Medical terms - Letter S (page 2) | MedicalVocabulary.org

Salmonellosis

Infection with bacteria belonging to the genus Salmonella. Salmonellosis is a common cause of food poisoning as, for example, from raw eggs. The symptoms of salmonellosis usually begin within 12 to 24 hours of exposure…
Salpingo-oophorectomy

Removal of the fallopian tubes and ovaries
Salt

In medicine, salt usually refers to sodium chloride, table salt, used for seasoning food, for the preservation of meat, etc. Salt is found in the earth and in sea water and is isolated by evaporation and crystallization…
Salter-Harris fracture

A traumatic fracture around or through the growth plate (the epiphyseal plate) of a bone in a child
Salubrious

Good for the health. Healthy. Promoting health or well-being. Wholesome. For example, smog is far from salubrious. From the Latin salubris, from salus (health), ultimately from Indo-European root sol- (whole), the…
Salutary

Healthful. Promoting health or well-being; wholesome. From the French salutaire, from the Latin salutaris, from salus (health), ultimately from Indo-European root sol- (whole), the source also of the word salubrious
Salvage chemotherapy

Chemotherapy given after recurrence of a tumor. See: Salvage therapy
Salvage radiotherapy

Radiation treatment given after recurrence of a tumor. See: Salvage therapy
Salvage therapy

1. A final treatment for people who are nonresponsive to or cannot tolerate other available therapies for a particular condition and whose prognosis is often poor.2. In oncology, a treatment given after a tumor has not…
Samaritan

See Good Samaritan
SAMHSA

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a part of the U.S. Public Health Service, that works to improve the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental…
Sample, random

A group selected randomly, solely by chance
San Joaquin Valley disease

A disease also called coccidioidomycosis (CM) due to a fungus called Coccidioides immitis. About 40% of people infected with this fungus develop symptoms. Most often they have an influenza-like illness with fever…
Sand, biliary

Biliary sand is a term mostly used by surgeons when they remove the gallbladder to describe uncountable, small particles in bile that are visible to the naked eye. Biliary sand may be looked upon as a stage in the…
Sand-blind

Partly blind, semi-blind, half-blind. From the Old English samblind from sam- meaning semi- + blind. In the erroneous belief that the term referred to blindness caused by sand, Samuel Johnson defined the term in his…
Sandfly fever

An acute mild viral disease characterized by fever, malaise, eye pain, and headache occurring mainly during the warm weather in many parts of the world. It is caused by Phleboviruses and is transmitted by sandflies…
Sandhoff disease

A genetic disorder with symptoms that are very similar to those of Tay-Sachs disease (TSD) and that is characterized by accumulation of fatty material called GM2 ganglioside in the nerve cells of the brain. Symptoms…
Sanfilippo syndrome

The most common disorder of mucopolysaccharide metabolism, a syndrome in which the onset of clinical abnormalities is between the ages of 2 and 6 with mild coarsening of the facial features (but normal clear corneas)…
Sanger Centre

A celebrated genetics research center in the UK where much of the human genome sequencing took place. The Sanger Centre was established jointly by the Wellcome Trust and the British Medical Research Council to provide a…
Sanguine

1) Having a ruddy (reddish) complexion. 2) Cheerful, hopeful, confident, and optimistic; impulsive. The word 'sanguine' from the Latin 'sanguineus' for 'blood' has long been used in English for things relating to the…
Saphenous vein

The saphenous veins -- there are two, the great and the small saphenous veins - serve as the principal veins running superficially (near the surface) up the leg. The great saphenous vein (also called the large saphenous…
Saphenous vein, great

The larger of the two saphenous veins, the principal veins that run up the leg superficially (near the surface). The great saphenous vein goes from the foot all the way up to the saphenous opening, an oval aperture in…
Saphenous vein, large

The larger of the two saphenous veins, the principal veins that run up the leg superficially (near the surface). The large saphenous vein goes from the foot all the way up to the saphenous opening, an oval aperture in…
Saphenous vein, small

