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File photo: Close up of cancer cells in the cervix.

Experts from the National Cancer Institute are calling on doctors across the country to redefine the meaning of the word cancer.

They suggest that some illnesses that include the word carcinoma or tumors previously described as cancerous should be renamed. The hope is that by changing how we label certain illnesses, doctors can keep patients from excessive treatment options.

Dr. Catherine Dang, a surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the associate director of the Wasserman Breast Cancer Risk Reduction Program, joins the show to explain.