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Glossary

Showing 341-350 out of 1184 Terms

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  • Diet

    (DY-et)

    The things a person eats and drinks.

  • Dietary counseling

    (DY-uh-TAYR-ee KOWN-suh-ling)

    A process by which a health professional with special training in nutrition helps people make healthy food choices and form healthy eating habits. In cancer treatment, the goal of dietary counseling is to help patients stay healthy during and after treatment and to stay strong enough to fight infections and the recurrence of disease. Also called nutritional counseling.

  • Dietary protocol

    (DY-uh-TAYR-ee PROH-tuh-KOL)

    A detailed diet plan that states what, how, and when a person will eat and drink. It may be used to test how a specific diet affects a health outcome, such as lower cholesterol.

  • Dietary supplement

    (DY-uh-TAYR-ee SUH-pleh-ment)

    A product that is added to the diet. A dietary supplement is taken by mouth, and usually contains one or more dietary ingredient (such as vitamin, mineral, herb, amino acid, and enzyme). Also called nutritional supplement.

  • Dietitian

    (dy-eh-TIH-shun)

    A health professional with special training in nutrition who can help with dietary choices. Also called nutritionist.

  • Differential count

    See complete blood count.

  • Differentiation

    (DIH-feh-REN-shee-AY-shun)

    In biology, describes the processes by which immature cells become mature cells with specific functions. In cancer, this describes how much or how little tumor tissue looks like the normal tissue it came from. Well-differentiated cancer cells look more like normal cells and tend to grow and spread more slowly than poorly differentiated or undifferentiated cancer cells. Differentiation is used in tumor grading systems, which are different for each type of cancer.

  • Diffuse

    (dih-FYOOS)

    Widely spread; not localized or confined.

  • Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma

    (dih-FYOOS in-TRIN-sik PON-teen glee-OH-muh)

    A type of central nervous system tumor that forms from glial (supportive) tissue of the brain and spinal cord. Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma usually occurs in children. It forms in the brain stem.

  • Digestion

    (dy-JES-chun)

    The process of breaking down food into substances the body can use for energy, tissue growth, and repair.