Medical Terminology: Disease and Treatment

Medical Terminology: Disease and Treatment

• Learning Objectives: Define basic terms related to disease and treatment, list major disease categories, identify main medical terminology related to disease and treatment, and interpret abbreviations and terms.
• Disease Definition: A disease is any disorder of normal body function. Diseases can be categorized into various types
• Acute Disease: Sudden, severe, and characterized by a short course.
• Chronic Disease: Of long duration and progressing slowly.
• Etiology: The cause of a disease.
• Immunity: All defenses against infectious disease.
• Pathogen: An organism capable of causing disease.
• Microorganism: An organism too small to be seen without a microscope.
• Phagocytosis: The ingestion of organisms (like bacteria) by a cell to destroy them.
• Neoplasia: Abnormal and uncontrolled growth of tissue.
• Malignant: Growing worse, harmful, and tending to cause death, often describing an invasive tumor.

Types of Diseases

• Infectious Diseases: Caused by harmful microorganisms or parasites.
• Degenerative Diseases: Caused by wear and tear, aging, or trauma, leading to tissue damage or necrosis.
• Neoplasia: Abnormal and uncontrolled growth.
• Immune Disorders: Failures of the immune system, including allergies and autoimmune diseases.
• Metabolic Disorders: Caused by lack of enzymes or factors needed for cellular functions; often hereditary.
• Hormonal Disorders: Caused by under or overproduction of hormones.
• Mental and Emotional Disorders: Affecting the mind.

Key Terms (Diagnosis and Treatment)

• Diagnosis: Determining the cause and nature of an illness.
• Surgery: Treating disease or injury with manual operations.
• Therapy: The treatment or intervention
• Anesthesia: Loss of feeling, often from drug administration.
• Chemotherapy: Treatment with chemicals, often for cancer.
• Immunotherapy: Treatment affecting the immune system.
• Contraindication: A factor that makes a drug's use undesirable or dangerous.
• Vital Signs: Measurements reflecting basic functions for life.
• Symptoms: Evidence of disease; can include pain, dizziness.
• Inspection: Visual examination of the body.
• Palpation: Examining by touch, to feel texture, temperature, movement.
• Auscultation: Listening for sounds within the body, often using a stethoscope.
• Stethoscope: Instrument for listening to internal sounds.
• Endoscope: Instrument for examining the interior of an organ or body cavity.

Key Terms (Disease Categories)

• Endemics: Occurring at a low but continuous level in a region.
• Epidemics: Affecting many in a region at the same time.
• Pandemics: Prevalent throughout an entire region or world.
• Nosocomial: An infection acquired in a hospital.
• Systemic Disease: Pertains to the whole body.
• Edema: Accumulation of fluid in tissues, causing swelling.
• Pus: Product of inflammation, consisting of fluid and white blood cells.
• Sepsis: Presence of harmful microorganisms or toxins in blood or tissues.

Key Terms: Word Parts per Medical Term

• -tropic: Acting on something (i.e., psychotropic: acting on the mind)
• anti-: Against (i.e., antiemetic: against vomiting)
• contra-: Against, opposite (i.e., contraceptive: preventing conception)
• hypn/o: sleep.
• **pyr/o, pyret/o: ** fever (i.e., antipyretic: counteracting fever)
• vas/o: vessel (i.e., vasodilation: widening of a vessel)

Key Terms: Words for Disease Used as Suffixes

• -dilation: Expansion, widening.
• -edema: Accumulation of fluid, swelling.
• -necrosis: Death of tissue.
• -spasm: Sudden contraction, cramp.
• -stenosis: Narrowing, constriction.
• -toxin: Poison.

Key Terms: Prefixes

• dys-: Abnormal, painful, difficult (e.g., dysphagia = difficult swallowing)
• mal-: Bad, poor (e.g., malabsorption = poor absorption)
• tachy-: Rapid (e.g., tachycardia = rapid heartbeat)
• xero-: Dry (e.g., xeroderma = dry skin)
• -megaly: Enlargement (e.g., hepatomegaly = enlarged liver)
• -pathy: Any disease of (e.g., nephropathy = disease of the kidney)

Test Your Knowledge (sample questions)

• Determination of a disease's cause is called... (diagnosis)
• A listening device within the body is called.. (stethoscope)
• A reason for not using a specific drug is called... (contraindication)

Definitions of Medical Terms (as found in the slides)

• hyperplasia: excessive growth of normal cells (with normal arrangement)
• hormonal disorders: Issues related to the underproduction or overproduction of hormones.
• phagocytosis: engulfment of foreign organisms by white blood cells
• gangrene: Death of tissue, most often due to lack of blood supply.

This quiz covers essential medical terminology related to diseases and their treatments. It includes definitions, disease categories, and interpretations of relevant abbreviations. Enhance your understanding of key concepts like etiology, immunity, and different types of diseases.