DMU medical terminology Flashcards
leuk/o
white
melan/o
black
cyan/o
blue
xanth/o
yellow
aden/o
gland
lip/o
fat
my/o, myos/o
muscle
lymph/o
lymph tissue
carcin/o
malignant
osteo/o
bone
endo
within, inside of
peri
around
circum
around
retro
behind
epi
upon, on top
trans
through
intra
within
sub
below
cardi/o
heart
brady
slow
tachy
fast
angi/o
vessel
veno/phlebo
vein
-stasis
to stop
-cyte
cell
hem/o, -emia
blood
atherosclerosis
Literally, “hardening of the fatty stuff.” High fat diets can lead to formation of fatty plaques lining blood vessels. These fatty areas can become calcified and hard leading to arteriosclerosis, hardening of the arteries. When blood vessels become less stretchable, blood pressure rises and can result in heart and kidney damage and strokes.
myocardial infarction (MI)
An infarction is blockage of blood flow resulting in death of muscle tissue. Layman’s language for this is a “heart attack.” The blockage occurs in one of the arteries of the heart muscle itself, a coronary artery. Depending upon how much tissue dies, a victim of an MI may survive and undergo cardiac rehabilitation, strengthening the remaining heart muscle, or may die if too much muscle tissue is destroyed.
mitral prolapse
Blood flows through four chambers in the heart separated by one-way valves. A major valve is the one separating the upper and lower chambers on the left side of the heart. The left side is especially important because freshly oxygenated blood returning from the lungs is circulated out of the heart to the rest of the body. The left valve, called atrioventricular, for the chambers it separates, is also called the mitral valve, because it is shaped like an upside down Bishop’s hat, a miter. If the flaps of this valve tear away due to disease, the process is called prolapse, “a falling forward.”
stenosis
Sometimes a valve is abnormally narrow causing partial obstruction constricting flow. Stenosis means “a narrowing.”
regurgitation
Mitral prolapse results in leakage and backward flow called “regurgitation”
angina pectoris
Literally, “pain in the chest.” But, this is a special kind of pain associated with the heart and is distinctive as “crushing, vise-like”, and often accompanied by shortness of breath, fatigue and nausea. Anginal pain indicates not enough blood is getting to the heart muscle, and the heart is protesting and begging for more. People with a history of angina often take nitroglycerine tablets to relieve the pain by increasing blood flow to the heart muscle.
arrhythmia/dysrhythmia
Abnormal heart rates and rhythms all have special names like ventricular tachycardia, fibrillation, but generically are termed arrhythmias or dysrhythmia, meaning “no rhythm” and “abnormal rhythm.” There are fine distinctions between the two, but they are often used interchangeably.
ischema
Sometimes the heart muscle is not getting enough blood flow, more importantly, the oxygen the blood carries is insufficient to sustain muscle which has a very high metabolic rate, and oxygen demand. The term loosely means “not quite enough blood.” Typically, the patient suffers angina pain (see above) and they may think they are having a heart attack. And, they may be!
electrocardiogram (ECG/EKG)
printout recording of the electrical activity of the heart
electrocardiography
using ultra high frequency sound waves (beyond human hearing), similar to “sonar,” to form an image of the inside of the heart. This procedure can demonstrate valve damage, congenital (before birth) defects and other abnormalities.
cardiac catheterization
a long hollow tube, a catheter, can be threaded into an artery up into the heart. Then material opaque to X-rays can be released into the blood flow through the heart imaging the details of coronary arteries. Typically used to identify a blockage and location in the coronary circulation.
phlebotomist/venipuncturist
the specially trained nurse or technician draws blood for lab tests and may also start IV’s (intravenous fluids). The Greek and Latin versions of “cutting into a vein.”
cephal/o
head
encephal/o
inside the head (brain)
menig/o
membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord
myel/o
spinal cord or bone marrow
neur/o
nerve
dys
difficult, painful, abnormal
-cele
hernia, abnormal protrusion of structure out of normal anatomical position
-pathy
disease, abnormality
-plasia
development, formation, growth
-plegia
paralysis
multiple sclerosis
Literally, “many hardenings,” MS is a disease of unknown cause that manifests as multiple hard plaques of degeneration of the insulating layer of nerve fibers in the central nervous system. The loss of insulation allows “short circuiting” of nerve impulses. Depending upon where the degeneration occurs, patients may suffer paralysis, sensory disturbances or blindness.
cerebrovascular accident (CVA)
the fancy name for a “stroke”. A blood vessel in the brain may burst causing internal bleeding. Or, a clot may arise in a brain blood vessel (a thrombus), or arise elsewhere (embolus) and travel to get stuck in a brain vessel which then deprives brain tissue of oxygen. Depending upon the area of the brain involved, the patient may suffer paralysis, loss of speech or loss of vision.
transient ischemic attack (TIA)
It literally means “not quite enough blood”. A short period of insufficient blood supply to the brain can have the same signs and symptoms as a stroke such as weakness in an arm, a partial loss of vision, but the problem lasts less than 24 hours. People who get TIA’s are at increased risk of having a stroke in the future.
epilepsy
a Greek word for “seizure.” Convulsions is another term used. Seizures may have many causes and not all seizures are epilepsy. High fevers in young children may trigger seizures which are short in duration, easily controlled and, typically, have no permanent aftereffects. Epilepsy is a specific condition which may occur at any age, seizures are more intense, longer lasting in duration, and recur with some frequency. The condition may be controlled with medication, or if unresponsive to drugs, may require surgery.
