Glossary Terms

Nausea

The feeling of sickness.

Neo-adjuvant therapy

Treatment that is given first to help make the next treatment step go more smoothly. For example, chemotherapy is given to help shrink a tumour to make surgery easier.

Nerves

Bundles of axons which transmit signals around the body.

Neuron

Cells that produce signals in the form of electrical impulses.

NICE

National Institute for Clinical Excellence

Nodal harvest

In order to give accurate staging for colorectal cancers it is important to know if the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes. Nodal harvest refers to the number of lymph nodes that could be sampled to inform the staging of the disease.

Non-invasive ventilation

Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) refers to the provision of ventilatory support through the

upper airway using a mask or similar device instead of a tracheal tube, laryngeal mask, tracheostomy and are therefore considered non-invasive.

 

Nutrition

Taking in and metabolism of nutrients by an organism so that life is maintained and growth can take place.