Medical Dictionary

Schizoaffective disorder: A mood disorder that is coupled with some symptoms that resemble those of schizophrenia, particularly loss of personality (flat affect) and social withdrawal.Last Editorial Review: 3/19/2012 Medical Author: ...

Schizencephaly - Medical

Schizencephaly: A developmental disorder of the brain characterized by abnormal slits, or clefts, in the cerebral hemispheres. Schizencephaly is a form of porencephaly. Individuals with clefts in both hemispheres, or bilateral clefts, are often d...

Schistosomiasis - Medical

Schistosomiasis: Diseases of liver, gastrointestinal tract and bladder caused by schistosomes, trematode worms that parasitize people. Infection is from infested water. There are three main species of these trematode worms (flukes) --Schistosoma...

Schistosome - Medical

Schistosome: A parasitic trematode worm contracted from infested water that is capable of causing liver, gastrointestinal tract and bladder disease. There are three main species of these trematode worms (flukes) -- Schistosoma haematobium, Schis...

Schistosoma mansoni - Medical

Schistosoma mansoni: A species of trematode worm that parasitizes humans and that (like S. japonicum) causes liver and gastrointestinal tract disease. See Schistosomiasis. Last Editorial Review: 3/26/1998 2:28:00 PM...

Schistosoma japonicum - Medical

Schistosoma japonicum: A species of trematode worm that parasitizes humans and that (like S. mansoni) causes liver and gastrointestinal tract disease. See Schistosomiasis. Last Editorial Review: 3/26/1998 2:28:00 PM...

Schistosoma haematobium - Medical

Schistosoma haematobium: A species of trematode worm that parasitizes humans and causes urinary tract disease. See Schistosomiasis. Last Editorial Review: 3/26/1998 2:28:00 PM...

Scheuermann's disease - Medical

Scheuermann's disease: A skeletal disease that usually begins in adolescence in which the vertebrae grow unevenly, resulting in wedge-shaped vertebrae and a hunched back. Treatment with casting and a back brace is successful if undertaken early. Also...

Schedules, Gesell Developmental - Medical

Schedules, Gesell Developmental: A measure of child development devised by the American child psychologist and pediatrician Arnold Gesell (1880-1961) who founded the Clinic of Child Development at Yale in 1911 and directed it for many years. There he...

Schadenfreude - Medical

Schadenfreude: Pleasure from the misfortune of others. The word entered English in 1895 from the German "Schade", harm, + "Freude," joy = joy (over) harm (suffered by another).Last Editorial Review: 6/26/2001 5:05:00 AM...

SCFE - Medical

SCFE: Slipped capital femoral epiphysis.Last Editorial Review: 3/19/2012...

Scarlet fever - Medical

Scarlet fever: A skin condition that is due to a streptococcal sore throat or any other streptococcal infection. The group A streptococcal bacteria produce a toxin that causes a scarlet rash that initially appears on the neck and chest, then spreads ...

Scarlatina - Medical

Scarlatina: Also called scarlet fever, a disease caused by infection with group A streptococcal bacteria that occurs in a small proportion of people with strep throat. The incubation period between contracting strep and the onset of scarlet fever...

Scarification - Medical

Scarification: The making of many small, superficial scratches in the skin. Scarification may be done in giving a smallpox vaccination or in removing a tattoo and leaving a scar in its place. Last Editorial Review: 7/7/2004 Smallpox: A highly co...

Scapula - Medical

Scapula: The shoulder blade (or "wingbone"), the familiar flat triangular bone at the back of the shoulder. The word "scapula" (with the accent on the first syllable) is Latin. The Romans always employed the plural "scapulae", the shoulder blades. ...

Scanning electron microscope - Medical

Scanning electron microscope: Abbreviated SEM. A microscope in which a finely focused beam of electrons is scanned across a specimen, and the electron intensity variations are used to construct an image of the specimen. This type of microscope can ...

Scan, thyroid - Medical

Scan, thyroid: An image taken of the thyroid gland after radioactive iodine is taken by mouth. The thyroid gland is in front of the neck: Thyroid scanning is a nuclear medicine procedure. As the thyroid gland accumulates radioactive material (usua...

Scan, spiral CAT - Medical

Scan, spiral CAT: A conventional computerized axial tomography scan (CAT scan or CT scan) is an x-ray procedure which combines many x-ray images with the aid of a computer to generate cross-sectional views and, if needed, three-dimensional images of...

Scan, SPECT - Medical

Scan, SPECT: Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography, a nuclear medicine procedure in which a gamma camera rotates around the patient and takes pictures from many angles, which a computer then uses to form a tomographic (cross-sectional) image. ...

Scan, radionuclide - Medical

Scan, radionuclide: See: Radionuclide scan.Last Editorial Review: 10/18/2003 Radionuclide scan: An examination that produces pictures of internal parts of the body. The patient is given an injection or swallows a small amount of radioactive materi...

Scan, helical CAT - Medical

Scan, helical CAT: A conventional computerized axial tomography scan (CAT scan or CT scan) is an x-ray procedure which combines many x-ray images with the aid of a computer to generate cross-sectional views and, if needed, three-dimensional images o...

Scan, DXA - Medical

Scan, DXA: See: DXA. Last Editorial Review: 9/28/2003 DXA: Dual X-ray absorptometry. A technique for scanning bone and measuring bone mineral density (BMD). A DXA scanner is a large machine that produces 2 X-ray beams, each with different energy le...

Scan, computerized tomography - Medical

Scan, computerized tomography: Pictures of structures within the body created by a computer that takes the data from multiple X-ray images and turns them in pictures. The computerized tomography (CT) scan can reveal some soft-tissue and other struct...

Scan, computerized axial tomography - Medical

Scan, computerized axial tomography: Pictures of structures within the body created by a computer that takes the data from multiple X-ray images and turns them in pictures. The CAT (computerized axial tomography) scan can reveal some soft-tissue and...

Scan, bone - Medical

Scan, bone: A technique to create images of bones on a computer screen or on film. A small amount of radioactive material is injected and travels through the bloodstream. It collects in the bones, especially in abnormal areas of the bones, and is det...

Scan - Medical

Scan: As a noun, the data or image obtained from the examination of organs or regions of the body by gathering information with a sensing device. For specific scans, please see their alphabetical listings (such as Bone scan, CAT scan, Spiral CAT ...

Scalp ringworm - Medical

Scalp ringworm: A superficial fungus infection of the skin, affecting the scalp. Also known as ringworm. It appears as scalp scaling associated with bald spots (in contrast to seborrhea or dandruff, for instance, which do not cause hair loss). It oc...

Scaling - Medical

Scaling: Abnormal shedding or accumulation of an upper layer of skin (the stratum corneum). Last Editorial Review: 1/19/2001 11:22:00 AM Abnormal: Outside the expected norm, or uncharacteristic of a particular patient.Last Editorial Review: 3/19/...

Scales, body fat - Medical

Scales, body fat: See: Bioelectric impedance analysis.Last Editorial Review: 12/28/2003 Bioelectric impedance analysis: A seemingly simple method for determining the lean body mass. Abbreviated BIA. There are two methods of the BIA. One involves sta...

Scale, skin - Medical

Scale, skin: A thin piece of the outermost layer of skin resembling a fish scale. They represent a heaping up of the outermost layer of the skin (the stratum corneum) and can be due to a variety of skin conditions, most frequently excessive dryness.L...