Medical terms - Letter R (page 7) | MedicalVocabulary.org

Renal pelvis

The area at the center of the kidney. Urine collects here and is funneled into the ureter
Renal stone

A stone in the kidney (or lower down in the urinary tract). Also called a kidney stone. Renal stones are a common cause of blood in the urine and pain in the abdomen, flank, or groin. Kidney stones occur in 1 in 20…
Renal syndrome with hemorrhagic fever

A number of diseases characterized by an abrupt onset of high fever and chills, headache, cold and cough, and pain in the muscles, joints and abdomen with nausea and vomiting followed by bleeding into the kidney and…
Renal transplant

Replacement of a diseased, damaged, or missing kidney with a donor kidney. Also called a kidney transplant. Patients with end-stage renal failure are candidates for transplantation. A successful transplant frees the…
Renal tubules

Small structures in the kidney that filter the blood and produce the urine
Renal vein thrombosis

Blood clot in the major vein that drains blood from the kidney
Rendu-Osler-Weber syndrome

See: Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia
Rep

1) Roentgen equivalent physical, a unit of absorbed radiation approximately equivalent to one roentgen. 2) An abbreviation for repetition when referring to an exercise maneuver. 3) An abbreviation for representative of…
Repair, DNA

The body has a series of special enzymes that repair mutations (changes) in the DNA and restore the DNA to its original state. The DNA in genes is constantly mutating and being repaired. This repair process is…
Repair, hernia

Also called a herniorrhaphy, a surgical repair of a hernia. Hernia repair may be done under local or general anesthesia using a conventional incision or a laparoscope. The alternative term 'herniorrhaphy' comes from…
Repair, mismatch

A system within the cell for correcting errors in DNA that works by detecting and replacing bases in the DNA that are wrongly paired (mismatched bases). The system repairs the mismatch. When there is a mismatch in the…
Repeat

In genetics, two or more adjacent copies of an identical pattern of nucleotides in the DNA, as in tandem repeat sequences
Reperfusion

The restoration of blood flow to an organ or tissue. After a heart attack, an immediate goal is to quickly open blocked arteries and reperfuse the heart muscles. Early reperfusion minimizes the extent of heart muscle…
Repetitive DNA

DNA sequences that are repeated in the genome. These sequences do not code for protein. One class termed highly repetitive DNA consists of short sequences, 5-100 nucleotides, repeated thousands of times in a single…
Repetitive stress injury

Stress injury: A type of injury from recurrent stress, often associated with the heavy use of computers. Stress in this context refers to an injury by overuse or improper use. One of the best-known repetitive stress…
Replacement therapy, estrogen (ERT)

Estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) is used to treat menopause. It reduces or stops the short-term changes of menopause such as hot flashes, disturbed sleep, and vaginal dryness. ERT can prevent osteoporosis, a…
Replacement therapy, hormone (HRT)

The combination therapy of estrogen plus progestogen, termed hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) is used to treat menopause. It reduces or stops the short-term changes of menopause such…
Replacement therapy, testosterone

The practice of giving testosterone to treat conditions in which the testes do not produce enough testosterone. This may be due to absence, injury, or disease. Testosterone is available in oral, IV, and patch forms. As…
Replacement, total hip

Replacement, total hip: Surgery in which the diseased ball and socket of the hip joint are completely removed and replaced with artificial materials. A metal ball with a stem (a prosthesis) is inserted into the femur…
Replantation

1. Literally, the act of planting again. 2. In surgery, the restoration of any part of the body to its original site. Also known as reimplantation. The Chinese surgeon Zhong Wei Chen (1929-2004) was the 'father of…
Replication

A turning back, repetition, duplication, reproduction
Replication, DNA

A wondrous complex process whereby the ('parent') strands of DNA in the double helix are separated and each one is copied to produce a new ('daughter') strand. This process is said to be 'semi-conservative' since one of…
Reportable disease

