Bone, Joint and Muscle Terms

The maxillary sinus is the largest paranasal sinus, an air filled space within the cheekbone that drains into the nasal cavity.

A test that measures the strength of the muscles used in breathing.

A lymph node located above the collar bone and between the center of the body and a line drawn through the nipple to the shoulder.

A fibrous cord that connects the urinary bladder to the umbilicus (navel).

A drug being studied in the treatment of young adults with bone cancer that has gotten worse or come back.

A substance made or used when the body breaks down food, drugs or chemicals, or its own tissue (for example, fat or muscle tissue).

Speed in and speed out is the point: it suits a procedure that lasts minutes, not a symptom that lasts months.

A test that measures the strength of the muscles used in breathing.

Removal of the whole breast together with the armpit lymph nodes, sparing the chest muscles the older operation sacrificed.

Time in the bloodstream is a transit stage rather than the job; the real work begins once the cell settles in tissue.

A drug used to treat some types of cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and severe skin conditions, such as psoriasis.

Scattered patches of damage explain the scattered symptoms, since what a person notices depends entirely on which pathway has been hit.

A drug being studied in the treatment of young adults with bone cancer that has gotten worse or come back.

Muscle shrinking because it is not being used, not being fed, or is being broken down faster than the body rebuilds it.

Bone alone cannot move and muscle alone cannot hold shape, which is why the two are named, examined and treated as one system.

Whether the ache sits in one muscle or everywhere at once is the first question, because the two lists of causes barely overlap.

High-dose chemotherapy that kills cells in the bone marrow, including cancer cells.

Refers to myeloblasts (a type of immature cell that forms in the bone marrow).

The marrow is busy but unproductive, making faulty cells that die before reaching the blood, so counts fall while the marrow stays crowded.

Scar tissue crowds out the marrow, so blood cell production migrates to the spleen and liver, which swell as they take over.