MEDICAL
TERMINOLOGY
TECHNICOLOR TERMS
Leuk/o = white leukemia (overabundance of white blood cells)
melan/o = black melanoma (black tumor of the skin)
cyan/o = blue cyanosis (blueness may be due to cold or not enough oxygen in
blood)
xanth/o = yellow xanthoma (yellow tumor)
TUMOR TALK
Adding – oma (a swelling) to organ and tissue
word roots names tumors.
Not all tumors are malignant (cancerous). Many
are benign (not life-threatening).
Aden/o = gland Adenoma
Lip/o = fat Lipoma
My/o = muscle Myoma
Lymph/o = lymph tissue Lymphoma
Carcin/o = malignant Carcinoma
Osteo/o = bone Osteoma
Endo = within, endoscopy (to inspect the inside of an organ or space with a
inside of lighted instrument)
Peri = around perianal (around the anus)
Circum = around circumcise (cut around)
Retro = behind retrosternal (behind the breastbone)
Epi = upon, on epidermis (the top or outermost layer of skin)
top
Trans = through transurethral (through the urinary exit duct)
Intra = within intravenous (inside the veins, e.g. IV fluids)
Sub = below subclavian (below the clavicle = collar bone)
In review, the word parts that make up
medical terminology are prefixes, suffixes and
word roots.
The most typical sequence is prefix, word
root, suffix with the word root being central
but this is not always the case.
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS
A symptom is something you observe and
complain about to the physician. “Doctor, I
have a fever”.
A sign is something the physician observes
and/or can measure.
CIRCULATORY SYSTEM
Cardi/o = heart Endocarditis, myocarditis, pericarditis
(inflammation of the lining, the muscle layer,
the outer layer of the heart)
Brady/tachy = slow/fast Bradycardia (rate<60) tachycardia (rate>100)
Angi/o = vessel Angiography, angiogram (X-ray of artery)
Veno/phlebo = vein Venogram (X-ray of veins), phlebitis
(inflammation of veins)
-stasis = to stop Hemostasis (to stop bleeding), hemostat (a
clamp-like instrument)
-cyte = cell Erythrocytes, leukocytes (red, white blood cells)
Hem/o, -emia = blood Hypoxemia (low oxygen), hematosalpinx (blood in
the uterine tubes)
:CIRCULATORY SYSTEM DISEASES
Atherosclerosis–
Literally, “hardening of the fatty stuff.”
High fat diets can lead to formation of fatty
plaques lining blood vessels. These fatty
areas can become calcified and hard leading
to arteriosclerosis, hardening of the arteries.
When blood vessels become less stretchable,
blood pressure rises and can result in heart
and kidney damage and strokes.
Myocardial infarction (MI)–
You know we are talking about heart muscle,
right, myocardial?
An infarction is blockage of blood flow resulting in
death of muscle tissue. Layman’s language for this
is a “heart attack.”
The blockage occurs in one of the arteries of the
heart muscle itself, a coronary artery.
Depending upon how much tissue dies; a victim of
an MI may survive and undergo cardiac
rehabilitation, strengthening the remaining heart
muscle, or may die if too much muscle tissue is
destroyed.
Mitral prolapse, stenosis, regurgitation–
Blood flows through four chambers in the heart
separated by one-way valves.
A major valve is the one separating the upper and
lower chambers on the left side of the heart.
The left side is especially important because freshly
oxygenated blood returning from the lungs is circulated
out of the heart to the rest of the body.
The left valve, called atrioventricular, for the
chambers it separates, is also called the mitral valve,.
If the flaps of this valve tear away due to disease, the
process is called prolapse, “a falling forward.” This
results in leakage and backward flow called
“regurgitation”
Sometimes a valve is abnormally narrow causing partial
obstruction constricting flow. Stenosis means “a
narrowing.”
Angina pectoris–
Literally, “pain in the chest.” But, this is a special kind of pain
associated with the heart and is distinctive as “crushing, vise-
like”, and often accompanied by shortness of breath, fatigue and
nausea.
Anginal pain indicates not enough blood is getting to the heart
muscle, and the heart is protesting and begging for more.
Arrhythmia/dysrhythmia–
Abnormal heart rates and rhythms all have special
names like ventricular tachycardia, fibrillation, but
generically are termed arrhythmias or dysrhythmia,
meaning “no rhythm” and “abnormal rhythm.”
There are fine distinctions between the two, but
they are often used interchangeably.
Ischemia–
Sometimes the heart muscle is not getting enough
blood flow, more importantly, the oxygen the blood
carries is insufficient to sustain muscle which has a
very high metabolic rate, and oxygen demand.
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