Copy of `Dorland's Medical Dictionary`

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Dorland's Medical Dictionary Category: Health and Medicine > Medical Dictionary Date & country: 31/12/2010, USA Words: 39128

erythrasma
(er″ә-thraz´mә) a chronic bacterial infection of the major skin folds due to Corynebacterium minutissimum, marked by red or brownish patches on the skin.

erythredema polyneuropathy
acrodynia.

erythrism
(ә-rith´riz-әm) redness of the hair and beard with a ruddy complexion. adj., erythris´tic., adj.

erythroblast
(ә-rith´ro-blast) a term originally used for any type of nucleated erythrocyte, but now usually limited to one of the nucleated precursors of an erythrocyte, one of the developmental stages in the erythrocytic series, in contrast to a megaloblast. In this usage, it is called also normoblast. basophi...

erythroblastemia
(ә-rith″ro-blas-te´me-ә) erythroblastosis.

erythroblastoma
(ә-rith″ro-blas-to´mә) a tumor composed of cells that resemble megaloblasts.

erythroblastosis
(ә-rith″ro-blas-to´sis) the presence of erythroblasts in the circulating blood; called also erythroblastemia. adj., erythroblastot´ic, adj. .

erythroblastosis fetalis
(ә-rith″ro-blas-to´sis fe-ta´lis) a blood dyscrasia seen in newborn babies, characterized by agglutination and destruction of their red blood cells because of incompatibility with the mother's blood. In most cases the baby has Rh-positive blood and its mother is Rh-negative (see Rh factor). A milder form is ...

erythrochromia
(ә-rith″ro-kro´me-ә) hemorrhagic, red pigmentation of the cerebrospinal fluid.

Erythrocin
(ә-rith´ro-sin) trademark for preparations of erythromycin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic.

erythroclasis
(er″ә-throk´lә-sis) fragmentation of the red blood cells. adj., erythroclas´tic., adj.

erythrocyanosis
(ә-rith″ro-si″ә-no´sis) coarsely mottled bluish or red discoloration on the lower limbs, especially of girls; thought to be a circulatory reaction to exposure to cold.

erythrocytapheresis
(ә-rith″ro-si″tә-fә-re´sis) the withdrawal of blood, separation and retention of red blood cells, and retransfusion of the remainder into the donor.

erythrocyte
(ә-rith´ro-sīt) one of the formed elements in the blood, constituting the great majority of the cells in the blood. A normal, mature erythrocyte is a tiny disk concave on both sides, without a nucleus, consisting mainly of hemoglobin. Erythrocyte formation (erythropoiesis) takes place in the red bone marrow i...

erythrocyte count
determination of the number of erythrocytes in a unit volume of blood that has been diluted in an isotonic solution, done with an automatic counter such as a flow cytometer. Called also red blood cell or red cell count.

erythrocyte fragility
unusual susceptibility of erythrocytes to hemolysis under certain conditions; see mechanical fragility and osmotic fragility.

erythrocyte indices
the mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration. These are all useful for evaluating anemias because they provide information on the size of the erythrocytes and the concentration of hemoglobin. Called also red cell or red blood cell indices.

erythrocyte protoporphyrin test
EP test; a screening test for lead toxicity; erythrocyte protoporphyrin levels are determined by direct fluorometry of whole blood or fluorescence analysis of whole blood extracts. Levels will be increased in either lead poisoning or iron deficiency.

erythrocyte sedimentation rate
the rate at which erythrocytes settle out of unclotted blood in one hour. The rate is faster in inflammatory and certain other conditions, which cause an alteration in blood proteins that results in aggregation of the erythrocytes, so that they are heavier and more likely to fall rapidly when placed in a special vertical test tube.

erythrocyte series
erythrocytic series the succession of morphologically distinguishable cells that that are stages in erythrocyte development: in order of maturity, the proerythroblast, basophilic erythroblast, polychromatophilic erythroblast, orthochromatic erythroblast, reticulocyte, and erythrocyte.

erythrocythemia
(ә-rith″ro-si-the´me-ә) polycythemia.

erythrocytic
(ә-rith″ro-sit´ik) pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of erythrocytes. pertaining to the erythrocytic series.

