Words to Know Before Your Next Doctor's Visit

Word List with 23 words
By Dictionary.com

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Words in This List

sublingual

Situated under the tongue, or on the underside of the tongue.

laparoscopic

A flexible fiberoptic instrument, passed through a small incision in the abdominal wall and equipped with biopsy forceps, an obturator, scissors or the like, with which to examine the abdominal cavity or perform minor surgery.

biopsy

The removal for diagnostic study of a piece of tissue from a living body.

epidermis

The outer, nonvascular, nonsensitive layer of the skin, covering the true skin or corium.

acute

Sharp or severe in effect; intense.

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expectorant

Promoting the discharge of phlegm or other fluid from the respiratory tract.

suppressant

A substance that suppresses an undesirable action or condition, such as a cough.

prognosis

A forecasting of the probable course and outcome of a disease, especially of the chances of recovery.

diagnosis

A determining or analysis of the cause or nature of a problem or situation.

incision

A cutting into, especially for surgical purposes.

resident

A physician who joins the medical staff of a hospital as a salaried employee for a specified period to gain advanced training usually in a particular field.

orderly

A hospital attendant having general, nonmedical duties.

sprain

A violent straining or wrenching of the parts around a joint, without dislocation.

dislocation

A body part out of order by displacing a bone from its normal connections with another bone.

fracture

The breaking of a bone, cartilage, or the like, or the resulting condition.

abscess

A localized collection of pus in the tissues of the body, often accompanied by swelling and inflammation and frequently caused by bacteria.

contusion

An injury, as from a blow with a blunt instrument, in which the subsurface tissue is injured but the skin is not broken; bruise.

wheeze

To breathe with difficulty usually with a whistling sound.

inoculate

To implant a disease agent or antigen in a person to stimulate disease resistance.

benign

Of no danger to health, especially relating to a tumorous growth.

malignant

Threatening to life, as a disease; virulent.

electrocardiogram

The graphic record produced by a galvanometric device that detects and records the minute differences in electric potential caused by heart action and occurring between different parts of the body.

An apparatus used to administer a fluid as of medication, blood, or nutrients intravenously.