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Thursday 03 March, 2016 06:06

Chapter 26: Medspeak: Making Sense of Medical Jargon

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Chapter 26: Medspeak: Making Sense of Medical Jargon

When I use a word, Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, it means just what I choose it to mean --- neither more nor less.
- Lewis Carroll


Patients often complain that they can never understand anything their doctor says. This usually because doctors use medical jargon --- but you should never get intimidated by this! You just need to remember that such jargon is simply a convenient shorthand which doctors ( and other health care professionals) use to communicate with each other. Since these words are often derived from the classic languages ( Greek and Latin), they may sound unfamiliar and difficult to understand, but if you devote enough time and take enough trouble, you can definitely do so. Remember that its not a secret code which is being used to keep you in the dark! If you have difficulty in understanding medical terms, you can ask your doctor to help you. Nurses, or family members in the medical profession, can also provide guidance. However, the easiest way to go about making sense of the jargon is to sit and decipher it with the help of a medical dictionary and a medical encyclopedia: the effort can prove very worthwhile! Spelling counts, and the first and most important step is to find out the proper medical terms and their spelling. Therefore, ask your physician (or the nurse or assistant) to write these down, as related to your specific case.

The words - or terms - which make up the language of medicine are referred to as the terminology of the medical field, or medical terminology. Like every other language, medical terminology has changed considerably over time, but the majority of the terms are derived from Latin or Greek.

As with all words, most medical terms can be broken down into one or more word parts. Basically, there are four possible parts, and any given medical term may contain one, some or all of these parts:

  1. Roots,
  2. Prefixes,
  3. Suffixes, and
  4. Linking or combining vowels.
An example of a word with three of the foregoing parts is the medical term pericarditis. Pericarditis can be analysed for its meaning by dividing it into three parts: peri-card-itis. Once divided into its essential parts, pericarditis can be translated into ordinary English as follows:

      The prefix peri translates as surrounding (as in perimeter)

  1. The root card translates to heart ( as in cardiology).
  2. The suffix itis translates to inflammation.

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Thus, this analysis allows us to conclude that pericarditis means inflammation of the outer layer of the heart.

Medical terms always consist of at least one root, although they may contain more. The root of a word is that part which contains its essential meaning: for example, in the term pericarditis, the root of the word is card, refers to the heart. By adding a prefix or suffix to the root (card), new medical terms are created. For example, lets take the prefix brady, which means slow. If brady is added to the root card, the term bradycard, which roughly means slow heart, is created. Then, if the suffix ia - which means abnormal state - is added to "bradycard", the medical term bradycardia is formed. Thus, the translation of bradycardia (brady-card-ia) is: slow - heart - abnormal state, or the abnormal state of a slow heart rate.

Let us move on to linking or combining vowels. As just discussed, a medical term must have at least one root, but need not have a prefix and/or a suffix. An example of the term sternocleidomastoid, which is a muscle that has attachments at the following bones: the sternum, the clavicle, and the mastoid. The term sternocleidomastoid can be divided into three parts (three roots, in this case): stern - o - cleid - o - mastoid. Notice that there are vowels between the three roots which are linking or combining vowels, and these serve to make a term easier to pronounce. The vowel used most of the time is o, but other vowels such as i and a are also used. Combining vowels are often used between roots and suffixes or roots and other roots, but they are not used between prefixes and roots. Here are more examples of how to " translate " medical jargon" into a laypersons terms:

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Suffix Definition Example

algia(or dynia-) Pain Neuralgia
blast - Early stage of a growth Cytotrophoblast
ectomy - Surgical removal Appendectomy
itis - Inflammation Bronchitis
lysis - Freeing of Adhesiolysis
oma - Tumor Melanoma
oscopy - Viewing Laparoscopy
osis - Process or condition Endometriosis
pathy - Abnormality Myopathy
plasty - To rebuild or restore Rhinoplasty
pnea - Breathing Apnea
rrhea - Flow Diarrhea
scler(osis)- Hardening Arteriosclerosis
uria - Pertaining to urine Glycosuria

One other reason why medical jargon can be so hard to decipher is that doctors make liberal use of acronyms. Acromyms are nothing but abbreviations, which they use as convenient shorthand to help doctors and nurses to communicate with each other. These acromyms are virtually an alphabetic potpourri. For instance:

  • ICU: intensive care unit
  • AMI: acute myocardial infarction
  • BPH: benign prostatic hypertrophy
  • IVF: in vitro fertilization
  • IOL: intraocular lens.
If your doctor bombards you with acronyms or jargon, instead of being overwhelmed, please ask him to explain what the terms mean, so you can be are fully informed!

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3 comments

  • Zachery
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