Glossary

Here are definitions of medical terms related to lung cancer:

Biopsy: The removal of a small amount of tissue from the body for study under a microscope.

Carcinogen: A substance that causes the development of cancer.

Diaphragm: The muscular tissue that separates the chest and the abdominal cavities, which aids breathing by moving up and down.

Malignant: Cancerous; a growth that tends to spread to surrounding tissues or organs

Metastasis: Spread of cancer from one part of the body to another.

Non-small-cell lung cancer: This is the more common type, accounting for about 80% of lung cancers. This type grows and spreads more slowly than small-cell lung cancer.

Small-cell lung cancer: Cancer developing from the smaller cells in the lung; this is a less common type of lung cancer. This type grows more quickly and has a greater chance of spreading to other parts of the body than non-small-cell lung cancer.