General Medical Terms

Comorbidity describes the presence of one or more additional conditions occurring alongside a primary disease in the same person.

Forms of treatment that are used in addition to (complementary) or instead of (alternative) standard treatments.

Practices often used to enhance or complement standard treatments.

The disappearance of all signs of cancer in response to treatment.

The word places all responsibility on one side of a two-sided relationship, which is precisely why it fell out of favor.

An added medical problem arising during an illness or after treatment, a complication may or may not relate to the original disease or procedure.

A compound is a substance formed when two or more elements bond chemically in a fixed ratio, producing distinct new properties.

A type of mole formed by groups of nevus cells found in the epidermis and dermis (the two main layers of tissue that make up the skin).

Pressure exerted against a body structure, whether from an external wrap, an internal growth, or a deliberate diagnostic technique, is called compression.

A bandage designed to provide pressure to a particular area.

A type of break in a bone caused by pressure and in which the bone collapses.

An uncontrollable urge to say or do something without an obvious reason.

A method to examine the inside of the colon by taking a series of x-rays.

Conception marks the biological beginning of pregnancy, occurring when a sperm cell fertilizes an egg to form a single new cell.

A flag for something running alongside the matter at hand, most often another illness or another drug.

Condition is a broad medical term for any recognizable health state, whether a brief illness, a lasting disease, or a physical trait of its own.

A situation in which one signal, or stimulus, is given just before another signal.

A type of kidney tumor that is usually found before birth by ultrasound or within the first 3 months of life.

An inherited disorder in which there is a lower-than-normal number of neutrophils (a type of white blood cell that is important in fighting infections).

A membrane that lines the inner surface of the eyelid and also covers the front part of the eye.