| Adhesions |
A fibrous band or structure by
which parts abnormally adhere. |
| Avulsion |
Tearing away. A nerve can be
avulsed by an injury, as can part of a bone. |
| Cellulitis |
An acute, diffuse, spreading,
oedematous, suppurative inflammation of the deep subcutaneous
tissues and sometimes muscle,
which may be associated with abscess formation.
It is usually caused by infection
of an operative or traumatic wound, burn or other cutaneous lesion by various
bacteria, but group A streptococci and Staphylococcus aureus are the most
common etiologically agents. |
| Collision |
A nitro-cellulose solution
in ether and alcohol. Collation has a wide range of uses in industry including
applications in the manufacture of photographic film, in fibbers, in lacquers,
and in engraving and lithography. In medicine it is used as a drug solvent
and a wound sealant.
Pharmacological action: pharmaceutic
aid, tissue adhesives. |
| Comminuted |
The process of grinding or crushing
a solid into fine particles. |
| Crepitus |
A crankily, crackling or grating
feeling or sound in the joints, skin or lungs. |
| CSF rhinorrhoea |
The leakage of a clear fluid
out the nose. May be seen in cases of basilar skull fracture. |
| Edentulous |
Without teeth. |
| Emphysema |
A pathological accumulation of
air in tissues or organs, applied especially to such a condition of the
lungs. |
| Exophthalmos |
An abnormal protrusion of the
eyeball in the orbit when observed from the side. Quantification can be
made using an exophthalmomometer. |
| Epiphoria |
The watery eye; a disease in
which the tears accumulate in the eye, and trickle over the cheek. |
| Epistaxis |
Nosebleed, haemorrhage from the
nose. |
| Fundascope |
Observation of the optic disc,
retina and blood vessels. May be examined by direct or indirect
ophthalmoscopy |
| Glabella |
The space between the eyebrows,
also including the corresponding part of the frontal bone; the mesophryon.
Glabel"lar. |
| Herniation |
Bulging of tissue through an
opening in a membrane, muscle or bone. |
| Malocclusion |
Poor positioning or inappropriate
contact between the teeth on closure. |
| Occlusion |
The relationship between all
of the components of the masticatory system in normal function, dysfunction
and parafunction. |
| Pathognomic |
Specially or decisively characteristic
of a disease; indicating with certainty a disease; as, a
pathognomonic symptom. "The true
pathognomonic sign of love jealousy." (Arbuthnot) |
| Pneumocephalus |
Presence of air within the skull
due to fistulous tract formation, penetrating wounds, fractures, erosions
from tumours or infections, surgery, or may occur spontaneously. |
| Proptosis |
Forward projection or displacement
especially of the eyeball: exophthalmos |
| Pseudoprognathism |
Projection of the jaws
due to injury. Prog"nathy. |
| Ptosis |
The drooping of the upper eyelid
from paralysis of the third nerve or from loss of sympathetic
innervation. |
| Strabismus |
A deviation of the eye which
the patient cannot overcome. The visual axes assume a position relative
to each other different from that required by the physiological conditions.
The various forms of strabismus are spoken of as tropias, their direction
being indicated by the appropriate prefix, as cyclo tropia, esotropia,
exotropia, hypertropia and hypotropia. Also called cast, heterotropia,
manifest deviation and squint. |
| Subluxation |
he abnormal movement of one of
the bones that comprise a joint. Not a true dislocation. A partial dislocation.
An example of this would be radial head subluxation in the elbow (nursemaids
elbow). Severe arthritis with advanced deformation of the joint space can
result in subluxation. |
| Tomography |
A method of computed tomography
that uses radionuclides which emit a single photon of a given energy. The
camera is rotated 180 or 360 degrees around the patient to capture images
at multiple positions along the arc. The computer is then used to reconstruct
the transaxial, sagittal, and coronal images from the 3-dimensional distribution
of radionuclides in the organ. The advantages of spect are that it can
be used to observe biochemical and physiological processes as well as size
and volume of the organ. The disadvantage is that, unlike positron-emission
tomography where the positron-electron annihilation results in the emission
of 2 photons at 180 degrees from each other, spect requires physical collimation
to line up the photons, which results in the loss of many available photons
and hence degrades the image. |
| Trismus |
Motor disturbance of the trigeminal
nerve, especially spasm of the masticatory muscles, with difficulty
in opening the mouth, a characteristic
early symptom of tetanus. |
