Anus: The exter­nal open­ing of the rec­tum, where solid waste exits the body.

Ascend­ing colon: The por­tion of the colon con­nect­ing to the cecum, or first part of the large intestine.

Ascend­ing Colostomy: This is a colostomy in which the ascend­ing colon is brought to the abdomen sur­face. The stoma is usu­ally located in the right abdomen.

Bio­log­i­cal ther­apy: Treat­ment for can­cer using an agent that stim­u­lates the body’s immune sys­tem to attack can­cer cells.

Bowel block­age: An obstruc­tion of the bowel where the prod­ucts of diges­tion are stopped from con­tin­u­ing through the intestines.  The peri­staltic motion of the intes­tine con­tin­ues and caused great pain.

Chemother­apy: Treat­ment for can­cer using anti­cancer drugs. This is a sys­temic treat­ment for can­cer, mean­ing that it affects cells and tis­sues through­out the body and not just in the can­cer­ous area.

Colon: The large intes­tine. It is pri­mar­ily respon­si­ble for the body’s absorp­tion of fluid and elec­trolytes, stor­age of food wastes, and trans­port of the stool.

Colonoscopy: A “colono­scope” is inserted through the anus to remove small malig­nant growths.

Colostomy: A sur­gi­cally cre­ated open­ing in the abdomen to pro­vide an alter­nate way for food wastes to leave the body. In a colostomy, a por­tion of the large intes­tine (the colon) is brought to the sur­face of the abdomen.

Colostomy bag: A appli­ance attached to the out­side of the abdomen wall to trap the waste when it leaves the body.

Con­ti­nent ileostomy: An ileostomy with the cre­ation of an inter­nal reser­voir in the abdomen.

Con­ti­nent uri­nary reser­voir: A uri­nary reser­voir made from a seg­ment of bowel after blad­der removal. It includes a valve to retain urine.

Crohn’s dis­ease: A dis­or­der that causes inflam­ma­tion of the diges­tive tract, espe­cially the small intes­tine. The result­ing swelling can cause pain, diar­rhea, and even blockage.

Descend­ing colon: The last por­tion of the large intes­tine, before the anus.

Descend­ing colostomy: Also known as a sig­moid colostomy, this is a colostomy in which the sig­moid or descend­ing colon is brought to the abdomen sur­face. It is the most com­mon type of colostomy. The stoma is usu­ally located in the lower left abdomen.

Diver­ti­c­uli­tis: A dis­or­der that causes inflam­ma­tion of the diver­tic­ula, which are part of the large intes­tine wall.

Duo­de­num: The first part of the small intes­tine, where the small intes­tine con­nects to the stomach.

ET nurse: Enteros­tomal ther­apy nurse. This is a nurse spe­cially trained in the care of peo­ple who have stomas.

Exter­nal radi­a­tion ther­apy: Radi­a­tion ther­apy applied from an exter­nal source.

Famil­ial poly­po­sis: An inher­ited con­di­tion in which hun­dreds of polyps form in the colon and rec­tum, which can obstruct­the bowel

Fis­tula for­ma­tion: A com­pli­ca­tion of Crohn’s dis­ease, in which ulcers pen­e­trate the intesti­nal wall, cre­at­ing “tun­nels” between the intestines and other body tis­sues. Fis­tu­las give intesti­nal bac­te­ria access to other parts of the body, which can cause seri­ous infections.

Hirschsprung’s dis­ease: A birth defect in which the nerves in the bowel wall are miss­ing from the anal region up the bowel for a vari­able dis­tance. These nerves nor­mally assist the bowel’s move­ment of stool. As a result, the bowel suf­fers mas­sive enlarge­ment above the area of miss­ing nerves.

High out­put Ileostomy: A ileostomy that puts out more than 1000cc in a 24hr period.

Ileo-anal reser­voir: Inter­nal reser­voir placed in the pelvis. Also known as a pelvic pouch, a J-pouch, W-pouch, S-pouch, etc., depend­ing on the shape of the surgically-created inter­nal reservoir.

Ileostomy: A sur­gi­cally cre­ated open­ing in the abdomen to pro­vide an alter­nate way for food wastes to leave the body. In an ileostomy, the end of the small intes­tine (the ileum) is brought to the sur­face of the abdomen.

Ileostomy enema: Small bowel irri­ga­tion of the stoma with water.

Ileum: The low­est part of the small intes­tine, where the small and large intestines connect.

Imper­fo­rate anus: A birth defect where the rec­tum is not con­nected to the anus. As a result, the bowel has no out­let from the body.

Indi­ana Pouch: An arti­fi­cial inter­nal bowel reser­voir. The ileo­ce­cal valve, nor­mally located between the small and large intestines, is relo­cated to this reser­voir to pre­vent leak­age. It elim­i­nates the need for a pouch­ing system.

Inter­nal radi­a­tion ther­apy: Radi­a­tion ther­apy applied using radioac­tive mate­r­ial placed directly in or near the tumor.

Intra­op­er­a­tive radi­a­tion ther­apy: Radi­a­tion ther­apy per­formed dur­ing surgery.

Intu­bate: To insert a spe­cial tube into the reser­voir via the con­ti­nent stoma.

Irri­ga­tion Sys­tem: A sys­tem used to clean stool out of the colon through the stoma. Irri­ga­tion can pre­vent the need to wear a pouch.

J-pouch: An arti­fi­cial inter­nal bowel reser­voir cre­ated after removal of the entire colon. The reser­voir is con­nected to the anus, anal mus­cles are pre­served, and stool can be evac­u­ated via the nor­mal route. Also known as the pelvic pouch.