erythrocytorrhexis
(ә-rith″ro-si″to-rek´sis) a morphologic change in erythrocytes, consisting in the escape from the cells of round, shiny granules and splitting off of particles.

erythrocytosis
(ә-rith″ro-si-to´sis) secondary polycythemia. stress erythrocytosis an apparent polycythemia seen in active, anxiety-prone persons, resulting from diminished plasma volume. stress polycythemia.

erythroderma
(ә-rith″ro-dur´mә) abnormal redness of the skin over widespread areas of the body. exfoliative dermatitis. congenital ichthyosiform erythroderma a generalized hereditary dermatitis with scaling, occurring in a bullous form (epidermolytic hyperkeratosis) and...

erythrodermic psoriasis
exfoliative psoriasis a severe type with generalized reddening of the skin, usually developing chronically, such as in a reaction to topical therapy or ultraviolet exposure. Occasionally it occurs as the first manifestation of psoriasis and has severe characteristics such as massive skin exfoliation associated with serious...

erythrodontia
(ә-rith″ro-don´shә) reddish brown pigmentation of the teeth.

erythrogenesis
(ә-rith″ro-jen´ә-sis) erythropoiesis. erythrogenesis imperfecta congenital hypoplastic anemia (def. 1).

erythrogenic
(ә-rith″ro-jen´ik) producing a sensation of red. erythemogenic. erythropoietic.

erythrogenic toxin
a bacterial toxin from certain strains of Streptococcus pyogenes that produces an erythematous reaction when injected intradermally and is responsible for the rash in scarlet fever.

erythroid
(ә-rith´roid) (er´ĭ-throid″) of a red color; reddish. pertaining to any of the cells in the erythrocytic series.

erythroid cells
blood cells of the erythrocytic series.

erythrokeratodermia
(ә-rith″ro-ker″ә-to-dur´me-ә) reddening and hyperkeratosis of the skin. erythrokeratodermia variabilis a rare, dominantly inherited ichthyosis characterized by circumscribed areas of erythema that undergo changes in size, shape, and distribution over...

erythrokinetics
(ә-rith″ro-kĭ-net´iks) the kinetics of erythrocytes, described by laboratory measurements of total red cell volume, rate of red cell production, and red cell life-span (rate of destruction).

erythrolabe
(ĕ-rith´ro-lāb) the pigment in retinal cones that is more sensitive to the red range of the spectrum than are the other pigments (chlorolabe and cyanolabe).

erythroleukemia
(ә-rith″ro-loo-ke´me-ә) a malignant blood dyscrasia, one of the myeloproliferative disorders, with atypical erythroblasts and myeloblasts in the peripheral blood. acute erythroleukemia a form of acute myelogenous leukemia representing erythroleukemia in which malignant l...

erythromelalgia
(ә-rith″ro-mәl-al´jә) acromelalgia.

erythromycin
(ә-rith″ro-mi´sin) a broad-spectrum antibiotic produced by a strain of Streptomyces erythreus, administered orally, parenterally, and topically to the skin or to the eye, and effective against a wide variety of organisms, including gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. Available forms include the estrola...

erythron
(er´ә-thron) the circulating erythrocytes in the blood, their precursors, and all the body elements concerned in their production.

erythroneocytosis
(ә-rith″ro-ne″o-si-to´sis) the presence of immature erythrocytes in the blood.

erythropenia
(ә-rith″ro-pe´ne-ә) deficiency in the number of erythrocytes in the blood; called also hypocythemia.

erythrophage
(ә-rith´ro-fāj) a phagocyte that ingests erythrocytes.

erythrophagia
(ә-rith″ro-fa´jә) erythrophagocytosis.

erythrophagocytosis
(ә-rith″ro-fa″go-si-to´sis) phagocytosis of erythrocytes; called also erythrophagia.

erythrophil
(ә-rith´ro-fil) a cell or other element that stains easily with red. erythrophilous.

erythrophilous
(er″ĭ-throf´ĭ-lәs) easily staining red.

erythrophobia
(ә-rith″ro-fo´be-ә) irrational fear of the color red, often accompanied by fear of blood (hematophobia). fear of blushing; a distressing tendency to blush frequently.

erythroplakia
(ә-rith″ro-pla´ke-ә) a red patch in the mouth with a velvet appearance, often a sign of oral cancer.

