Visit our new beta site!
Home  >  Categories  >  Medicine  >  Divisions, Diagnostics, and Procedures  >  Medicine
Categories:
  • Earth and the Environment
    • Atmosphere and Weather
    • Biographies
    • Ecology and Environmentalism
    • Geography
    • Geology and Oceanography
    • Minerals, Mining, and Metallurgy
  • History
    • Ancient Greece and Rome
    • Asia and Africa
    • Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific
    • Biographies
    • Historians and Chronicles
    • Latin America and the Caribbean
    • Modern Europe
    • United States and Canada
  • Literature and the Arts
    • Art and Architecture
    • Biographies
    • Classical Literature, Mythology, and Folklore
    • Fashion, Design, and Crafts
    • Journalism and Publishing
    • Language, Linguistics, and Literary Terms
    • Literature in English
    • Literature in Other Modern Languages
    • Performing Arts
    • Scholars and Historians
  • Medicine
    • Anatomy and Physiology
    • Biographies
    • Diseases and Conditions
    • Divisions, Diagnostics, and Procedures
    • Drugs
    • Psychology
  • People
    • History
    • Literature and the Arts
    • Medicine
    • Philosophy and Religion
    • Science and Technology
    • Social Sciences and the Law
    • Sports and Games
  • Philosophy and Religion
    • Ancient Religions
    • Biographies
    • Christianity
    • Eastern Religions
    • Islam
    • Judaism
    • Other Religious Beliefs and General Terms
    • Philosophy
    • The Bible
  • Places
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Australia and Oceania
    • Britain, Ireland, France, and the Low Countries
    • Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltic Nations
    • Germany, Scandinavia, and Central Europe
    • Latin America and the Caribbean
    • Oceans, Continents, and Polar Regions
    • Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and the Balkans
    • United States and Canada
  • Plants and Animals
    • Agriculture and Horticulture
    • Animals
    • Biographies
    • Botany
    • Microbes, Algae, and Fungi
    • Plants
    • Zoology and Veterinary Medicine
  • Science and Technology
    • Astronomy and Space Exploration
    • Biochemistry
    • Biographies
    • Biology and Genetics
    • Chemistry
    • Computers and Electrical Engineering
    • Mathematics
    • Physics
    • Technology
  • Social Sciences and the Law
    • Anthropology and Archaeology
    • Biographies
    • Economics, Business, and Labor
    • Education
    • Law
    • Political Science and Government
    • Sociology and Social Reform
  • Sports and Everyday Life
    • Biographies
    • Crafts and Household Items
    • Days and Holidays
    • Fashion and Clothing
    • Food and Drink
    • Games
    • Manners and Customs
    • Social Organizations
    • Sports
Documents for "Medicine":
  • abortion expulsion of the products of conception before the embryo or fetus is viable. Any interruption of human pregnancy prior to the 28th week is known as abortion. The term spontaneous abortion, or...
  • acupuncture technique of traditional Chinese medicine, in which a number of very fine metal needles are inserted into the skin at specially designated points. For thousands of years acupuncture has been used,...
  • alternative medicine the treatment and prevention of disease by techniques that are regarded by modern Western medicine as scientifically unproven or unorthodox. The term alternative medicine can encompass a wide range of therapies, including chiropractic , homeopathy , acupuncture , herbal medicine , meditation, biofeedback , massage therapy, and various "new age" therapies such as guided imagery and naturopathy. Although many alternative therapies have long been widely employed in the treatment of disease, the scientifically oriented modern medical...
  • amniocentesis diagnostic procedure in which a sample of the amniotic fluid surrounding a fetus is removed from the uterus by means of a fine needle inserted through the abdomen of the pregnant woman (see pregnancy ). The procedure can be done in a hospital or in a doctor's office. Ultrasound is used to determine the location of the fetus during the procedure. Fetal cells in the fluid can be grown in the laboratory and studied to detect the presence of certain genetic disorders (e.g., Down syndrome , Tay-Sachs disease ) or physical abnormalities (e.g., anencephaly, or incomplete development of the brain). The sample also can be examined to determine the gender of the fetus and has been used to preselect the sex...
  • amputation removal of all or part of a limb or other body part. Although amputation has been practiced for centuries, the development of sophisticated techniques for treatment and prevention of infection has...
  • anesthesia [Gr.,=insensibility], loss of sensation, especially that of pain , induced by drugs, especially as a means of facilitating safe surgical procedures. Early modern medical anesthesia dates to experiments...
  • anesthesiology branch of medicine concerned primarily with procedures for rendering patients insensitive to pain, and for supporting life systems under the strains of anesthesia and surgery. The anesthesiologist...
  • angioplasty any surgical repair of a blood vessel, especially balloon angioplasty or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, a treatment of coronary artery disease. In balloon angioplasty a balloon-tipped catheter is inserted through the skin into a blood vessel and maneuvered to the clogged portion of the artery. There it is threaded into the blockage and...
  • apheresis or hemapheresis , any procedure in which blood is drawn from a donor or patient and a component (platelets, plasma , or white blood cells) is separated out, the remaining blood components being returned to the body. Apheresis allows the donor's blood volume to replenish itself much more quickly than whole blood...
  • artificial life support systems that use medical technology to aid, support, or replace a vital function of the body that has been seriously damaged. Such techniques include artificial pacemakers , internal defibrillators , dialysis machines (see kidney, artificial ), and respirators. The use of life-support systems to prolong the life of a patient who has suffered apparently irreversible damage to a vital organ system may raise such ethical issues as the...
