The list below includes some common terms your doctor may use when discussing treatment

Acute myeloid leukemia

A type of blood and bone marrow cancer. Also known as AML.

Androgen deprivation therapy

A type of hormone therapy used to reduce male hormones causing prostate cancer growth. Otherwise known as chemical castration. Also known as ADT.

Androgen receptor pathway inhibitor

A treatment for prostate cancer that blocks the action of androgens in the body. Also known as ARPI.

Advanced prostate cancer

Prostate cancer that has spread beyond the prostate gland to other parts of the body.

Bilateral orchiectomy

Surgery to remove both testicles to stop testosterone production.

Biopsy

The removal of a small piece of tissue, which is then examined under a microscope.

Bladder

An organ that holds urine.

BRCA

The abbreviation for the BReast CAncer gene. BRCA1 and BRCA2 are 2 different genes that, when mutated, can increase the risk of patients developing certain cancers like prostate cancer.

Cancer

A general term for a large group of diseases in which abnormal cells grow and spread throughout the body.

Castration resistant

Cancer that is no longer responding to medical or surgical treatment that lowers testosterone.

Castration sensitive

Cancer that can be controlled by keeping testosterone levels low.

Duration of response

How long a patient responds to a cancer treatment before a disease progresses.

Fatigue

Extreme tiredness.

Germline testing

A type of genetic test that looks for inherited mutations that are present in every cell of the body and have been present since birth.

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog

A medicine that lowers sex hormone levels, often used to slow certain cancers. Also known as a GnRH analog.

Hormones

Chemicals released by glands into the bloodstream to control how organs and tissues function.

Metastatic cancer

Cancer that has spread from where it started to a distant part of the body.

Metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer

A type of advanced prostate cancer in which the disease has spread beyond the prostate and the disease keeps growing even though there is low testosterone. Also known as mCRPC.

Metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer

A type of prostate cancer in which the disease has spread to other parts of the body but still responds to treatments in the body. Also known as mCSPC.

Myelodysplastic syndrome

A group of disorders caused by blood cells that are poorly formed or don’t work properly. Also known as MDS.

Monotherapy

A treatment that uses a single drug or type of treatment to treat a disease.

Objective response rate

The percentage of patients in a clinical trial who experience a complete or partial response to a treatment within a specific time period.

Overall survival

The length of time from the start of treatment (or the study) that patients are still alive, regardless of whether the cancer has grown or not. It shows whether a treatment helps people live longer overall. Also known as OS.

PARP inhibitor

Another name for poly (adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase inhibitor. PARP inhibitors are a type of cancer drug that target the PARP protein to prevent repair of damaged DNA in cancer cells so the cancer cells die. Also known as PARPi.

Prostate gland

A walnut-sized gland that surrounds the male urethra, located between the bladder and the penis.

Radiographic progression-free survival

The length of time during and after treatment that the cancer does not get worse on scans or imaging tests. In other words, it measures how long the treatment can keep the cancer from growing or spreading. Also known as rPFS.

Somatic testing

A type of genetic test that looks for acquired mutations in a confined set of cells or tissue.

Taxane-based chemotherapy

A type of cancer treatment that stops cancer cells from replicating.

Testosterone

A male sex hormone produced mostly by the testicles, although a small amount is made by the adrenal glands.

Tumor

An abnormal growth of body tissue, which can be benign (not cancerous) or malignant (cancerous).

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