aphasia
loss of speech. The speech centers are located on the left side of the brain in a majority of people. If someone suffers a “stroke” (cerebrovascular accident-CVA), or traumatic brain injury, and it involves the left side of the brain, they may suffer speech impediments that vary over a spectrum of problems from difficulty in finding the right word, speaking slowly and with difficulty, or complete loss of speech. Actually, there are two speech centers. Injury described above involves the motor speech area, the area of the brain that produces language by integrating thoughts of speech with the movements of the larynx, lips and tongue. There is a second speech area, the receptive or sensory area, that enables us to understand speech. Injury to the latter results in still fluent speech, but the individual does not understand what they are hearing.
lumbar (spinal) puncture or tap (LP)
introducing a needle between the lower bony vertebrae of our spinal column allows a physician to sample the fluid, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), surrounding the brain and spinal cord. Lab tests on the fluid are used for diagnostic purposes such as presence of bacteria in meningitis, special proteins in multiple sclerosis, or blood cells.
brain scan
introducing a radioactive element into the blood can image possible tumors in the brain. The radioactive dose is very low and detectable only with special, very sensitive instruments
electroencephalography
an image (in this case a written recording) of the brain’s electrical activity. EEGs are used to diagnose different types of seizure disorders such as epilepsy, brain tumors, and are used in sleep research to identify stages of sleep.
computed tomography (CT)
a specialized X-ray machine that takes multiple images of a body area from different angles and has a computer that integrates the multiple images into “slices” of the body. The resolution is much better than standard X-rays and there is better differentiation of types of tissue (bone, air, solid organ).
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
Although the image produces the “slices” through the body seen by CT (see above), no X-rays are involved. The patient’s body is placed in a strong magnetic field. Radio pulses affect the resonance or “spin” of atoms in the tissues. A computer analyzes this information to show subtle differences in tissue molecular structure producing very high resolution and better differentiation of soft tissue, such as a tumor within the liver.
gastr/o
stomach
hepat/o
liver
chol/e
gall, bile
cyst/o
bladder, sac
emes/o
vomit
lith/o
stone
lapar/o
abdominal wall
-centesis
to puncture
-tripsy
to crush
-rrhea
flow, discharge
-iasis, -osis
abnormal condition
gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
Severe “heartburn” in laymen’s language. Weakness of the valve between the esophagus and stomach may allow stomach acid to reflux (regurgitate, backup) into the esophagus and irritate and inflame the lining. This results in chest pain which can mimic that of angina (pain of cardiac ischemia or an MI).
jaundice
Literally means “yellow” in French. Yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes from a backup of bile metabolic by-products from the blood into body tissues. May result from blockage of the ducts draining bile from the liver into the intestines or excessive breakdown of red blood cells. Hemoglobin from destroyed RBCs is broken down, and in part, ends up in bile secretions.
diverticulosis/diverticulitis
Small pouches may form along the walls of the large intestine called diverticuli which if symptomatic, causing discomfort to the patient, is called diverticulosis. These abnormal outpocketings may collect and not be able to empty fecal material which can lead to inflammation, diverticulitis.
cirrhosis
Literally, “orange-yellow” in Greek. A degenerative disease of the liver that often develops in chronic alcoholics, but can have other causes. The name refers to the gross appearance of the organ.
portal hypertension
A potential complication of chronic alcoholism resulting in liver damage and obstruction of venous blood flow through the liver. The rising blood pressure in the veins between the gastrointestinal tract and liver causes engorgement of veins around the umbilicus (navel). The characteristic radiating pattern of veins is called a “caput medusae” (head of Medusa).
esophageal varices
bulging, engorged veins in the walls of the esophagus are often a complication of chronic alcoholism (see portal hypertension). The thin-walled, swollen veins are at risk of tearing resulting in severe, possibly fatal, bleeding.
dysphagia
Difficulty swallowing. May be related to GERD (see above), esophageal tumor or other causes.
crohn’s disease
a chronic inflammatory disease primarily of the bowel. Typical symptoms are abdominal pain, weight loss, diarrhea. There may also be rectal bleeding that can lead to anemia. Special X-rays and tests are needed to differentiate Crohn’s from other diseases with similar symptoms.
peritonitis
Inflammation of the lining of the abdominal cavity. Before antibiotics, people would die from peritonitis if an inflamed appendix burst. Indications of peritonitis are called “peritoneal signs”: tender abdomen, rebound pain (pain when manual pressure released from examining abdomen), board-like rigidity of abdominal muscles, no bowel sounds (gurgles). The peritoneal membrane is very sensitive to exposure to foreign substances. Contact with blood, bile, urine, pus will cause peritoneal signs.
guaiac test (hemoccult, fecult)
a special chemical test to identify blood in the stool (feces). Blood in the stool may have many causes including cancer and hemorrhoids
upper GI series
a series of X-rays of the esophagus and stomach and small intestines having the patient swallow a “milkshake” of barium. The element barium is opaque, i.e. blocks , X-rays. This procedure may be used to identify problems with swallowing, stomach ulcers, twisting of the small intestines.
lower GI series
a series of X-rays using a barium enema to show the large intestine and rectum. This procedure can be used to identify problems such as diverticulitis/diverticulosis, and tumors.
endoscopy
use of a flexible fiberoptic instrument attached to a video camera that can be used to directly visualize the esophagus, stomach and large bowel. Special names may be used for each area explored such as colonoscopy.
ultrasonography (ultrasound)
a procedure using high frequency sound waves to visualize internal organs. Primarily used to visualize abdominal and pelvic organs, such as the pregnant uterus.
rhin/o
nose