erythroplasia
(ә-rith″ro-pla´zhә) a condition of the mucous membranes characterized by red papular lesions. erythroplasia of Queyrat penile intraepithelial neoplasia.

erythropoiesis
(ә-rith″ro-poi-e´sis) the formation of erythrocytes; called also erythrogenesis. adj., erythropoiet´ic., adj.

erythropoietic porphyria
porphyria in which excessive formation of porphyrin or its precursors occurs in bone marrow erythroblasts; the group includes congenital erythropoietic porphyria and erythropoietic protoporphyria.

erythropoietin
(ә-rith″ro-poi´ә-tin) a glycoprotein hormone secreted by the kidney in the adult and by the liver in the fetus, which acts on stem cells of the bone marrow to stimulate red blood cell production (erythropoiesis). recombinant human erythropoietin epoetin.

erythroprosopalgia
(ә-rith″ro-pros″o-pal´jә) a disorder similar to erythromelalgia, but with the redness and pain in the face.

erythropsia
(er″ә-throp´se-ә) a chromatopsia in which objects appear tinged with red.

erythrosine
(ĕ-rith´ro-sēn) a coloring agent used to disclose plaque on teeth.

erythrosis
(er″ә-thro´sis) red to purple discoloration of the skin and mucous membranes, caused by capillary dilatation, such as in polycythemia vera. hyperplasia of the hematopoietic tissue.

erythrostasis
(ә-rith″ro-sta´sis) the stoppage of erythrocytes in the capillaries, such as in sickle cell anemia.

Erythrovirus
(ә-rith´ro-vi″rәs) a genus of parvoviruses containing viruses that infect erythrocyte progenitor cells; it includes the species B19 virus.

erythruria
(er″ĭ-throo´re-ә) chromaturia in which the urine is red.

Es
einsteinium.

escape
(әs-kāp´) the act of becoming free. vagal escape the exhaustion of or adaptation to neural chemical mediators in the regulation of systemic arterial pressure. ventricular escape extrasystole in which a ventricular pacemaker becomes effective befo...

escape beat
escaped beat a heartbeat that follows an abnormally long pause.

escape pacemaker
an ectopic pacemaker that assumes control of cardiac impulse propagation because of failure of the sinoatrial node to generate one or more normal impulses.

escape rhythm
a heart rhythm initiated by lower centers when the sinoatrial node fails to initiate impulses, its rhythmicity is depressed, or its impulses are completely blocked.

eschar
(es´kahr) a slough produced by a thermal burn or a corrosive application, or by gangrene. tache noire.

escharotic
(es″kә-rot´ik) corrosive to tissue. an agent corrosive to tissue.

escharotomy
(es″kә-rot´ә-me) surgical incision of the eschar and superficial fascia of the chest or a circumferentially burned limb in order to allow cut edges to separate so that blood flow is restored to unburned tissue; this is because edema may form beneath the inelastic eschar of a full-thickness burn, ...

Escherich reflex
Escherich sign in tetany, percussion of the inner surface of the lips or tongue produces contraction of the lips, tongue, and masseter muscles. Called also Escherich reflex.

Escherichia
(esh″ә-rik´e-ә) a genus of gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped bacteria found in the large intestine of humans and other warm-blooded animals; most species are either nonpathogenic or opportunistic pathogens. E. co´li is the principal species and forms the greater part of the normal inte...

Escherichia coli
pneumonia a rare type of bacterial pneumonia caused by infection with Escherichia coli, usually in the bronchi or a lower lobe, seen most often in debilitated patients or infants.

Escobar syndrome
(es-ko-bahr´) multiple pterygium syndrome.

escutcheon
(es-kuch´әn) a shield or something shaped like a shield. the shieldlike pattern of distribution of the pubic hair.

Esidrix
(es´ĭ-driks) trademark for a preparation of hydrochlorothiazide, a diuretic.

