Anatomy: The study of form. Gross anatomy involves structures that can be seen with the naked eye. It is as opposed to microscopic anatomy (or histology) which involves structures seen under the microscope. Traditionally, both gross and microscopic anatomy have been studied in the first year of medical school in the U.S. The most celebrated textbook of anatomy in the English-speaking world is Gray's Anatomy, still a useful reference book. The word "anatomy" comes from the Greek ana- meaning up or through + tome meaning a cutting. Anatomy was once a "cutting up" because the structure of the body was originally learned through dissecting it, cutting it up. The abbreviation for anatomy is anat.
Anesthesia: Loss of feeling or awareness. A general anesthetic puts the person to sleep. A local anesthetic causes loss of feeling in a part of the body such as a tooth or an area of skin without affecting consciousness. Regional anesthesia numbs a larger part of the body such as a leg or arm, also without affecting consciousness. The term "conduction anesthesia" encompasses both local and regional anesthetic techniques. Many surgical procedures can be done with conduction anesthesia without significant pain. In many situations, such as a C-section, conduction anesthesia is safer and therefore preferable to general anesthesia. However, there are also many types of surgery in which general anesthesia is clearly appropriate.
Areola: 1. The small darkened area around the nipple of the breast. 2. The colored part of the iris around the pupil of the eye. 3. Any small space in a tissue.
Arms: An appendage in anatomy and in clinical trials. See: Arm.
Axilla: The cavity beneath the junction of the arm and the body, better known as the armpit.
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Breast : The breast refers to the front of the chest or, more specifically, to the mammary gland. The mammary gland is a milk producing gland. It is composed largely of fat. Within the mammary gland is a complex network of branching ducts. These ducts exit from sac-like structures called lobules, which can produce milk in females. The ducts exit the breast at the nipple.
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Breast cancer: Breast cancer is diagnosed with self- and physician-examination of the breasts, mammography, ultrasound testing, and biopsy. There are many types of breast cancer that differ in their capability of spreading to other body tissues (metastasis). Treatment of breast cancer depends on the type and location of the breast cancer, as well as the age and health of the patient. The American Cancer Society recommends that a woman should have a baseline mammogram between the ages of 35 and 40 years. Between 40 and 50 years of age mammograms are recommended every other year. After age 50 years, yearly mammograms are recommended.
Cancer: An abnormal growth of cells which tend to proliferate in an uncontrolled way and, in some cases, to metastasize (spread).
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Catheter: A thin, flexible tube . For example, a catheter placed in a vein provides a pathway for giving drugs, nutrients, fluids, or blood products. Samples of blood can also be withdrawn through the catheter.
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Chemotherapy : 1. In the original sense, a chemical that binds to and specifically kills microbes or tumor cells. The term chemotherapy was coined in this regard by Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915).
2. In oncology, drug therapy for cancer. Also called "chemo" for short.
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Condition: The term "condition" has a number of biomedical meanings including the following: - An unhealthy state, such as in "this is a progressive condition."
- A state of fitness, such as "getting into condition."
- Something that is essential to the occurrence of something else; essentially a "precondition."
- As a verb: to cause a change in something so that a response that was previously associated with a certain stimulus becomes associated with another stimulus; to condition a person, as in behavioral conditioning.
Disease: Illness or sickness often characterized by typical patient problems (symptoms) and physical findings (signs). Disruption sequence: The events that occur when a fetus that is developing normally is subjected to a destructive agent such as the rubella (German measles) virus.
Family: 1. A group of individuals related by blood or marriage or by a feeling of closeness. 2. A biological classification of related plants or animals that is a division below the order and above the genus. 3. A group of genes related in structure and in function that descended from an ancestral gene. 4. A group of gene products similarly related in structure and function and of shared genetic descent. 5. Parents and their children. The most fundamental social group in humans.
Gray: A unit of absorbed radiation equal to the dose of one joule of energy absorbed per kilogram of matter, or 100 rad . The unit is named for the British physician L. Harold Gray (1905-1965), an authority on the use of radiation in the treatment of cancer. The abbreviation for a gray is Gy. See also: Milligray .
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Health: As officially defined by the World Health Organization, a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
Hospital: It may seem unnecessary to define a "hospital" since everyone knows the nature of a hospital. A hospital began as a charitable institution for the needy, aged, infirm, or young.
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Incision: A cut. When making an incision, a surgeon is making a cut.
Lymph: An almost colorless fluid that travels through vessels called lymphatics in the lymphatic system and carries cells that help fight infection and disease.
Mammogram : An X-ray of the breast with the breast in a device that compresses and flattens it. There are two basic mammogram tests -- screening mammograms and diagnostic mammograms.
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Mastectomy: A general term for removal of the breast , usually to remove cancerous tissue. The operation can be done in a hospital or in an outpatient clinic, depending on how extensive it needs to be. It takes from two to three hours, with three to five weeks for full recovery. Drainage shunts are left in the surgical incision for a few days after the operation; these are removed in three to five days if the area is healing normally. After the mastectomy, reconstructive surgery may be performed to restore a more normal appearance. Many patients choose to avoid reconstructive surgery, and wear special undergarments instead. In cases of non- metastatic breast cancer , a lumpectomy, radiation, chemotherapy , or a combination of these treatments may prove a viable alternative to mastectomy. If a lumpectomy is chosen, the surgeon may remove some lymph node tissue from under the arms to make sure cancer has not spread.