A disease that must be reported to federal, state, or local health officials when diagnosed. Reportable diseases include active tuberculosis, viral hepatitis, syphilis, gonorrhea, and HIV. Also called a notifiable…
Reporting, anonymous

In public health, anonymous reporting permits the acquisition of certain data such as the proportion of persons with a positive test or with a disease. It is different from anonymous testing, in which no name is used on…
Reporting, named

In public health, named reporting is the reporting of infected persons by name to public health departments. This is standard practice for the surveillance of many infectious diseases such as syphilis, gonorrhea, and…
Reporting, unique identifier

In public health, a system that uses information such as the person's birth date and part of their identification number (in the U.S., the social security number) to create a unique code that is reported instead of a…
Representational oligonucleotide microarray

The production of offspring. Reproduction need not be sexual. Yeast can reproduce by budding.
Reproduction

The production of offspring. Reproduction need not be sexual. Yeast can reproduce by budding
Reproductive cells

The eggs and sperm are the reproductive cells. Each mature reproductive cell is haploid in that it has a single set of 23 chromosomes containing half the usual amount of DNA. Except for the eggs and sperm, each cell in…
Reproductive organs, female

The internal genital structures of the female include the ovaries, the Fallopian tubes, the uterus (womb) and the vagina. The ovaries or 'egg sacs' are a pair of female reproductive organs located in the pelvis, one on…
Reproductive system

In women, the organs that are directly involved in producing eggs and in conceiving and carrying babies. In men, the organs directly involved in creating, storing, and delivering sperm to fertilize an egg
Research, clinical

A study of a treatment, procedure, or medication done in a medical setting. See also clinical research trials.
Research, controlled

A study that compared results from a treated group and a control group. The control group may receive no treatment, a placebo, or a different treatment. See also blinded study, control group, double-blinded study
Resect

To remove. Resect and excise are not synonymous. Excise implies total removal whereas resect need not. A surgeon may resect part or all of a tumor but if the surgeon excises the tumor, all of the tumor is removed. From…
Resectable

Able to be removed (resected) by surgery
Resection

Surgical removal of part of an organ
Resection, video-assisted

Surgery that is aided by the use of a video camera that projects and enlarges the image on a television screen. Also called video-assisted surgery
Reservoir

1. A place where something such as water is kept in reserve.2. The part of a device in which something is kept in reserve or stored, as an Ommaya reservoir.3. For an infectious agent, an animal, person, plant, soil, or…
Reservoir of infection

Any person, animal, plant, soil or substance in which an infectious agent normally lives and multiplies. The reservoir typically harbors the infectious agent without injury to itself and serves as a source from which…
Reservoir, Ommaya

A device implanted under the scalp that is used to deliver anticancer drugs to the cerebrospinal fluid, the fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord. The device is named for the U.S. neurosurgeon Ayub Ommaya
Resident

In medicine, a physician who has finished medical school and internship and is now receiving training in a specialized area as, for example, surgery, internal medicine, pathology or radiology. Board certification in all…
Residual

Something left behind. With residual disease, the disease has not been eradicated
Resin, bile acid

Bile acid resins are substances that bind in the intestines with bile acids that contain cholesterol and are then eliminated in the stool. The major effect of bile acid resins is to lower LDL-cholesterol by about 10 to…
Resistance

Opposition to something, or the ability to withstand it. For example, some forms of staphylococcus are resistant to treatment with antibiotics
Resistance, antibiotic

The ability of bacteria and other microorganisms to withstand an antibiotic to which they were once sensitive (and were once stalled or killed outright). Also called drug resistance
Resistance, aspirin

See: Aspirin resistance
Resistance, insulin

See: Insulin resistance
Resistance, pulmonary

The opposition of the respiratory tree to air flow
Resistance, vascular

The opposition to the flow of blood across a vascular bed.
Resolution

In genetics, resolution refers to the degree of molecular detail on a physical map of DNA, ranging from low to high