What does cisplatin mean?
Cisplatin is a platinum-containing compound that stands among the most important drugs in modern cancer treatment. Administered intravenously, it works by binding to DNA inside rapidly dividing cells, creating cross-links that prevent the DNA from being copied and thereby triggering cell death — a mechanism that makes it especially effective against testicular, ovarian, bladder, and lung cancers, among others. First developed as a medicine in the late twentieth century following a serendipitous laboratory discovery, cisplatin transformed previously fatal cancers into highly curable ones. Its power comes at a cost: it can cause significant side effects, including nausea, kidney damage, nerve injury, and hearing loss, so patients receiving it require careful monitoring and supportive care. The term is firmly a word of clinical and scientific register, encountered in oncology wards, research literature, and patient discussions of treatment plans rather than casual speech. Related platinum drugs such as carboplatin and oxaliplatin were developed partly to reduce its toxicity while preserving its efficacy.
nounA platinum-based chemotherapy drug used to treat a range of cancers, including testicular, ovarian, lung, and bladder cancers, by damaging the DNA of dividing cells.
- The inorganic compound cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II), used as an antineoplastic (chemotherapy) agent.
"The oncologist recommended a cisplatin-based regimen alongside radiation therapy."
"Patients receiving cisplatin are monitored closely for kidney damage and hearing loss."
"Cisplatin revolutionised the treatment of testicular cancer, raising cure rates dramatically."
Rarely used in the plural; cisplatin is treated as an uncountable mass noun in medical contexts, referring to the substance or the drug class generally.
"Different formulations and analogues of platinum agents exist, though 'cisplatins' as a plural is seldom seen in practice."
Cisplatin was discovered almost by accident in the 1960s, when physicist Barnett Rosenberg noticed that electric currents in a platinum electrode made bacteria stop dividing — a chance observation that became one of cancer medicine's most important drugs.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cisplatin
The name combines 'cis', a Latin prefix meaning 'on this side' (used in chemistry to describe atoms positioned on the same side of a molecule), with 'platin', from platinum, whose name derives via New Latin from Spanish platina, meaning 'little silver'. The compound was first synthesised in the nineteenth century by Italian chemist Michele Peyrone, long before its anticancer activity was recognised in the 1960s. The prefix 'cis-' appears in other words such as cisalpine and cislunar.
How cisplatin is actually used
A technical medical term used almost exclusively in clinical, pharmacological, and scientific contexts; it does not appear in everyday conversation outside healthcare settings.
Easily confused with cisplatin
Carboplatin is a related but distinct platinum chemotherapy drug that is generally less toxic than cisplatin and is often chosen when patients cannot tolerate cisplatin's side effects.