Medications

Adjuvant chemotherapy: Chemotherapy given after tumor surgery. The idea underpinning adjuvant chemotherapy is that the chemotherapy drugs are more effective after the main tumor has been removed and any remaining cancer is in small amounts (microsco...

Adjuvant - Medical

Adjuvant: The Latin "adjuvans" means to help, particularly to reach a goal. Adjuvant therapy for cancer is surgery followed by chemotherapy or radiation to help decrease the risk of the cancer recurring (coming back). An adjuvant is a substa...

Adjacent - Medical

Adjacent: Lying nearby. Related terms include superjacent, subjacent, and circumjacent. From ad-, near + the Latin jacere, to lie = to lie near.Last Editorial Review: 10/28/2004 Superjacent: Lying just above or upon. Overlying. The opposite of super...

Adipose most abundant gene transcript 1 - Medical

Adipose most abundant gene transcript 1: Abbreviated APM1. The APM1 gene encodes the hormone adiponectin.Last Editorial Review: 4/14/2004 APM1: Adipose most abundant gene transcript 1. (AdiPose Most abundant gene transcript 1 = APM1.) The APM1 gene ...

Adipose - Medical

Adipose: "Adipose" means "fat" but is usually used to refer specifically to tissue made up of mainly fat cells such as the yellow layer of fat beneath the skin. The word "adipose" comes from the Latin "adeps" meaning "fat, particularly lard." Last...

Adiponectin - Medical

Adiponectin: A protein hormone produced and secreted exclusively by adipocytes (fat cells) that regulates the metabolism of lipids and glucose. Adiponectin influences the body's response to insulin. Adiponectin also has antiinflammatory effects on th...

Adipocyte - Medical

Adipocyte: A fat cell, a connective tissue cell that has differentiated and become specialized in the synthesis (manufacture) and storage of fat. The adipocyte is important to the body in maintaining proper energy balance, storing calories in the f...

ADI - Medical

ADI: Acceptable daily intake.Last Editorial Review: 2/15/2004 Acceptable daily intake: Estimate of the amount of a substance in food or drinking water, expressed on a body mass basis (usually mg/kg body weight), which can be ingested daily over a li...

Adhesive capsulitis - Medical

Adhesive capsulitis: Constant severe limitation of the range of motion of the shoulder due to scarring around the shoulder joint. Adhesive capsulitis is an unwanted consequence of rotator cuff disease -- damage to the rotator cuff, the set of fou...

Adhesion - Medical

Adhesion: The union of two opposing tissue surfaces (often in reference to the sides of a wound). Also refers to scar tissue strands that can form in the area of a previous operation, such as within the abdomen after a laparotomy. The word "ad...

ADHD - Medical

ADHD: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2011 5:27:15 PM Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: A family of related chronic neurobiological disorders that interfere with an individual's capacity to: regulate a...

ADH secretion, inappropriate - Medical

ADH secretion, inappropriate: The syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone (ADH) results in the inability to put out dilute urine, perturbs fluid (and electrolyte) balance, and causes nausea, vomiting, muscle cramps, confu...

ADH (antidiuretic hormone) - Medical

ADH (antidiuretic hormone): A peptide molecule that is released by the pituitary gland at the base of the brain after being made nearby (in the hypothalamus). ADH has an antidiuretic action that prevents the production of dilute urine (and ...

Adenovirus - Medical

Adenovirus: A group of viruses responsible for a spectrum of respiratory disease as well as infection of the stomach and intestine ( gastroenteritis), eyes ( conjunctivitis), and bladder ( cystitis) and rash. Adenovirus respiratory diseases include a...

Adenosine triphosphate - Medical

Adenosine triphosphate: An important carrier of energy in cells in the body and a compound that is important in the synthesis (the making) of RNA. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is a nucleotide (a building block of a nucleic acid such as RNA). The bod...

Adenosine thallium scan - Medical

Adenosine thallium scan: A method of examining the heart to obtain information about the blood supply to the heart muscle. Special cameras take a series of pictures of the heart. Radioactive thallium is injected into the bloodstream and serves as a t...

Adenosine deaminase (ADA) deficiency - Medical

Adenosine deaminase (ADA) deficiency: A genetic (inherited) condition that results in a immune deficiency disorder called severe combined immunodeficiency disease. Adenosine deaminase is an enzyme that plays a key role in salvaging purine molecules...

Adenosine deaminase (ADA) - Medical

Adenosine deaminase (ADA): An enzyme that plays a key role in salvaging purine molecules.Last Editorial Review: 6/11/2000 Enzyme: A protein (or protein-based molecule) that speeds up a chemical reaction in a living organism. An enzyme acts as ...

Adenosine - Medical

Adenosine: A nucleoside containing adenine as its base. Adenosine acts to dilate the coronary arteries and is employed in the adenosine thallium scan of the heart. Last Editorial Review: 10/29/2003 Adenine (A): One member of the A-T (adenine-thymin...

Adenopathy - Medical

Adenopathy: Large or "swollen" lymph nodes. Synonymous with lymphadenopathy.Last Editorial Review: 2/22/2003 Lymph node: Also sometimes referred to as lymph glands, lymph nodes are small rounded or bean-shaped masses of lymphatic tissue surround...

Adenomyosis uteri - Medical

Adenomyosis uteri: Also known more succinctly as adenomyosis (pronounced ad-den-o-mi-o- sis), this is a common benign condition of the uterus in which the endometrium (the mucous membrane lining the inside of the uterus) grows into the myomet...

Adenomyosis - Medical

Adenomyosis: Pronounced a-den-o- mi-o-sis, this is a common benign condition of the uterus in which the endometrium (the mucous membrane lining the inside of the uterus) grows into the myometrium (the uterine musculature located just outside ...

Adenomyomata - Medical

Adenomyomata: Plural form of adenomyoma.Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2011 5:27:15 PM...

Adenomyoma - Medical

Adenomyoma: A nodule that forms around tissue of the inner uterus (endometrial tissue) as a result of adenomyosis. See adenomyosis.Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2011 5:27:15 PM...

Adenomatous polyposis coli, autosomal recessive - Medical

Adenomatous polyposis coli, autosomal recessive: See: MYH. Last Editorial Review: 8/29/2004 MYH: A base excision repair gene responsible for an hereditary colon cancer syndrome. MYH is located on the short (p) arm of chromosome 1 in r...

Adenomatous polyposis coli - Medical

Adenomatous polyposis coli: See: APC (meaning 3). Last Editorial Review: 8/29/2004 APC (immunology): Antigen-presenting cell, a cell that can "present" antigen in a form that T cells can recognize it. Among the APCs are B cells and cells of the mon...

Adenoma colon family history - Medical

Adenoma colon family history: See: Colon cancer family history. Last Editorial Review: 8/29/2004 Colon cancer family history: A family history of colorectal cancer (CRC). First-degree relatives of people with CRC are themselves at a 2 to 3-fold i...

Adenoma - Medical

Adenoma: A benign tumor that arises in or resembles glandular tissue. If it becomes cancerous, it is called an adenocarcinoma.Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2011 5:27:15 PM...

Adenoids and Tonsils - Medical

Adenoids and Tonsils: These celebrated structures ( adenoids and tonsils) in the back of the throat are composed of tissue similar to the lymph nodes or "glands." Last Editorial Review: 3/26/1998 2:23:00 PM Medical Author: ...