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Medication: 1. A drug or medicine. 2. The administration of a drug or medicine. (Note that "medication" does not have the dangerous double meaning of "drug.")
Nipple: The pigmented projection on the surface of the breast. Ducts that conduct milk from the mammary glands to the surface of the breast exit through the nipple. The surrounding flat area of pigmentation is the areola.
Operation: Although there are many meanings to the word "operation", in medicine it refers to a surgical procedure.
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Outpatient: A patient who is not an inpatient (not hospitalized) but instead is cared for elsewhere -- as in a doctor's office, clinic, or day surgery center. The term outpatient dates back at least to 1715. Outpatient care today is also called ambulatory care.
Pain: An unpleasant sensation that can range from mild, localized discomfort to agony. Pain has both physical and emotional components. The physical part of pain results from nerve stimulation. Pain may be contained to a discrete area, as in an injury, or it can be more diffuse, as in disorders like fibromyalgia . Pain is mediated by specific nerve fibers that carry the pain impulses to the brain where their conscious appreciation may be modified by many factors.
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Plastic surgeon: A surgeon who specializes in reducing scarring or disfigurement that may occur as a result of accidents, birth defects , or treatment for diseases, such as melanoma .
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Plastic surgery: The field of surgery concerned with reducing scarring or disfigurement that may occur as a result of accidents, birth defects , or treatment for diseases, such as melanoma .
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Prosthetic: Referring to a prosthesis, an artificial substitute or replacement of a part of the body such as a tooth , eye, a facial bone, the palate , a hip, a knee or another joint , the leg, an arm, etc. A prosthesis is designed for functional or cosmetic reasons or both.
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Radiation: 1. Rays of energy. Gamma rays and X-rays are two of the types of energy waves often used in medicine. 2. The use of energy waves to diagnose or treat disease. See also: Irradiation.
Recurrence: The return of a sign, symptom or disease after a remission. The reappearance of cancer cells at the same site or in another location is, unfortunately, a familiar form of recurrence.
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Saline: Relating to salt. As an adjective, "saline" means "salty, containing salt." As a noun "saline" is a salt solution, often adjusted to the normal salinity of the human body.
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Sense: In biology and medicine, the faculty of sensory reception. The ability to convey specific types of external or internal stimuli to the brain and perceive them. Sensory reception occurs through a process known as transduction in which stimuli are converted into nerve impulses which are relayed to the brain.
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Skin: The skin is the body's outer covering. It protects us against heat and light, injury, and infection. It regulates body temperature and stores water, fat, and vitamin D. Weighing about 6 pounds, the skin is the body's largest organ. It is made up of two main layers; the outer epidermis and the inner dermis.
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Surgeon: A physician who treats disease, injury, or deformity by operative or manual methods. A medical doctor specialized in the removal of organs, masses and tumors and in doing other procedures using a knife (scalpel). The definition of a "surgeon" has begun to blur in recent years as surgeons have begun to minimize the cutting, employ new technologies that are "minimally invasive," use scopes, etc.
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Surgery: The word "surgery" has multiple meanings. It is the branch of medicine concerned with diseases and conditions which require or are amenable to operative procedures. Surgery is the work done by a surgeon. By analogy, the work of an editor wielding his pen as a scalpel is s form of surgery. A surgery in England (and some other countries) is a physician's or dentist's office.
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Suture: 1. A type of joint between the bones of the skull where the bones are held tightly together by fibrous tissue. 2. Thread-like material used to sew tissue together. 3. To stitch a wound closed.
The word suture came with little change from the Latin sutura, "a sewn seam." In Latin, the verb suere is "to sew, stitch, or tack together."
Tissue: A tissue in medicine is not like a piece of tissue paper. It is a broad term that is applied to any group of cells that perform specific functions. A tissue in medicine need not form a layer. Thus, - The bone marrow is a tissue;
- Connective tissue consists of cells that make up fibers in the framework supporting other body tissues; and
- Lymphoid tissue is the part of the body's immune system that helps protect it from bacteria and other foreign entities.
Trauma: Any injury , whether physically or emotionally inflicted. "Trauma" has both a medical and a psychiatric definition. Medically, "trauma" refers to a serious or critical bodily injury, wound, or shock . This definition is often associated with trauma medicine practiced in emergency rooms and represents a popular view of the term. In psychiatry , "trauma" has assumed a different meaning and refers to an experience that is emotionally painful, distressful, or shocking, which often results in lasting mental and physical effects.
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Tumor: An abnormal mass of tissue. Tumors are a classic sign of inflammation, and can be benign or malignant (cancerous). There are dozens of different types of tumors. Their names usually reflect the kind of tissue they arise in, and may also tell you something about their shape or how they grow. For example, a medulloblastoma is a tumor that arises from embryonic cells (a blastoma) in the inner part of the brain (the medulla). Diagnosis depends on the type and location of the tumor. Tumor marker tests and imaging may be used; some tumors can be seen (for example, tumors on the exterior of the skin) or felt (palpated with the hands).
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Urinary: Having to do with the kidneys, ureters, and bladder. The urinary system represents the functional and anatomic aspects of the kidneys, ureters, and bladder.
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- Breast Cancer - Get the facts on breast cancer symptoms, signs, stages, types, research, risk factors, diagnosis, prevention information and treatment options: mastectomy, chemotherapy, radiation therapy.
- Plastic Surgery (Cosmetic Surgery) - Plastic surgery is becoming more popular for people of all ages. Plastic or cosmetic surgery may give you a sense of well-being and self-confidence.
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