Medical terms beginning with W

A rare, genetic disorder that is present at birth and has two or more of the following symptoms: Wilms tumor (a type of kidney cancer); little or no iris (the colored part of the eye); defects in…

Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia is a slow growing lymphoma marked by excess antibody production that can thicken the blood and impair circulation.

Food, alcohol and dozens of other drugs shift its effect, which is why the dose is set by blood test rather than by body weight.

In surgery, keeping a tissue, organ, or body part at body temperature after its blood suppy has been reduced or cut off.

In surgery, the time a tissue, organ, or body part remains at body temperature after its blood supply has been reduced or cut off but before it is cooled or reconnected to a blood supply.

A raised growth on the surface of the skin or other organ.

The vitamins that dissolve in water and leave in urine, so the body holds only a small working supply of most of them.

A peppery salad leaf grown in running water, repeatedly confused in older references with an unrelated plant of a similar name.

The total count says little on its own; which of the five types is raised or lowered is what points anywhere useful.

Removal of a triangular block of tissue with the abnormal area at its center, taking as little healthy tissue as safety allows.

A drug used to lessen the toxic effects of substances that block the action of folic acid, especially the anticancer drug methotrexate.

A rare, inherited disorder that affects the endocrine glands and can cause tumors in the parathyroid and pituitary glands and the pancreas.

An inherited disorder marked by rapid aging that begins in early adolescence.

A system in which medical doctors and other healthcare professionals (such as nurses, pharmacists, and therapists) treat symptoms and diseases using drugs, radiation, or surgery.

A study that compares the complete DNA of people with a disease or condition to the DNA of people without the disease or condition.

A narrowed airway behaves like a reed instrument, and the note it plays says more about tightness than about which disease caused it.

A type of surgery used to treat pancreatic cancer.

A staging system for prostate cancer that uses ABCD.

WHO is the United Nations agency responsible for coordinating international public health efforts, setting health standards, and responding to global disease threats.

Vaccine made from whole tumor cells that have been changed in the laboratory.

A study that compares the complete DNA of people with a disease or condition to the DNA of people without the disease or condition.

A type of external radiation therapy used to treat patients who have cancer in the brain.

A type of external radiation therapy used to treat patients who have cancer in the brain.

Whooping cough spreads easily and causes severe, prolonged coughing fits, posing the greatest danger to infants and young children.

Surgery to cut out the cancer and some healthy tissue around it.

Trifolium pratense.

It has no bearing on medical care, a point obscured by the name living will, which is an advance directive rather than a will.

Wilms tumor is the most common kidney cancer in children, usually diagnosed before school age and often highly treatable.

The airway that leads from the larynx (voice box) to the bronchi (large airways that lead to the lungs).

A procedure used to mark a small area of abnormal tissue so it can be removed by surgery.

A device used to look at tissues in the esophagus, stomach, and intestines.

The last tooth to come in at the back of each side of the upper and lower jaws.

One faulty protein leaves blood cells unable to change shape, and three unrelated-looking problems follow from that single defect.

A mixture made from an extract of the calf thymus gland and enzymes (proteins that speed up chemical reactions in the body) from the papaya plant, the pancreas of cows, and the pancreas of pigs.

A registered nurse who has additional education and training in how to care for people who have a wound, an ostomy (surgery to create an opening in the abdomen for a new path for urine or stool), or…

The small, hollow, pear-shaped organ in a woman's pelvis.

The part that names the body part, and the piece that stays put while prefixes and endings change around it.

Skin closes over an injury within days, but the repaired area keeps rebuilding for months and never regains its original strength.

WS is an inherited disorder that produces signs of accelerated aging beginning in early adulthood, arising from a gene mutation affecting DNA repair.

A substance being studied in the treatment of several types of cancer.