DFS
Abbreviation with 2 meanings
| Stands for | Disease-free survival |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 2 |
| Categories | Medical, Technology & Computing |
DFS has two meanings. It stands for Disease-free survival (hematology and oncology) or Depth-first search (programming).
Meanings of DFS at a glance
| # | DFS stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Disease-free survival | Medical › Hematology and Oncology |
| 2 | Depth-first search | Technology & Computing › Programming |
1. Disease-free survival
Medical · Hematology and Oncology Abbreviations
Time after curative treatment, such as surgery, until the cancer recurs or the patient dies. It is a common primary end point in adjuvant trials testing whether added therapy prevents relapse.
Example: Adjuvant therapy improved 3-year DFS from 74% to 81%.
Closely related terms include relapse-free survival (RFS) and invasive disease-free survival (IDFS) in breast cancer trials, each with slightly different definitions of which events count. DFS often serves as a surrogate for overall survival, an association that is stronger in some cancers, such as colon cancer, than in others. Definitions must be read carefully when comparing trials.
2. Depth-first search
Technology & Computing · Programming Abbreviations
A graph and tree traversal algorithm that explores as far as possible along each branch before backtracking, usually implemented with recursion or a stack. It is used for maze solving, cycle detection, topological sorting and finding connected components.
Example: Use DFS to detect a cycle in the dependency graph before ordering the build steps.
A version of the method was used for solving mazes by the 19th-century French mathematician Charles Pierre Trémaux. DFS uses little memory but does not find shortest paths in unweighted graphs; breadth-first search does. On Windows servers DFS also means Distributed File System, a feature for grouping shared folders.
Related abbreviations
More hematology and oncology abbreviations
- ctDNA – Circulating tumor DNA
- CTLA-4 – Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4
- CUP – Cancer of unknown primary
- DCIS – Ductal carcinoma in situ
- DIC – Disseminated intravascular coagulation
- DLBCL – Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma
- dMMR – Mismatch repair deficient
- EBRT – External beam radiation therapy
See all 144 hematology and oncology abbreviations →
More programming abbreviations
- CRUD – Create, read, update, delete
- CVS – Concurrent Versions System
- DAO – Data access object
- DDD – Domain-driven design
- DI – Dependency injection
- DP – Dynamic programming
- DRY – Don't repeat yourself
- DSA – Data structures and algorithms
See all 154 programming abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not medical advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.