Breen, MaraPasquerella, LynnJohnson, KyleMorgan, LynnDeutsch, FrancineKarron, Julia2015-05-262015-05-262015-05-26http://hdl.handle.net/10166/3641Drawing on the disciplines of psycholinguistics, medicine, and medical anthropology, this thesis evaluates the suggestion to rename breast Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS) to remove the reference to cancer. Chapter 1 focuses on the evolution of medical and social understanding of cancer and how the language used to describe and treat the disease reflected that understanding. Chapter 2 describes the war metaphor applied to cancer and stigma it causes. Chapter 3 explains Dr. Laura Esserman’s proposal to rename DCIS to Indolent Lesion of Epithelial Origin (IDLE). Chapter 4 discusses the recent precision medicine movement and a change in the taxonomical categorization of cancer within that framework. I argue that the language used to describe cancer has diverged from the science and should once more be realigned to benefit both patients and doctors. A new taxonomy should be informed by science, metaphors, and lived experience from patients and doctors. Finally, I conclude that such taxonomy should be developed within the near future, as we know enough scientifically about the disease to reclassify many of its heterogeneous types.en-USCancerLinguisticsMedical AnthropologyWar MetaphorThesispublic