Medical Glossary
- ABBOTT METHOD
- For scoliosis of the spine; traction is applied to produce overcorrection, followed by casting.
- ABDOMINAL MUSCLES
- Important for support of the spine, these muscles are the rectus abdominis, external oblique, internal oblique, and transversus.
- ABDUCTION
- Movement away from midline of body in frontal plane; applied to hip, shoulder, fingers, thumb, and foot.
- ABRASION
- Any superficial scraping of skin tissue or mucous membrane mechanically or through injury.
- ABSCESS
- Localized collection of pus in a cavity which may form in any tissue.
- ACHONDROPLASTIC STENOSIS
- Increased vertebral thickness, marked concavity of the vertebral body, and shortened pedicles.
- ACOUSTIC NEURINOMAS
- Benign tumor of the hearing nerve (eighth nerve). A progressively enlarging, benign tumor, usually within the internal auditory canal or hearing nerve.
- ACROMEGALY
- Disorder marked by progressive enlargement of the head, face, hands, feet, and thorax, due to the excessive secretion of growth hormone.
- ACTION TREMOR
- A type of tremor that occurs during voluntary movements, such as lifting a cup to one's mouth.
- ACTIVA TREMOR CONTROL THERAPY
- The therapy uses an implanted device to deliver mild electrical stimulation to block the brain signals that cause tremor. The therapy stimulates the target nuclei in the thalamus via an insulated wire lead with electrodes that are surgically implanted in the brain and connected to a pulse generator that is implanted near the collarbone. The stimulation level can be adjusted to get the most possible tremor control with minimal side effects.
- ACUTE
- Severe, for a short time.
- ADENOCARCINOMA
- Cancer arising from secretory cells, often in a gland. Breast and pancreatic cancers are usually adenocarcinomas.
- ADENOMA
- A benign growth formed of glandular tissue.
- ADOLESCENT SCOLIOSIS
- Lateral curvature of the spine occurring during adolescence.
- ADULT SCOLIOSIS
- Scoliosis occuring after skeletal maturity.
- AEBI, ETTER, AND COSICA
- Anterior approach to inferior C-2 to fractured dens with screws.
- AEDs
- Antiepileptic drugs.
- AFFERENT NEURON
- Transmitting impulses to the central nervous system.
- AGNOSIA
- Absence of the ability to recognize the form and nature of persons and things.
- AGRAPHIA
- Loss of the power of writing due either to muscular incoordination or to an inability to phrase thought.
- ALAR DYSGENESIS
- Abnormality in development of the sacroiliac joint.
- ALBEE
- Fusion of the spine using grafts across the spinous processes in spondylolisthesis.
- ALLOGRAFT BONE
- Sterile bone derived from another human which is used for grafting procedures.
- AMAUROSIS
- Loss of vision without discoverable lesion in the eye structures or optic nerve. Amaurosis fugax - temporary blindness occurring in short periods.
- AMENORRHEA
- Absence of the menses due to causes other than pregnancy or advancing age.
- AMNESIA
- Loss of memory caused by brain damage or by severe emotional trauma.
- ANALGESIA
- Loss of sensibility to pain, loss of response to a painful stimulus.
- ANAPLASIA
- In the case of a body cell, a reversion to a more primitive condition. A term used to denote the alteration in cell character which constitutes malignancy.
- ANASTOMOSIS
- A communication, direct or indirect: A joining together. In the nervous system a jointing of nerves or blood vessels.
- ANENCEPHALY
- Absence of the greater part of the brain, often with skull deformity.
- ANEROLATERAL APPROACH
- An approach to the dorsal spine by rib resection to explore the spine anteriorly and in some cases to do spinal fusions and decompressions spinal cord.
- ANESTHESIA
- Loss of sensation of a body part; or of the body when induced by the administration of a drug.
- ANESTHESIOLOGIST
- Physician who administers pain-killing medications during surgery.
- ANESTHESIOLOGIST
- Physician who administers pain-killing medications during surgery.
- ANEURYSM
- Dilation of an artery, formed by a circumscribed enlargement of its wall. Saccular (berry) aneurysm - sac-like bulging on one side of an artery usually arising at an arterial branching.
- ANGIOGRAM
- A study which shows the blood vessels leading to and in the brain by injecting a dye or contrast substance through a catheter placed in the artery in the leg.
- ANGIOGRAPHY
- Radiography of blood vessels using the injection of material opaque to x-rays to give better definition to the vessels.
- ANGIOMA
- A tumor whose cells tend to form blood vessels (hemangioma) or lymph vessels (lymphangioma).
- ANISOSPONDYLY
- Different abnormal shapes of the vertebral bodies.
- ANKYLOSING SPINAL HYPEROSTOSIS
- Arthritic disorder in which bridgingosteophytes located anteriorly and posteriorly on the vertebral body bind two or more vertebrae together; Forestier disease.
- ANKYLOSING SPONDYLITIS
- stiffening or fixation of the vertebra; an inflammatory joint disease mainly affecting the spine hips, and pelvis.
- ANNULUS FIBROSUS
- The outer, fibrous, ring-like portion of an intervertebral disc.
- ANOREXIA
- Loss of appetite; a condition marked by loss of appetite leading to weight loss.
- ANOSMIC
- Without the sense of smell.
- ANOXIA
- Total lack of oxygen supply.
- ANTERIOR
- Front of the body or situated nearer the front of the body.
- ANTERIOR APPROACH
- When used to approach the cervical, cervicodorsal, dorsal, and lumbar spines, it is designed to provide sufficient surface for multiple segmental spinal fusions; Hodgson, Roaf. For specific cervical spinal explorations and fusions; Southwick and Robinson, Bailey and Badgley, Whitesides and kelly, Henry (to vertebral artery).
- ANTERIOR CERVICAL DISCECTOMY
- an operation where the cervical spine is reached through a small incision in the front of your neck. After the soft tissues of the neck are separated, the intervertebral disc and bone spurs are removed.
- ANTERIOR CERVICAL DISCECTOMY WITH FUSION
- an operation performed on the upper spine to relieve pressure on one or more nerve roots, or on the spinal cord. The term is derived from the words anterior (front), cervical (neck), and fusion (joining the vertebrae with a bone graft).
- ANTERIOR DISPLACEMENT
- Forward movement of the superior segment on the inferior one.
