthopaedic oncology the same abbreviation has been applied to a form of sarcoma. You may also find it useful to have access to a medical dictionary or text-book that contains a list of common abbreviations used within the wider field ofmedicine.
This list of has been compiled over a number of years and abbreviations have been collected from a wide range of sources including journal articles and conference presentations.
| 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) |
