Glossary

Advanced Trauma Life Support – A program developed by the American College of Surgeons for the assessment, resuscitation and stabilization of individuals who have traumatic injuries. This program was introduced in the 1980s and is in use globally.

Adenosine triphosphate – a critical molecule in the energy metabolism cycle in living beings. It is a storage molecule for energy required in a body’s metabolism giving off phosphate to supply energy when it is called for. When a phosphate group is separated from the molecule it becomes ADP or adenosine diphosphate.

AKA autologous graft – a transplantation of tissue or organs from one part of a patient’s body to another in same person.

Arteriovenous.  Of, relating to or connecting arteries to veins.

Bevacizumab-a monoclonal antibody that blocks angiogenesis by inhibits the responsible vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A).

Ateriovenous Malformation – a vascular anomaly consisting of an artery or arteries abnormally connecting to a vein or veins.

Non-radiating low back pain. The most common type of back pain. It is typically non-specific and self-limited.

Blood brain barrier – this refers to the separation of circulating blood and its contents from the central nervous system’s cells and extracellular space. It is the result of tight junctions between the cells making up the walls of the blood system’s capillaries so that the only route available for substances seeking to move from the circulatory system to the central nervous system is through the endothelial cells that make up the capillary walls of the brain and spinal cord’s blood vessels. These cells of the barrier actively transport materials across this barrier into the central nervous system in a selective fashion. The net effect is that only certain substances, drugs, etc. can move from the blood stream int the brain and spinal cord.

Carmustine, a nitrosourea, alkylating chemotherapeutic drug used to treat brain tumors.  It is lipid soluble, crossing the blood-brain barrier.

bis-chloroethylnitrosourea or Carmustine – a nitrosourea compound related to mustard gases used as a chemotherapeutic agent. It mechanism of action is as an alkylating agent that forms interstrand crosslinks in DNA preventing replication and transcription.