Medical terms - Letter C
1,581 terms start with the letter C.
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Cysticercus
The larval form of any of the Taenia tapeworms. The plural is cysticerci. Infection with cysticerci is referred to as cysticercosis
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Cystine
An amino acid that is particularly notable because it is the least soluble of all of the naturally occurring amino acids and because it precipitates out of solution in the genetic disease cystinuria to form stones in…
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Cystine kidney stones
Cystine kidney stones are due to cystinuria, an inherited (genetic) disorder of the transport of an amino acid (a building block of protein) called cystine that results in an excess of cystine in the urine (cystinuria)…
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Cystine transport disease
Commonly known as cystinuria, this is an inherited (genetic) disorder of the transport of an amino acid (a building block of protein) called cystine resulting in an excess of cystine in the urine (cystinuria) and the…
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Cystinosis
A genetic disease characterized by the widespread deposition of the amino acid cystine in cells due to a defect in cystine transport. (Cystine normally forms after protein degradation and is transported from structures…
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Cystinuria
Cystinuria: An inherited (genetic) disorder of the transport of an amino acid (a building block of protein) called cystine resulting in an excess of cystine in the urine (cystinuria) and the formation of cystine stones…
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Cystitis
Inflammation of the bladder. Cystitis can be due for example to infection from bacteria that ascend the urethra (the canal from the outside) to the bladder. Symptoms include a frequent need to urinate, often accompanied…
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Cystitis in children
Bladder infection in children. See: Urinary tract infection in children
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Cystitis, interstitial (IC)
Disease that involves inflammation or irritation of the bladder wall. This inflammation can lead to scarring and stiffening of the bladder, and even ulcerations and bleeding. Diagnosis is based on symptoms, findings on…
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Cystocele
Bulging of the bladder into the vagina. From cysto- (the bladder) + -cele (hernia) because the bladder herniated into the vagina. Also called a cystic hernia
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Cystoscope
An optical instrument (a scope) that is inserted through the urethra into the bladder. A cystoscope has two ports. Aside from the optical port that permits one to see inside the bladder, there is an additional port in…
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Cystoscopy
A procedure in which the doctor inserts a lighted instrument called a cystoscope into the urethra (the tube that carries urine from the bladder to the outside of the body) in order to look inside the urethra and…
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Cysts
Cysts: Cysts are abnormal, closed sac-like structures within a tissue that contain a liquid, gaseous, or semisolid substance. Cysts can occur anywhere in the body and can vary in size. The outer, or capsular, portion of…
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Cyt-
Prefix used in place of cyto- before a vowel. See: Cyto-
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Cyte
A genetic term referring to the visual appearance of a chromosome when stained and examined under a microscope. Particularly important are visually distinct regions, called light and dark bands, which give each of the…
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Cyto (combining form)
Rm denoting a cell. Derived from the Greek 'kytos' meaning 'hollow, as a cell or container.' From the same root come the prefix 'cyto-' and the suffix '-cyte' which similarly denote a cell. Cyto-, -cyto- and -cyte enter…
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Cyto-
Colorblindness of the red-green type (also known as deuteranopia or deuteranomaly). The term "Daltonism" is derived from the name of the chemist and physicist, John Dalton (1766-1844). Dalton was born in a village in…
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Cytogenetic map
A genetic term referring to the visual appearance of a chromosome when stained and examined under a microscope. Particularly important are visually distinct regions, called light and dark bands, which give each of the…
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Cytogenetics
The study of chromosomes, the visible carriers of DNA, the hereditary material. Cytogenetics is a fusion science due to joining of cytology (the study of cells) with genetics (the study of inherited variation).
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Cytogenetics, clinical
The application of cytogenetics to clinical medicine. For example, clinical cytogenetic studies might be done to determine whether a child with possible Down syndrome has an extra chromosome #21.
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Cytokine
A small protein released by cells that has a specific effect on the interactions between cells, on communications between cells or on the behavior of cells. The cytokines includes the interleukins, lymphokines and cell…
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Cytokinesis
1. During cell division, the process that partitions the cellular contents including the chromosomes, cytoplasm, and organelles into the two daughter cells. Cytokinesis occurs just after the segregation of the…
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Cytology
The medical and scientific study of cells. Cytology refers to a branch of pathology, the medical specialty that deals with making diagnoses of diseases and conditions through the examination of tissue samples from the…
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Cytomegalovirus (CMV)
A virus that infects 50-85% of adults in the US by age 40 and is also the virus most frequently transmitted to a child before birth. Persons with symptoms have a mononucleosis-like syndrome with prolonged fever and mild…
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Cytometry, flow
Analysis of biological material by detection of the light-absorbing or fluorescing properties of cells or subcellular fractions such as chromosomes passing in a narrow stream through a laser beam. Flow cytometry is used…
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Cytoplasm
All of the substance of a cell outside of the nucleus. The cytoplasm contains a number of different types organelles such as the mitochondria. Most, but not all, cells have cytoplasm. Mature sperm are essentially devoid…
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Cytosine (C)
One member of the G-C (guanine-cytosine) pair of bases in DNA
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Cytosis
1. Suffix referring to cells, as in anisocytosis (inequality in the size of red blood cells), elliptocytosis (elliptical red cells), and phagocytosis (ingestion of cells).2. Suffix connoting an increase in cells, as in…
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Cytoskeleton
The scaffolding structure of the cell cytoplasm. The cytoskeleton consists of intermediate filaments, actin filaments, and microtubules
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Cytotoxic
Toxic to cells, cell-toxic, cell-killing. Any agent or process that kills cells. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are forms of cytotoxic therapy. They kill cells. The prefix cyto- denotes a cell. It comes from the Greek…
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Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte
A T cell that is antigen-specific and is able to search out and kill specific types of virus-infected cells. When cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTLs) find cells carrying the viral peptide they are looking for, they induce…