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Glossary
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- Objective response
- This is a measure of how effective a treatment for cancer is and represents the extent to which a tumour responds to anticancer therapy.
- Occult
- Hidden; concealed; not immediately obvious or overtly expressed.
- Odds ratio (OR)
- When two outcomes for a treatment are possible, the OR is a measure of the chance of one outcome being more likely than the other. If the OR is 1.00 there is an equal chance of each outcome.
- Oedema
- A swelling of soft tissue as a result of excess fluid accumulation.
- Oestrogen (UK)
- See "Estrogen".
- Oncogene
- Genes that cause unregulated cell growth and proliferation. Oncogenes are present in viruses and in mammalian cells they are produced by a mutation. Before mutation they are called proto-oncogenes. These are constituents of the normal cell that code for growth factors.
- Oncologist
- A doctor who is a specialist in the understanding and treatment of cancer. There are a number of different types: gynaecological (cancers of the ovaries, uterus and vagina), medical (drug therapy), paediatric (childhood cancers), radiation and surgical.
- Oophorectomy
- Surgical removal of one or both ovaries.
- Open-label (study)
- All participants in the study (including patients) are aware which treatment is being taken throughout the trial.
- Orchidectomy (orchiectomy)
- surgical castration involving the removal of one or both of the testes.
- Osteoporosis
- This is when your bones become thinner and more fragile. When this happens, your bones are more likely to break.
- Ovarian ablation
- A process which will cause the ovaries to stop functioning in a premenopausal woman e.g. surgical removal of the ovaries, drug treatment or radiotherapy.
- Ovarian irradiation
- Radiotherapy directed specifically at the ovaries to stop them working.
- Ovarian steroids
- Steroid sex hormones produced by the ovary.
- Ovarian suppression
- This refers to a reduction in the level of estrogen produced in the ovaries as a result of drug therapy. Unlike ovarian ablation, this method can generally be reversed allowing the ovaries to function normally again once the treatment course has been finished. This is sometimes referred to as a “medical” ablation (as opposed to surgical).
- Ovaries
- Female organs of reproduction that produce eggs and hormones.
- Ovulation
- The process by which an ovum (egg) is released from a mature follicle.
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