Medical terms beginning with D

Refers to cancer that has spread from the original (primary) tumor to distant organs or distant lymph nodes.

Refers to cancer that has spread from the original (primary) tumor to distant organs or distant lymph nodes.

Distraction most often names a technique that shifts attention away from pain, though the term also describes the surgical separation of bone or joint surfaces.

Two people in identical circumstances can report very different distress, which is why it is asked about directly rather than inferred.

It changes nothing about wanting a drink, only what happens afterward, and that consequence is the entire mechanism.

Diuretics increase urine output by altering how the kidneys handle salt and water, commonly used for high blood pressure and fluid retention.

Inflammation of one or more pouches or sacs that bulge out from the wall of a hollow organ, such as the colon.

Diverticulosis is the presence of multiple diverticula in the colon wall, usually causing no symptoms unless they become inflamed.

A diverticulum is a small pouch that bulges outward from the wall of a hollow organ such as the colon.

One word standing in for at least four different sensations, which is why the first question asked is what the feeling actually is.

Two meters of it are packed into a cell too small to see, arranged so any short stretch can still be found and read.

A process that allows thousands of pieces of DNA that are fixed to a glass slide to be analyzed at one time.

The enzyme that writes chemical tags onto DNA, and then copies that pattern into every new cell.

An enzyme (a protein that speeds up chemical reactions in the body) that attaches a methyl group to DNA.

DNA replication is the cellular process that copies a cell's entire DNA sequence before it divides into two daughter cells.

A type of advance directive in which a person states that healthcare providers should not perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (restarting the heart) if his or her heart or breathing stops.

A type of advance directive in which a person states that healthcare providers should not perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (restarting the heart) if his or her heart or breathing stops.

Dock refers to several related plants long used in traditional herbal preparations and, in some cases, eaten as a leafy food.

The active ingredient in a drug used to treat nausea and vomiting caused by cancer treatment.

A substance being studied in the treatment of cancer.