Author: Glossary

Surgical incision into the perineum. A surgical cut made in the perineum, often performed during childbirth to facilitate the baby’s head emerging without causing tearing to the vulva and potential damage to the rectum and other vital structures.  

Progressive disease of connective tissue characterized by nodules (often large) along arteries that may cause blockage of the artery and result in inadequate circulation to the affected area. Symptoms include pain, fever, and as the disease progresses, signs of lung, kidney, and intestinal damage. Treatment is by corticosteroids. Also called polyarteritis nodosa. A medical condition…

Any abnormality that interferes with the recognition and interpretation of sensory stimuli; it may occur in organic brain disorders and certain other disorders.  

Drug for the treatment of claudication, thought to work by increasing the flexibility of the red blood cell, and thus its ability to flow through blood vessels.  

Sedative used as a preoperative sedative, to control convulsions, and to treat insomnia and agitation. Adverse effects include respiratory and circulatory depression, withdrawal symptoms on discontinuance, and the potential for addiction. A barbiturate drug used to relieve insomnia and agitation and also as an anticonvulsant. It is administered by mouth, injection, or in suppositories. Side-effects…

Semirigid, cylindrical plastic device surgically placed within the penis to treat impotence. The penis is maintained in a semi-erect state at all times. There is usually no effect on the recipient’s ability to urinate. Surgical insertion of semiflexible plastic rods or an inflatable prosthesis in the penis. A penile implant provides erections in men who…

Infection with penicillium, usually a pulmonary infection. Infection with the fungi of the genus Penicillium.  

Large, fan-shaped muscle of the upper chest wall that acts on the shoulder, flexing and rotating the arm.  

To or arising from disease (e.g., pathologic fracture, fracture arising from bone disease, not from injury). Disease or the alterations in structure and function caused by disease give rise to the defining features. Pathologic heart murmurs have the potential to serve as indicators of a malfunction in the heart.  

Comparison of blood types among mother, child, and a man suspected of fathering the child in an effort to determine the father. If the child’s blood group could not have resulted from the combination of the man’s blood group with that of the woman, then the man is definitely not the father of the child.…