Medical terms - Letter C
1,581 terms start with the letter C.
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Chondromalacia
: Abnormal softening or degeneration of cartilage. See also patellofemoral syndrome
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Chondromalacia patellae
The patellofemoral syndrome (PFS), the most common cause of chronic knee pain. PFS characteristically causes vague discomfort of the inner knee area, aggravated by activity (running, jumping, climbing or descending…
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Chondroplasia
The formation of cartilage by specialized cells called chondrocytes
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Chondrosarcoma
A malignant tumor that forms in cartilage cells (chondroplasts) and that produces cartilage matrix. Chondrosarcoma can be primary or secondary. Primary chondrosarcoma forms in bone and is found in children. Secondary…
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Chorda tympani
A branch of the facial nerve (the seventh cranial nerve) that serves the taste buds in the front of the tongue, runs through the middle ear, and carries taste messages to the brain. The chorda tympani is part of one of…
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Chordae tendineae
Thread-like bands of fibrous tissue which attach on one end to the edges of the tricuspid and mitral valves of the heart and on the other end to the papillary muscles, small muscles within the heart that serve to anchor…
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Chordoma
A form of bone cancer that usually starts in the lower spinal column
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Chorea
Ceaseless rapid complex body movements that look well coordinated and purposeful but are, in fact, involuntary. Chorea was thought suggestive of a grotesque dance. The term 'chorea' is derived from the Greek word…
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Chorea, senile
See: Senile chorea
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Chorea, Sydenham's
See: Sydenham chorea
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Chorioamnionitis
Inflammation of the chorion and the amnion, the membranes that surround the fetus. Chorioamnionitis usually is associated with a bacterial infection. This may be due to bacteria ascending from the mother's genital tract…
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Chorioangioma, placental
A benign vascular (blood vessel) tumor of the placenta (afterbirth). Large chorioangiomas cause complications including polyhydramnios (excess amniotic fluid), maternal and fetal clotting problems (coagulopathies)…
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Choriocarcinoma
A highly malignant tumor that arises from trophoblastic cells within the uterus. Choriocarcinoma tends to be invasive and to metastasize early and widely through both the venous and lymphatic systems. Choriocarcinoma is…
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Chorion
The outermost of the two fetal membranes - the amnion is the innermost --. which together surround the embryo. The chorion develops villi (vascular fingers) and gives rise to the placenta. In Greek, the word 'chorion'…
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Chorionic gonadotropin, human
A procedure for first-trimester prenatal diagnosis. Chorionic villus sampling may be done between the eighth and tenth weeks of pregnancy. The aim is to diagnose severe abnormalities afflicting the fetus. In the…
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Chorionic villus sampling
Chorionic villus sampling: A procedure for first-trimester prenatal diagnosis. Chorionic villus sampling may be done between the eighth and tenth weeks of pregnancy. The aim is to diagnose severe abnormalities…
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Choroid
See: Melanoma, choroidal.
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Choroidal melanoma
See: Melanoma, choroidal
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Choroiditis
An inflammation of the layer of the eye behind the retina, either in its entirely (multifocal choroiditis) or in patches (focal choroiditis). Usually the only symptom is blurred vision. See also uveitis.
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Chrematophobia
Fear of money. Although born to a wealthy family, he has chrematophobia and lives a spare life. From the Greek chrimata, money + phobia
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Christian Boehmer Anfinsen, Jr.
See: Anfinsen, Christian Boehmer, Jr.
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Chromaesthesia
See: Chromesthesia
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Chromatids
The daughter strands of a duplicated chromosome joined together by a centromere.
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Chromatin
The nucleoprotein material of chromosomes. Chromatin is essentially the substance of chromosomes. It is made up of DNA attached to a protein structure, together with chromosomal RNA. Chromatin exists in two states…
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Chromatin modeling
See: Chromatin remodeling
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Chromatin modelling
See: Chromatin remodeling
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Chromatin remodeling
See: Chromatin remodeling.