  • artificial limb mechanical replacement for a missing limb. An artificial limb, called a prosthesis, must be light and flexible to permit easy movement, but must also be sufficiently sturdy to support the weight of...
  • artificial respiration any measure that causes air to flow in and out of a person's lungs when natural breathing is inadequate or ceases, as in respiratory paralysis, drowning, electric shock, choking, gas or smoke...
  • Bellevue Hospital municipal hospital, in New York City. America's oldest public hospital, Bellevue developed from a "Publick Workhouse and House of Correction" commissioned in 1734. The establishment changed sites several times before 1811, when the site upon which it now stands was purchased. In 1860 the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, the first of...
  • bioethics in philosophy, a branch of ethics concerned with issues surrounding health care and the biological sciences. These issues include the morality of abortion , euthanasia , in vitro fertilization , and organ transplants (see transplantation, medical ). In the 1970s bioethics emerged as a discipline with its own experts, often professional philosophers, who developed university courses on the subject. Many hospitals now employ experts on...
  • biofeedback method for learning to increase one's ability to control biological responses, such as blood pressure, muscle tension, and heart rate. Sophisticated instruments are often used to measure...
  • biopsy examination of cells or tissues removed from a living organism. Excised material may be studied in order to diagnose disease or to confirm findings of normality. Preparatory techniques depend on...
  • birth control practice of contraception for the purpose of limiting reproduction.
  • blood bank site or mobile unit for collecting, processing, typing, and storing whole blood , blood plasma and other blood constituents. Most hospitals maintain their own blood reserves, and the American Red Cross provides a nationwide collection and distribution service. The Red Cross...
  • blood count method for determining the number of red (erythrocytes) and white (leukocytes) blood cells in a certain volume of blood. This test can be used as a preliminary step in diagnosing some diseases...
  • blood substitute substance that mimics the function of blood. Blood substitutes typically concentrate only on reproducing the function of hemoglobin , the molecule that carries oxygen through the body, and do not attempt to replicate the blood's other functions. Blood donated by humans must be refrigerated, can be contaminated by such diseases as AIDS and hepatitis , and is often in short supply. Designers of blood substitutes hope to eliminate these problems and develop genetically engineered or chemical products that will be tolerated by people of all blood...
  • blood test examination of blood routinely or as an aid in diagnosing a suspected disease. Tests may be performed on whole blood or on the plasma portion only. Blood typing identifies the proteins at specific sites on red blood...
  • blood transfusion transfer of blood from one person to another, or from one animal to another of the same species. Transfusions are performed to replace a substantial loss of blood and as supportive treatment in...
  • bloodletting also called bleeding, practice of drawing blood from the body in the treatment of disease. General bloodletting consists of the abstraction of blood by incision into an artery (arteriotomy) or vein...
  • breast implant saline- or silicone-filled prosthesis used after mastectomy as a part of the breast reconstruction process or used cosmetically to augment small breasts. An implant consists of a fluid-filled, malleable pouch that is designed to mimic to the look and feel...
  • bronchoscope long, tubular instrument with a light at the tip that is inserted through the windpipe and bronchial tubes to examine these structures. By passing other instruments through it, foreign bodies and...
  • cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), emergency procedure used to treat victims of cardiac and respiratory arrest. CPR can be done in a hospital with drugs and special equipment or as a first-aid technique. In either case it is...
  • CAT scan [ c omputerized a xial t omography], X-ray technique that allows relatively safe, painless, and rapid diagnosis in previously inaccessible areas of the body; also called CT scan. An X-ray tube, rotating around a specific area of the body,...
  • cautery searing or destruction of living animal tissue by use of heat or caustic chemicals. In the past, cauterization of open wounds, even those following amputation of a limb, was performed with hot...
  • cesarean section delivery of an infant by surgical removal from the uterus through an abdominal incision. The operation is of ancient origin: indeed, the name derives from the legend that Julius Caesar was born in...
  • chiropractic [Gr.,=doing by hand], medical practice based on the theory that all disease results from a disruption of the functions of the nerves. The principal source of interference is thought to be...
  • chorionic villus sampling (CVS) or chorionic villus biopsy (CVB) , diagnostic procedure in which a sample of chorionic villi from the developing placenta is removed from the uterus of a pregnant woman (see pregnancy ) using a fine needle inserted through the abdomen or a thin plastic catheter inserted into the vagina and through the cervix. Chorionic villi are fingerlike projections of a membrane (the chorion)...
  • circumcision operation to remove the foreskin covering the glans of the penis. It dates back to prehistoric times and was widespread throughout the Middle East as a religious rite before it was introduced...
  • clinic name for an institution providing medical diagnosis and treatment for ambulatory patients. The forerunner of the modern clinic was the dispensary, which dispensed free drugs and served only those...
  • contact lens thin plastic lens worn between the eye and eyelid that may be used instead of eyeglasses. Actors, models, and others wear them for appearance, and athletes use them for safety and convenience...
  • cosmetic surgery plastic surgery for cosmetic purposes, such as the improvement of the appearance of the face by removing wrinkles or reshaping the nose.
  • cryosurgery bloodless surgical technique using a supercooled probe to destroy diseased or superfluous tissue. Liquid nitrogen circulating through the instrument cools it to temperatures as low as -196°C...