Medications

Automatism: An unconscious movement that may resemble simple repetitive tics or may be a complex sequence of natural-looking movements. This curious type of behavior occurs in a number of neurological and psychiatric disorders. The neurologic disor...

Automatic seizure - Medical

Automatic seizure: A form of complex partial seizure characterized by automatisms, which are unconscious movements that may resemble simple repetitive movements or may be complex sequences of natural-looking, almost-purposeful movements. Last Edito...

Automatic behavior - Medical

Automatic behavior: A behavior that is performed without conscious knowledge and that does not appear to be under conscious control. This curious type of behavior occurs in a number of neurological and psychiatric disorders. The neurologic disorders...

Automated white cell differential - Medical

Automated white cell differential: A machine-generated percentage of the different types of white blood cells, usually split into granulocytes, lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophils, and basophils.Last Editorial Review: 7/21/1999 9:28:00 PM...

Automated external defibrillator - Medical

Automated external defibrillator: A device that automatically analyzes the heart rhythm and, if it detects a problem that may respond to an electrical shock, that permits a shock to be delivered to restore a normal heart rhythm. Abbreviated AED. Than...

Autolysis - Medical

Autolysis: The enzymatic digestion of cells by enzymes present within them. The cells most susceptible to autolysis tend to be dying or dead cells. Pronounced aw-tol...

Autologous blood donation - Medical

Autologous blood donation: Giving blood to yourself. For example, patients scheduled for non-emergency surgery may be eligible to donate blood for themselves that will be stored until the surgical procedure. Last Editorial Review: 5/16/2000 10:54:00...

Autologous - Medical

Autologous: In blood transfusion and transplantation, a situation in which the donor and recipient are the same person. Patients scheduled for non-emergency surgery may be autologous donors by donating blood for themselves that will be stored until...

Autoinnoculation - Medical

Autoinnoculation: Inoculation of a microorganism obtained by contact with a lesion on one's own body, producing a secondary infection. This can happen, for example, with a fresh smallpox vaccination if the person who has been vaccinated touches it an...

Autoimmunity - Medical

Autoimmunity: A misdirected immune response that occurs when the immune system goes awry and attacks the body itself. Autoimmunity is present to some extent in everyone and is usually harmless. However, autoimmunity can cause a broad range of hu...

Autoimmune thyroiditis - Medical

Autoimmune thyroiditis: See: Hashimoto thyroiditis.Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2011 5:27:15 PM Hashimoto thyroiditis: A progressive disease of the thyroid gland characterized by the presence of antibodies directed against the thyroid, and by infilt...

Autoimmune thyroid disease - Medical

Autoimmune thyroid disease: Disease of the thyroid gland due to autoimmunity in which the patient's immune system attacks and damages their thyroid. Graves disease and Hashimoto thyroiditis are forms of autoimmune thyroid disease. In these diseases, ...

Autoimmune process - Medical

Autoimmune process: A process in which the body's immune system attacks and destroys body tissue that it mistakes for foreign matter. See also: Autoimmune disease; and Autoimmunity. Last Editorial Review: 10/2/2004 Autoimmunity: A misdirected imm...

Autoimmune polyglandular syndrome (APS) - Medical

Autoimmune polyglandular syndrome (APS): A genetic autoimmune disease with an extraordinary array of clinical features but characterized most often by at least 2 of the following 3 findings: hypoparathyroidism -- underfunction of the parathyroid glan...

Autoimmune polyendocrinopathy syndrome - Medical

Autoimmune polyendocrinopathy syndrome: A genetic autoimmune disease with an extraordinary array of clinical features but characterized most often by at least 2 of the following 3 findings: hypoparathyroidism -- underfunction of the parathyroid gland...

Autoimmune polyendocrinopathy - Medical

Autoimmune polyendocrinopathy-candidiasis-ectodermal dystrophy (APECED): A genetic autoimmune disease with an extraordinary array of clinical features but characterized most often by at least 2 of the following 3 findings: hypoparathyroidism -- under...

Autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome (ALPS) - Medical

Autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome (ALPS): A disease caused by failure of lymphocytes to die once they have finished doing their job. As a result, lymphocytes hang around in the spleen and lymph nodes which grow large, and immune cells attack th...

Autoimmune hepatitis - Medical

Autoimmune hepatitis: A disease in which the body's immune system attacks liver cells, causing inflammation of the liver ( hepatitis). If not treated, autoimmune hepatitis can lead to cirrhosis (scarring and hardening) of the liver and eventually to ...

Autoimmune hemolytic anemia - Medical

Autoimmune hemolytic anemia: A condition in which the immune system attacks the red blood cells, resulting in fewer of these oxygen-transporting cells. See also: Hemolytic anemia. Last Editorial Review: 2/13/2004 Immune system: A complex system th...

Autoimmune - Medical

Autoimmune: Pertaining to autoimmunity, a misdirected immune response that occurs when the immune system goes awry and attacks the body itself. Autoimmunity is present to some extent in everyone and is usually harmless. However, autoimmunity can...

Autograft - Medical

Autograft: Tissue transplanted from one part of the body to another in the same individual. Also called an autotransplant. Last Editorial Review: 11/11/2004...

Autogenous - Medical

Autogenous: Self-produced.Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2011 5:27:15 PM...

Autoclave - Medical

Autoclave: A chamber for sterilizing with steam under pressure. The original autoclave was essentially a pressure cooker. The steam tightened the lid. The device was called an autoclave (from the Greek auto, self + clavis, key) meaning self-lockin...

Autochthonous - Medical

Autochthonous: (Pronounced au-toch-tho-nous) 1. Native. Poison ivy is an autochthonous plant. 2. Found in the place where it formed. As an autochthonous thrombus. 3. From the same individual. As an autochthonous graft. Or autochthonous lymphocyt...

Autoantibody - Medical

Autoantibody: An antibody directed against the patient's own body tissue.Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2011 5:27:15 PM Antibody: An immunoglobulin, a specialized immune protein, produced because of the introduction of an antigen into the body, and w...

Autistic savant - Medical

Autistic savant: A person with autism who is exceptionally gifted in a specialized field. That field may, for example, be mathematics. The autistic savant may be able to do rapid, complex mental calculations. Or the field may be music. The autistic s...

Autism - Medical

Autism: A spectrum of neuropsychiatric disorders characterized by deficits in social interaction and communication, and unusual and repetitive behavior. Some, but not all, people with autism are non-verbal. Autism is normally diagnosed before ...

Austin Flint murmur - Medical

Austin Flint murmur: A murmur due to aortic regurgitation, originating at the mitral valve when blood enters simultaneously from both the aorta and the left atrium. The murmur is named for Austin Flint who described it in 1862: "In some cases in w...

Auscultate - Medical

Auscultate: To listen to the sounds made by the internal organs of the body for diagnostic purposes. For example, nurses and doctors auscultate the lungs and heart of a patient by using a stethoscope placed on the patient's chest. Last Editorial ...

Auricular - Medical

Auricular: Of or pertaining to the outer ear. Adjective form of auricle. (Not to be confused with avuncular which refers to an uncle).Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2011 5:27:15 PM...