Esmarch bandage
a type of roller bandage applied upward around a part (from the distal to the proximal part) to expel blood from it; the part is often elevated as the elastic pressure is applied. This is often used in conjunction with a pneumatic tourniquet.

esmolol
(es´mo-lol) a cardioselective beta-adrenergic blocking agent used as the hydrochloride salt in treatment of arrhythmias for short-term control of atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, and noncompensatory sinus tachycardia.

esomeprazole
(es″o-mep´rә-zōl) a proton pump inhibitor administered orally as the magnesium salt in treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease and in the treatment of duodenal ulcer associated with Helicobacter pylori infection.

esophageal
(ә-sof″ә-je´әl) of or pertaining to the esophagus.

esophageal achalasia
achalasia of the lower esophageal sphincter, often associated with abnormal peristalsis of the thoracic esophagus and difficulty swallowing. Called also achalasia of cardia, cardial achalasia, cardiochalasia, and cardiospasm.

esophageal acid perfusion test
Bernstein test.

esophageal atresia
congenital lack of continuity of the esophagus, usually seen in babies, accompanied by a fistula between the esophagus and the trachea, with accumulations of mucus in the nasopharynx, gagging, vomiting when fed, cyanosis, and dyspnea.

esophageal gastric tube airway
a hollow tube with a balloon at the end, blindly inserted into the esophagus to obstruct it and theoretically force air into the trachea, thus decompressing the stomach and alleviating abdominal distention; this was considered an improvement in design over the esophageal obturator airway.

esophageal lead
an electrode attached to a wire and inserted in the esophagus.

esophageal obturator airway
a hollow tube inserted into the esophagus to maintain airway patency in unconscious persons and allow positive pressure ventilation through a face mask connected to the tube. Its use has declined because the esophageal gastric tube airway was found to be more effective and convenient.

esophageal speech
speech produced by expelling swallowed air across one or more constrictions in the pharyngoesophageal segment; used after laryngectomy.

esophageal tube
stomach tube.

esophageal veins
small veins that drain blood from the esophagus into the hemiazygos and azygos veins, or into the left brachiocephalic vein.

esophagectomy
(ә-sof″ә-jek´tә-me) excision of a portion of the esophagus.

esophagism
(ә-sof´ә-jiz-әm) spasm of the esophagus.

esophagitis
(ә-sof″ә-ji´tis) inflammation of the esophagus. fungal esophagitis esophagitis caused by invasion of the epithelium by a fungus, usually a species of Candida; the incidence is increased among those with diabetes mellitus, hypoparathyroidism, adrenal insufficiency, or imm...

esophagobronchial
(ә-sof″ә-go-brong´ke-әl) bronchoesophageal.

esophagocardiomyotomy
(ә-sof″ә-go-kahr″de-o-mi-ot´ә-me) incision of the muscular coats of the esophagus and cardiac part of the stomach for relief of esophageal achalasia. The original procedure involved a myotomy on both anterior and posterior walls of the esophagus; in the later modification, only an extramuco...

esophagocele
(ә-sof´ә-go-sēl″) abnormal distention of the esophagus; protrusion of the esophageal mucosa through a rupture in the muscular coat.

esophagocoloplasty
(ә-sof″ә-go-ko´lo-plas″te) excision of a portion of the esophagus and its replacement by a segment of the colon.

esophagoduodenostomy
(ә-sof″ә-go-doo″o-de-nos´tә-me) surgical anastomosis between the esophagus and the duodenum.

esophagoenterostomy
(ә-sof″ә-go-en″tәr-os´tә-me) surgical anastomosis between the esophagus and small intestine; see esophagoduodenostomy and esophagojejunostomy.

esophagoesophagostomy
(ә-sof″ә-go-ә-sof″ә-gos´tә-me) anastomosis between two formerly remote parts of the esophagus.

esophagogastrectomy
(ә-sof″ә-go-gas-trek´tә-me) excision of the esophagus and stomach.

esophagogastric
(ә-sof″ә-go-gas´trik) gastroesophageal (def. 1).

esophagogastric junction
the site of transition from the stratified squamous epithelium of the esophagus to the simple columnar epithelium of the cardia of the stomach. Called also gastroesophageal junction.

esophagogastroduodenoscopy
(EGD) (ә-sof″ә-go-gas″tro-doo″od-ә-nos´kә-pe) endoscopic examination of the interior of the esophagus, stomach, and initial portion of the duodenum, usually for diagnostic purposes with removal of samples of tissue for further study. In some cases it is done to ...