Medical terms - Letter R (page 3) | MedicalVocabulary.org

Rape

Rape: Forced sexual intercourse; sexual assault; sexual intercourse between an adult and a minor. Rape may be heterosexual (involving members of opposite sexes) or homosexual (involving members of the same sex). Rape…
Rape, date

Rape of a woman by a man with whom she is acquainted. The rapist is usually the woman's 'date' (escort). Although there are many possible date rape scenarios, in a common one, the man tries to weaken the resistance of…
Rapid eye movement sleep

Sleep: Rapid eye movement sleep (REM) sleep is the portion of sleep when there are rapid eye movements (REMs). Dreams occur during REM sleep. We typically have 3 to 5 periods of REM sleep per night. They occur at…
Rapid plasma reagin test

A screening blood test for syphilis. Rapid plasma reagin is commonly abbreviated RPR. A negative ('nonreactive') RPR test result is compatible with a person not having syphilis. However, a person may have a negative RPR…
Rapid strep test

Rapid strep test: A diagnostic test commonly used to demonstrate whether streptococcus bacteria ('strep') are present in the throat. A throat infection with strep needs to be treated with an antibiotic. The traditional…
Rash

Rash: Breaking out (eruption) of the skin. Medically, a rash is referred to as an exanthem.
Rash, butterfly

Rash, butterfly: A red, flat facial rash over the bridge of the nose. Over half of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) develop this characteristic rash. Because of its shape, it is frequently referred to as…
Rash, chickenpox

Rash, chickenpox: Chickenpox is characterized by a rash, often the first sign of the disease. The rash of chickenpox develops in crops with raised red spots arriving first, progressing to blisters that burst, creating…
Rash, varicella

Rash, varicella: Varicella (chickenpox) is characterized by a rash, often the first sign of the disease. The rash of chickenpox develops in crops with raised red spots arriving first, progressing to blisters that burst…
Rash, vesicular

A raised, blistery rash
Rash, yeast diaper

Rash, yeast diaper: Infection in the diaper area caused by a yeast formerly called Monilia and now called Candida. These organisms are part of the germs normally found in various parts of the body and ordinarily do not…
Rasmussen encephalitis

A rare progressive neurological disorder that is characterized by intractable seizures and progressive neurologic deterioration. To be more precise, there are frequent and severe seizures (convulsions), progressive loss…
Rasmussen syndrome

A brain disorder caused by inflammation of brain cells in one hemisphere. Its cause is unknown. Rasmussen syndrome causes seizures often difficult or impossible to control with medication, and eventually results in…
RAST

An allergy test done on a sample of blood. The aim with RAST, as with skin tests, is to check for allergic sensitivity to specific substances. In the test, the sample of blood is mixed with substances known to trigger…
Rat, cotton

See: Cotton rat
Rat, rice

See: Rice rat
Rat-flea typhus

Murine typhus, an acute infectious disease with fever, headache, and rash, all quite similar to, but milder than, epidemic typhus, caused by a related microorganism, Rickettsia typhi (mooseri), transmitted to humans by…
Rate, basal metabolic

A measure of the rate of metabolism. For example, someone with an overly active thyroid will have an elevated basal metabolic rate
Rate, birth

The birth rate is usually given as the number of live births divided by the average population (or the population at midyear). This is termed the crude birth rate. In 1995, for example, the crude birth rate per 1,000…
Rate, death

The number of deaths in the population divided by the average population (or the population at midyear) is the crude death rate. In 1994, for example, the crude death rate per 1,000 population was 8.8 in the United…
Rate, erythrocyte sedimentation

A sedimentation rate, or 'sed rate', is a blood test that detects and is used to monitor inflammation activity. It is measured by recording the rate at which red blood cells (RBCs) sediment in a tube over time. It…
Rate, fetal mortality

The ratio of fetal deaths divided by the sum of the births (the live births + the fetal deaths) in that year. In the United States, the fetal mortality rate plummeted from 19.2 per 1,000 births in 1950 to 9.2 per 1,000…
Rate, heart

Number of heart beats per minute. The normal resting adult heart beats regularly at an average rate of 60 times per minute. (Young children's hearts beat faster). The speed of the heartbeat (heart rate) is governed by…
Rate, infant mortality

