Nervous System Medical Word Elements PDF

NERVOUS SYSTEM MEDICAL WORD ELEMENTS ELEMENT MEANING WORD ANALYSIS COMBINING FORMS Cerebr/o cerebrum cerebr/o/tomy: (...

NERVOUS SYSTEM MEDICAL WORD ELEMENTS ELEMENT MEANING WORD ANALYSIS COMBINING FORMS Cerebr/o cerebrum cerebr/o/tomy: (-tomy: incision) - incision of the cerebrum Crani/o Cranium (skull) crani/o/malacia: (-malacia: softening) - softening of the cranium Dendr/o tree dendr/oid: (-oid: resembling) - resembling a (branching) tree Dendrons, the highly branched portion of the neuron, conduct nerve impulses toward the cell body. Encephal/o brain encephal/o/cele: (-cele: hernia, swelling) - herniation of the brain Gangli/o Ganglion (knot or gangli/ectomy: knot-like mass) (-ectomy: excision, removal) - excision of a ganglion A ganglion is a mass of nerve cell bodies (gray matter) in the peripheral nervous system. Gli/o glue; neuroglial gli/oma: tissue (-oma: tumor) - tumor (composed of ) neuroglial tissue Kinesi/o movement brady/kines/ia : (brady-: slow) (-ia: condition) - condition of slow movement Lept/o Thin, slender lept/o/mening/o/pathy: (-mening/o: meninges (membranes covering brain and spinal cord) (-pathy: disease) - disease of the meninges Lex/o Word, phrase dys/lex/ia: (dys-: bad; painful; difficult) (-ia: condition)  - difficulty using words Dyslexia is diff iculty or inability with reading, including the tendency to reverse letters or words when reading or writing. Mening/o meninges mening/o/cele: (membranes (-cele: hernia, swelling) covering brain - herniation of the meninges Meningi/o and spinal cord) meningi/oma: (-oma: tumor) - tumor in the meninges Myel/o Bone marrow; poli/o/myel/itis : Spinal cord (poli/o: gray; gray matter (of brain or spinal cord) (-itis: inflammation) - inflammation of the gray matter of the spinal cord Narc/o stupor; numbness; narc/o/tic: sleep (-tic: pertaining to) - relating to sleep Narcotics depress the central nervous system, thus relieving pain and producing sleep. Neur/o nerve neur/o/lysis: (-lysis: separation; destruction; loosening) - destruction of a nerve Radicul/o Nerve root radicul/algia : (-algia: pain) - pain in the nerve root Sthen/o strength hyper/sthen/ia: (hyper-: excessive, above normal) (-ia: condition) - condition of excessive strength Hypersthenia is a condition of excessive strength or tonicity of the body or a body part. Thalam/o thalamus thalam/o/tomy: (-tomy: vincision) - incision of the thalamus Thec/o sheath (usually intra/thec/al: refers to (intra-: in, within) meninges) (-al: pertaining to) - pertaining to the space within a sheath Ton/o tension dys/ton/ia: (dys-: bad; painful; diff icult) (-ia: condition) - bad or poor (muscle) tone Ventricul/o ventricle (of ventricul/o/metry: heart or brain) (-metry: act of measuring) - measurement of ventricle (pressure)  SUFFIXES -algesia pain an/algesia: (an-: without, not) - absence of (a normal sense of ) pain -algia syn/algia: (syn-: union, together, joined) - joined (referred) pain -asthenia Weakness, debility my/asthenia: (my: muscle) - muscle weakness -esthesia feeling hyper/esthesia: (hyper-: excessive, above normal) - increased feeling Hyperesthesia involves a marked sensitivity to touch, pain, or other sensory stimuli. -kinesia movement hyper/kinesia: (hyper-: excessive, above normal) - excessive movement; also called hyperactivity -lepsy seizure narc/o/lepsy: (narc/o: sleep) - seizure of sleep In narcolepsy, the individual has a sudden and uncontrollable urge to sleep at an inappropriate time, such as when driving. -paresis Partial paralysis hemi/paresis: (hemi-: one-half) - paralysis of one-half (of the body); also called hemiplegia When used alone, the term paresis means partial paralysis or motor weakness. -phasia speech a/phasia: (a-: without, not) - without speech -plegia paralysis quadri/plegia: (quadri-: four) - paralysis of four (extremities) -taxia Order, coordination a/taxia: (a-: without, not) - without coordination Ataxia refers to poor muscle coordination, especially when voluntary movements are attempted. PREFIXES Pachy- thick pachy/mening/itis (-itis: inflammation)  - : inflammation of the dura mater (mening: meninges (membranes covering brain and spinal cord) Para- Near, beside; para/plegia: beyond (-plegia: paralysis) - paralysis of lower body and limbs Paraplegia is the paralysis of the lower limbs of the body. Syn- Union, together, syn/algia: joined (algia: pain) - referred pain Uni- one uni/later/al: (later: side, to one side) (-al: pertaining to) - pertaining to one side