Medical Dictionary Definitions A-Z List
Medical Dictionary Definitions A - Z - «S»:
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Supplies kit, emergency
Supplies kit, emergency: You and your family can cope
best by preparing for disaster before it strikes. One way to prepare
is by assembling a Disaster Supplies Kit. Once disaster hits, you
won't have time to shop or search for
supplies. But if you've gathered supplies in advance, your
family can ...
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Supportive care
Supportive care: Treatment given to prevent, control, or relieve
complications and side effects and to improve the patient's comfort and quality of life....
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Suppressant, cough
Suppressant, cough: A drug used to control coughing, particularly with
a dry, nagging, unproductive cough....
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Suppurate
Suppurate: To form or discharge pus. The adjective is suppurative, as in suppurative arthritis. The noun is suppuration, and is rarely used today. From the Latin puris = pus....
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Suppurative arthritis
Suppurative arthritis: Infectious arthritis. Suppurative arthritis is typically caused by a bacterial infection in the joint. Diagnosis is made by analysis of fluid that has been removed from the joint, including microscopic examination and culture. Suppurative arthritis requires drainage of the joi...
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Supraglottis
Supraglottis: The part of the larynx above the glottis (where the vocal cords are located). The supraglottic larynx includes the epiglottis as well as the false vocal cords, ventricles, aryepiglottic folds, and arytenoids....
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Suprarenal gland
Suprarenal gland: See adrenal gland. ...
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Supraspinatus muscle
Supraspinatus muscle: A muscle that is responsible for
elevating the arm and moving it away from the body.
The tendon of the supraspinatus muscle is one of four tendons that
stabilize the shoulder joint and constitute the rotator cuff.
Each of the four tendons of the rotator cuff hooks up to a ...
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Suprasternal notch
Suprasternal notch: The V shaped notch at the top of
the breastbone (sternum)....
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Supraventricular tachycardia
Supraventricular tachycardia: Abbreviated SVT. A regular, abnormally fast heart beat (tachycardia) caused by rapid firing of electrical impulses from a focus above the atrioventricular node (A-V node) in the heart. Called supraventricular because the tachycardia originates above the ventricles of ...
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Surface EMG
Surface EMG: A technique in which electrodes are placed on (not into) the skin overlying a muscle to detect the electrical activity of the muscle.
Surface EMG (SEMG) has some attractive features. Most notably, it does not involve piercing the skin and does not hurt. However, the American Associatio...
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Surfactant
Surfactant: A fluid secreted by the cells of the alveoli (the tiny air sacs in the lungs) that serves to reduce the surface tension of pulmonary fluids; surfactant contributes to the elastic properties of pulmonary tissue.
In more technical terms, a surfactant is a surface active agent, the best k...
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Surgeon
Surgeon: A physician who treats disease, injury, or deformity by operative or manual methods. A medical doctor specialized in the removal of organs, masses and tumors and in doing other procedures using a knife (scalpel). The definition of a "surgeon" has begun to blur in recent years as surgeons ha...
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Surgeon General
Surgeon General: In the United States, the chief medical officer of the U.S. Public Health Service (USPS), the agency responsible for the public health of the American people. The Public Health Service (PHS) administers a number of critically important health agencies including the Food and Drug Adm...
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Surgery
Surgery: The word "surgery" has multiple meanings. It is the branch of medicine concerned with diseases and conditions which require or are amenable to operative procedures. Surgery is the work done by a surgeon. By analogy, the work of an editor wielding his pen as a scalpel is s form of surgery. ...