Kock pouch: an arti­fi­cial inter­nal bowel reser­voir with a nip­ple valve. Also known as an abdom­i­nal pouch. It elim­i­nates the need for a pouch­ing system.

Laparoscopy: A thin, lighted tube called a laparo­scope is inserted through small cuts in the abdomen, allow­ing the sur­geon to see inside the body. The tumor and a por­tion of healthy colon are removed.

Large intes­tine: The last part of the diges­tive sys­tem, also known as the colon. The large intes­tine func­tions to remove liq­uids from body waste mate­r­ial, store wastes, and trans­port solid wastes to the anus for removal from the body.

Loop Colostomy: This is a colostomy in which the trans­verse colon is brought to the abdomen sur­face. It has two open­ings, one of which dis­charges stool and the other mucus.

Mon­o­clonal anti­body: Iden­ti­cal anti­bod­ies from a sin­gle “par­ent” immune cell. These anti­bod­ies are trained to rec­og­nize a par­tic­u­lar cell sur­face and can tar­get spe­cific cell types. They are some­times used in can­cer treatment.

M9: A liq­uid deodor­izer that is put inside the pouch when empty to remove the odor as the bag fills up.Neobladder a uri­nary reser­voir made out of bowel after blad­der removal. This allows the patient to void normally.

One-Piece Pouch­ing Sys­tem: A pouch­ing sys­tem in which the skin bar­rier and pouch are joined together, so that both must be changed at the same time.

Open surgery: The sur­geon makes a large abdom­i­nal cut through which to remove the tumor and visu­ally exam­ine the intes­tine for signs that the can­cer has spread.

Ostomy: Is the sur­gi­cal pro­ce­dure used to cre­ate the stoma, a surgically-created open­ing in the abdomen for the body’s dis­charge of waste.

Ostomy Cloth­ing: Cloth­ing that the Osto­m­ate can wear feel­ing con­fi­dent that their bag is hidden.

Pelvic pouch: An arti­fi­cial inter­nal bowel reser­voir cre­ated after removal of the entire colon. The reser­voir is con­nected to the anus, anal mus­cles are pre­served, and stool can be evac­u­ated via the nor­mal route. Also known as the J-pouch.

Peri­toneum: The lin­ing of the abdomen. It encloses the abdom­i­nal organs.

Peri­toni­tis: Inflam­ma­tion of the peritoneum.

Per­ma­nent Colostomy: Removal of part of the colon, usu­ally includ­ing the rec­tum. The end of the remain­ing colon is brought to the sur­face of the abdomen.

Pouch­ing sys­tem: The appa­ra­tus used to con­nect a pouch to the stoma to col­lect waste material.

Pou­ch­i­tis: Inflam­ma­tion of an inter­nal reservoir.

Proc­to­colec­tomy Surgery: Remov­ing the colon and rectum.

Radi­a­tion ther­apy: Radi­a­tion ther­apy uses high-energy rays to kill can­cer cells in a tar­geted area of the colon or rectum.

Rec­tum: Last sev­eral inches of the large intes­tine, end­ing at the anus

Sig­moid Colostomy: Also known as a descend­ing colostomy, this is a colostomy in which the sig­moid or descend­ing colon is brought to the abdomen sur­face. It is the most com­mon type of colostomy. The stoma is usu­ally located in the lower left abdomen.

Small intes­tine: A por­tion of the diges­tive sys­tem that con­nects the stom­ach and the large intes­tine. Its func­tion is to con­tinue food diges­tion and absorb nutrients.

Small intes­tine per­fo­ra­tion: A hole in the intes­tine wall where fecal mat­ter can escape from the bowel to the body cavity.

Spina bifida: A birth defect of the spinal col­umn that leaves part of the spinal cord unpro­tected. This can result in bowel and/or blad­der incontinence.

Squa­mous cells: This is one of the cell types that line the blad­der wall. Less than ten per­cent of blad­der can­cers begin in squa­mous cells.

Stage A cancer’s: Stage describes how far the dis­ease has advanced. It is based on infor­ma­tion such as whether the tumor has invaded nearby tis­sues and whether the can­cer has spread from its orig­i­nal location.

Stoma: A surgically-created open­ing in the abdomen for the body’s dis­charge of waste.

Tem­po­rary colostomy: This pro­ce­dure tem­porar­ily bypasses the lower por­tion of the colon to allow it to rest or heal. It can later be reversed to restore the nor­mal path of food waste through the body.

Tran­si­tional cells: This is one of the cell types that line the blad­der wall. Most blad­der can­cers begin in tran­si­tional cells.

Trans­verse colon: The mid­sec­tion of the large intes­tine, con­nect­ing the ascend­ing colon and descend­ing colon.

Two-Piece Pouch­ing Sys­tem: A pouch­ing sys­tem in which the pouch is sep­a­rate from the skin bar­rier, allow­ing the pouch to be changed while the skin bar­rier remains in place.

Ulcer­a­tive col­i­tis: A dis­ease that causes inflam­ma­tion and sores to form in the lin­ing of the colon and rec­tum. In severe cases, the colon may need to be removed and ostomy surgery performed.

Uri­nary Pouch­ing Sys­tems: One– or two-piece pouch­ing sys­tems sim­i­lar to those used for colostomies and ileostomies, but with a spout or valve that allows attach­ment to a leg bag.

Urostomy: An open­ing in the abdom­i­nal wall sur­gi­cally cre­ated as an alter­nate way for urine to leave the body.

Wound ostomy con­ti­nence nurse: A nurse spe­cially trained in ostomy care.