Glossary

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Magnetic resonance imaging

An MRI is a procedure in which radio waves and a powerful magnet linked to a computer are used to create detailed pictures of the body’s interior. These pictures can distinguish between normal and diseased tissue.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

An MRI is a noninvasive diagnostic technique that produces computerized images of internal body tissues and is based on nuclear magnetic resonance of atoms within the body induced by the application of radio waves.

Maintenance phase

Treatment that is given to help keep cancer from coming back after it has been controlled with treatment. It may include medicines, vaccines, or antibodies that kill cancer cells, and it can be given for a long time.

Malignant

Synonymous with cancerous. Malignant tumours can invade and destroy tissues around the tumour and spread to other parts of the body.

Masking (blinding)

See BLINDED

Metastasis

When cancer cells spread (metastasize) from one part of the body to another where they can grow into new tumours.

Methotrexate

A drug used to treat severe psoriasis that cannot be controlled by other treatments. Methotrexate may also be used to treat severe active rheumatoid arthritis and to treat certain types of cancer (including breast cancer, lung cancer, certain cancers of the head and neck, certain types of lymphoma, and leukemia).

Monoamine-Oxidase-B (MAO-B) inhibitor

Medications that enhance the effect of dopamine by preventing its breakdown in the brain.

Monocyte

An immune system cell made in the bone marrow that travels through the blood to tissues in the body where it becomes a macrophage. Macrophages surround and kill microorganisms, consume foreign material, remove dead cells, and boost immune responses.

Mucus

A slimy, white, jelly-like fluid produced by the lining of the bowel. People with ulcerative colitis (UC) often have a lot of mucus in their stools.

Mutation

A permanent alteration or change in a gene.

Mycophenolate

A drug used with other medications to help prevent transplant organ rejection (attack of the transplanted organ by the immune system) in people who have received kidney, heart, and liver transplants.