Category: K
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Keratalgia
Pain felt in the cornea.
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Keller’s operation
A surgical operation on the big toe to remove a bunion or to correct an ankylosed joint [Described 1904. After William Lordan Keller (1874-1959), US surgeon.] A surgical procedure occasionally employed to address hallux valgus, a condition involving the misalignment of the big toe. This intervention entails the removal of a segment of bone from…
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Kayser-fleischer ring
A brown ring on the outer edge of the cornea, which is a diagnostic sign of hepatolenticular degeneration [Described 1902 by Kayser, 1903 by Fleischer. Bernard Kayser (1869—1954), German ophthalmologist; Bruno Richard Fleischer (1848-1904), German physician.] A pigmented ring seen within the limbus of patients with Wilson’s disease and some other liver disorders.
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Kawasaki disease
A retrovirus infection that often occurs in small children and causes a high temperature, rash, reddened eyes, peeling skin and swollen lymph nodes. Acute illness, primarily in children, characterized by a rash, swollen lymph glands, fever, inflammation of the mucous membranes of the mouth, and a strawberry tongue; joint pain, pneumonia, meningitis, cardiac abnormalities, and…
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Kartagener’s syndrome
A hereditary condition in which all the organs in the chest and abdomen are positioned on the opposite side from the usual one, i.e. the heart and stomach are on the right. An inherited lung disease characterized by recurrent bronchial infections, male infertility, and a condition called situs inversus, in which the heart is found…
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Kala-azar
An often fatal form of leishmaniasis caused by the infection of the intestines and internal organs by a parasite, Leishmania, spread by flies. Symptoms are fever, anaemia, general wasting of the body and swelling of the spleen and liver. Visceral form of leishmaniasis. Occurring mainly in warm regions of Asia, Africa, Central and South America,…
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Kahn test
A test of blood serum to diagnose syphilis [Described 1922. After Reuben Leon Kahn, Lithuanian-born serologist who worked in the USA.]
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Kiting
Increasing the quantity of a drug ordered by a prescription. Either the patient or pharmacist may kite the quantity of the original prescription, for example, by adding zeros to the number shown on a prescription. When done by a pharmacist, he then provides the patient with the quantity originally prescribed but bills a third party,…
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Kerr-mills
Popular name for the Social Security Amendments of 1960 which expanded and modified the Federal government’s existing responsibility for assisting the States in paying for medical care for the aged poor. The Act liberalized Federal sharing in vendor payments for medical care under the Federal/State old-age cash assistance program. It also created a new public…
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Keogh act plan
A plan, available since 1963, under the Self-Employed Individual’s Tax Retirement Act (Keogh Act), which permits a self-employed individual (such as a private physician) to establish a formal retirement plan including himself and to obtain tax advantages similar to those available for qualified corporate pension plans. Self-employed individuals can annually set aside up to fifteen…