The number of children dying under a year of age divided by the number of live births that year. The infant mortality rate is also called the infant death rate. The infant mortality rate is an important measure of the…
Rate, maternal mortality

The number of maternal deaths related to childbearing divided by the number of live births (or by the number of live births + fetal deaths) in that year. The maternal mortality rate in the United States in 1993 (and…
Rate, mortality

A death rate. There are a number of different types of mortality rates as, for examples, the following: > >The fetal mortality rate: The ratio of fetal deaths to the sum of the births (the live births + the fetal…
Rate, neonatal mortality

The number of children dying under 28 days of age divided by the number of live births that year. The neonatal mortality rate in the United States, which was 8.4 per 1,000 live births in 1980, declined to 5.8 per 1,000…
Rate, pulse

The pulse rate is most often taken at the wrist. It measures the number of pulsations in the radial artery each minute
Rate, respiratory

See: Respiratory rate
Rate, sed

A sedimentation rate, or 'sed rate', is a blood test that detects and is used to monitor inflammation activity. It is measured by recording the rate at which red blood cells (RBCs) sediment in a tube over time. It…
Rate, sedimentation

A blood test that detects and monitors inflammation in the body. It measures the rate at which red blood cells (RBCs) in a test tube separate from blood serum over time, becoming sediment in the bottom of the test tube…
Rattlesnake bite

A poisonous bite by a member of the pit viper family. All rattlesnakes are venomous and secrete poisonous venom. Rattlesnakes are the main cause of death from snake bites in the United States. The emergency treatment of…
Raw egg

Uncooked, unpasteurized egg. Salmonella enteritidis, a harmful bacterium, can be transmitted from infected hens directly to the interior of their eggs before the shells are formed. Even eggs with clean, uncracked shells…
Ray, Roentgen

See: Roentgen ray
Raynaud's disease

Condition resulting in skin discoloration of the fingers and/or toes when a person is exposed to changes in temperature (cold or hot) or to emotional events. This condition can occur alone or as a part of another…
Raynaud's phenomenon

Short for red blood cells, the cells that carry oxygen and carbon dioxide through the blood. This rather remarkable feat is thanks to hemoglobin, the pigment that makes red cells (and blood) look red. The red blood…
RBC

Short for red blood cells, the cells that carry oxygen and carbon dioxide through the blood. This rather remarkable feat is thanks to hemoglobin, the pigment that makes red cells (and blood) look red. The red blood…
RCT

Randomized controlled trial
RDA

Abbreviation for the Recommended Dietary Allowance. Or, popularly, the Recommended Daily Allowance
RDIs (Reference Daily Intakes)

Formerly known as hyaline membrane disease, a syndrome of respiratory difficulty in newborn infants caused by a deficiency of a molecule called surfactant. RDS almost always occurs in newborns born before 37 weeks of…
RDS (respiratory distress syndrome)

Formerly known as hyaline membrane disease, a syndrome of respiratory difficulty in newborn infants caused by a deficiency of a molecule called surfactant. RDS almost always occurs in newborns born before 37 weeks of…
Re-uptake

See: Reuptake
Reabsorption

Absorbing again. For example, the kidney selectively reabsorbs substances such as glucose, proteins, and sodium which it had already secreted into the renal tubules. These reabsorbed substances return to the blood.
Reactant, acute phase

See: Acute-phase protein
Reactant, acute-phase

See: Acute-phase protein
Reaction kinetics

Kinetics (with an 's' at the end) refers to the rate of change in a biochemical (or other) reaction, the study of reaction rates. Kinetics is a noun. It is distinct from 'kinetic' (an adjective) meaning with movement…
Reaction, allergic

A reaction that occurs when the immune system attacks a usually harmless substance (an allergen) that gains access to the body. The immune system calls upon a protective substance called immunoglobulin E (IgE) to fight…
Reaction, chemical

A process in which one substance is transformed into another. Thousands of different types of chemical reactions occur in the body and are essential to its structure and function
Reaction, desmoplastic

This term refers to the growth of fibrous or connective tissue. Some tumors elicit a desmoplastic reaction, the pervasive growth of dense fibrous tissue around the tumor. Scar tissue (adhesion) within the abdomen after…
Reaction, hibernation

See: SAD