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breast cancer

(Encyclopedia)breast cancer, cancer that originates in the breast. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women (following lung cancer). Although the vast majority of the cases occur in women,...

tamoxifen

(Encyclopedia)tamoxifen təmŏkˈsĭfĕnˌ [key], synthetic hormone used in the treatment of breast cancer. Introduced in 1978, tamoxifen is used to prevent recurrences of cancer in women who have already undergone...

mastectomy

(Encyclopedia)mastectomy măstĕkˈtəmē [key], surgical removal of breast tissue, usually done as treatment for breast cancer. There are many types of mastectomy. In general, the farther the cancer has spread, th...

mammography

(Encyclopedia)mammography, diagnostic procedure that uses low-dose X rays to detect abnormalities in the breasts. Tomosynthesis, also known as 3D mammography, is form of mammography that combines X-ray images taken...

Peters, Vera

(Encyclopedia)Peters, Vera (Mildred Vera Peters), 1911–93, Canadian radiation oncologist and clinical investigator, b. Rexdale, Ont., M.D. Univ. of Toronto, 1934. Beginning in 1935, she studied the treatment of H...

BRCA gene

(Encyclopedia)BRCA gene: see breast cancer.

mastitis

(Encyclopedia)mastitis măstīˈtĭs [key], inflammation of the breast. Mastitis most commonly occurs in nursing mothers between the first and third weeks after childbirth, usually of the first child. It is an infe...

cancer, in medicine

(Encyclopedia)cancer, in medicine, common term for neoplasms, or tumors, that are malignant. Like benign tumors, malignant tumors do not respond to body mechanisms that limit cell growth. Unlike benign tumors, mali...

silicone

(Encyclopedia)silicone, polymer in which atoms of silicon and oxygen alternate in a chain; various organic radicals, such as the methyl group, CH3, are bound to the silicon atoms. Silicones, which are unusually sta...

Dulbecco, Renato

(Encyclopedia)Dulbecco, Renato rənätˈō dŭlbĕkˈō [key], 1914–2012, Italian-American virologist, b. Catanzaro, Italy. In 1947 he came to the United States to work with Salvador Luria at Indiana Univ. in Blo...
 

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