Glossary

Author: Glossary

  • Flat panel image detector

    An image detector, usually composed of selenium or silicon, that is used in digital radiography to convert x-rays into light or an electronic signal.  

  • Flame ionization detector

    A device used in gas chromatography in which a sample burned in a flame changes the conductivity between two electrodes.  

  • Detector

    A device for determining the presence of something, as an image detector. The instrument employed to detect the happening of an incident.  

  • Detail

    The resolution of a radiologic image; the clarity or distortion of its individual elements.  

  • Desynchronosis

    An upset of a person’s internal biological clock, caused by the difference between the time at a person’s present location and the time to which the person is accustomed. This condition occurs in persons traveling across several time zones in a short period. The lay term for this condition is “jet lag.”  

  • Desulfhydrase

    An enzyme that cleaves cysteine into hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and pyruvic acid.  

  • Destructive lesion

    A pathological change such as an infection, tumor, or injury that causes the death of tissue or an organ.  

  • Destructive

    Causing ruin or destruction; the opposite of constructive.  

  • Destination therapy

    The use of permanently implanted left ventricular assist devices to treat patients with severe end-stage heart failure. Destination therapy is typically employed for patients who either are deemed poor candidates for heart transplantation or for those who cannot obtain a heart for transplantation as a result of a shortage of organs.  

  • Desquamative

    Of the nature of desquamation, or pert, to or causing it.