Lumen
A luminous term referring to the channel within a tube such as a blood vessel or to the cavity within a hollow organ such as the intestine. Lumen is a luminous term because it is Latin for light, including the light that comes through a window. When a hollow organ is cut across, you can see light through the space that has been opened. So the word “lumen” came to mean this space.
For example, in arteriosclerosis, fat deposits narrow the lumen of the artery. For another example, cells called enetrocytes within the intestinal wall help transport water from the lumen of the intestine into the bloodstream.
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The surgical removal of a small tumor, which may be benign or cancerous. In common use, lumpectomy refers especially to removal of a lump from the breast. Lumpectomy, often with chemotherapy or radiation therapy, can be an alternative to mastectomy in cases of nonmetastatic breast cancer.
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Lung cancer that recurs in families. Lung cancer can occur sporadically in people with no known family history of lung cancer or it can recur in two or more members of the same family and constitute familial lung cancer. A gene for familial lung cancer is on the long (q) arm of chromosome 6 in […]
- Lung cancer, non-small cell
Cancer of the lung which is not of the small cell carcinoma (oat cell carcinoma) type. The term “non-small cell lung cancer” is generally applied to the various types of bronchogenic carcinomas (those arising from the lining of the bronchi) which include adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and large cell undifferentiated carcinoma. The distinction between small […]
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A type of lung cancer in which the cells are small and round. Also called oat cell lung cancer.
- Lung reduction surgery
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