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Chromatin remodelling
See: Chromatin remodeling
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Chromatography, gas (GC)
A type of automated chromatography (a technique used to separate mixtures of substances) in which the mixture to be analyzed is vaporized and carried by an inert gas through a special column and thence to a detection…
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Chromatophobia
An abnormal and persistent fear of money. Sufferers experience undue anxiety even though they realize their fear is irrational. They worry that they might mismanage money or that money might live up to its reputation as…
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Chromesthesia
A type of synesthesia in which which a nonvisual stimulus causes the individual to perceive color. Color hearing is a form of chromesthesia. In color hearing a musical tone elicits a color. One well-studied case…
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Chromosome
A visible carrier of the genetic information. The 3 billion bp (base pairs) in the human genome are organized into 24 distinct, physically separate microscopic units called chromosomes. All genes are arranged linearly…
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Chromosome 1
The largest human chromosome, comprising approximately 10% of the human genome. Chromosome 1 contains over 240 million base pairs and over 3000 genes including the UROD gene for porphyria cutanea tarda, the GBA gene for…
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Chromosome 11 childhood leukemia
A new type of childhood leukemia in which a piece of chromosome 11 has been translocated (broken off and attached itself to another chromosome). Children with this type of leukemia have a particularly poor prognosis…
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Chromosome 2
The second largest chromosome in the human genome. Chromosome 2 contains over 240 million base pairs and more than 2500 genes, including the ETM2 gene for essential tremor, the MSH2 and MSH6 genes for colon cancer, and…
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Chromosome 3
One of the largest human chromosomes, comprising approximately 6.5% of the human genome. Chromosome 3 has between 1,100 and 1,500 genes of the estimated 30,000 to 40,000 genes in the human genome. Among the genes on…
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Chromosome 4p- syndrome
The 4p- syndrome or Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, is a chromosome disorder due to partial deletion of the short (p) arm of chromosome 4. It is, therefore, also called the 4p- syndrome. Features of the syndrome include…
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Chromosome 5q- syndrome
A blood disorder due to the loss of part of the long (q) arm of chromosome 5 in myeloid (bone marrow) cells, causing refractory (treatment-resistant) anemia, and myelodysplastic syndrome that is generally associated…
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Chromosome band
One of the transverse bands produced on chromosomes by differential staining techniques. Depending on the particular staining technique, the bands are alternating light and dark or fluorescent and nonfluorescent. Each…
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Chromosome banding
The treatment of chromosomes to reveal characteristic patterns of horizontal bands like bar codes. The banding patterns lend each chromosome a distinctive appearance so the 22 pairs of human nonsex chromosomes and the X…
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Chromosome complement
The whole set of chromosomes for the species. In humans, the chromosome complement (which is also called the karyotype) consists of 46 chromosomes.
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Chromosome disorder
An abnormal condition due to an abnormality of the chromosomes. For example, Down syndrome (the genetic abnormality featuring three chromosome 21s, instead of two, also referred to as trisomy 21) is a chromosome…
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Chromosome duplication
Part of a chromosome in duplicate. A particular kind of mutation involving the production of one or more copies of any piece of DNA, including sometimes a gene or even an entire chromosome. A duplication is the opposite…
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Chromosome inversion
A basic type of chromosome rearrangement. A segment that does not include the centromere (and so is paracentric) has been snipped out of a chromosome, turned through 180 degrees (inverted), and inserted right back into…
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Chromosome inversion, paracentric
The chart of the linear array of genes on a chromosome. A chromosome map can also refer to the visual appearance of a chromosome when stained and examined under a microscope. Particularly important are visually distinct…
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Chromosome inversion, pericentric
A fragment of a chromosome (one of the microscopically visible carriers of the genetic material DNA) that is lacking a centromere (the "waist" of the chromosome essential for the division and the retention of the…
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Chromosome map
A chromosome (one of the microscopically visible carriers of the genetic material DNA) with its centromere (the "waist" of the chromosome) located quite near one end of the chromosome. The "acro-" in acrocentric comes…
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Chromosome, acentric
An abnormal chromosome (a microscopically visible carrier of the genetic material DNA) with two centromeres rather than the normal one. The centromere is essential for the division of the chromosome. A dicentric…
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Chromosome, acrocentric
An abnormal chromosome that is distinctive in appearance but not fully identified. A marker chromosome is not a "marker" of a specific disease. It is a marker chromosome merely in the sense that it can be distinguished…
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Chromosome, dicentric
A chromosome in the stage of the cell cycle (the sequence of events in the life of a cell) when a chromosome is most condensed and easiest to distinguish and so to study. Metaphase chromosomes are often chosen for…