The smaller of the two saphenous veins, the principal veins that run up the leg superficially (near the surface). The small saphenous vein, runs behind the outer malleolus (the protuberance on the outside of the ankle…
SAPHO syndrome

SAPHO syndrome: SAPHO syndrome is an eponym for a condition which is characterized by a combination of: > >Synovitis -- inflammation of the joint lining (synovium), typically manifest as warmth, tenderness, pain…
Sapovirus

A virus, formerly called 'Sapporo-like virus' (SLV) and sometimes referred to as classic or typical calicivirus, which can cause acute gastroenteritis ('stomach flu')
Sapphism

Female homosexuality. Named after the poet Sappho who lived on the Greek island of Lesbos (circa 600 BC). She was a lesbian by geography and sexual orientation. Also called lesbianism.
Sapporo-like virus

See: Sapovirus
Sarcoidosis

Sarcoidosis: A disease of unknown origin that causes small lumps (granulomas) due to chronic inflammation to develop in a great range of body tissues. Sarcoidosis can appear in almost any body organ, but most often…
Sarcoma

One of a group of tumors usually arising from connective tissue. Most sarcomas are malignant. Many types are named after the type of cell, tissue, or structure involved, as in angiosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, fibrosarcoma…
Sarcoma botryoides

A malignancy of the cervix, vagina, or bladder in infants and young children that arises from embryonal rhabdomyoblasts (ancestral muscle cells). The tumor resembles a bunch of grapes. It has a generally good prognosis…
Sarcoma, Ewing

Sarcoma, Ewing: A type of bone tumor that occurs in children and adolescents, most often in the large bones of the arms and legs and the flat bones of the pelvis, spine and ribs. The tumor is caused by a chromosome…
Sarcoma, Kaposi

Sarcoma, Kaposi: A relatively rare type of skin malignancy that tends to afflict elderly people or, especially, those with an abnormal immune system as in AIDS. Kaposi sarcoma is a highly vascular ('angioblastic') tumor…
Sarcoma, metastatic

A sarcoma that is spreading into other body tissues through the lymphatic system. The most common site for metastatic sarcoma is the lungs, and there are usually multiple lesions. Treatment is by chemotherapy and…
Sarcoma, soft tissue

See: Soft tissue sarcoma
Sarcoma, synovial

See Synovial sarcoma
SARS

Severe acute respiratory syndrome. A severe form of pneumonia which appeared in outbreaks in 2003. See: Severe acute respiratory syndrome
SARS vaccine

A vaccine to protect against severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The SARS epidemic surfaced early in 2003 and a crash program was soon begun to develop a vaccine directed against the coronavirus that causes SARS…
Sartorius muscle

The long band of muscle that stretches from the calf to the pelvis. It moves the thigh and, by extension, the leg.
Satellite DNA

DNA that contains many tandem (not inverted) repeats of a short basic repeating unit. Satellite DNA is located at very specific spots in the genome (on chromosomes 1, 9, 16 and the Y chromosome, the tiny short arms of…
Saturated fat

A fat that is solid at room temperature and comes chiefly from animal food products. Some examples are butter, lard, meat fat, solid shortening, palm oil, and coconut oil. These fats tend to raise the level of…
Sawbones

Slang name for a surgeon and, in particular, an orthopaedic surgeon (who may have 'sawed bones' on the battlefield in days gone by). The term 'sawbones' has been in use for many years, as in: 'What, don't you know what…
Sawyer's extractor

A device designed for first aid that suctions venom from the site of a bite of a poisonous snake or lizard
SBCC

Superficial basal cell carcinoma. A basal cell cancer of the skin that is superficial and has not infiltrated into deeper tissue. See: Basal cell carcinoma
Scabicide

A medication used to treat scabies. Although they were the most effective treatment, pyrethrin- based medications such as the lindane solution Qwell contain benzene, and are no longer generally recommended for use.
Scabies

Scabies: Infestation of the skin by the human itch mite, Sarcaptes scabies. The initial symptom of scabies are red, raised bumps that are intensely itchy. A magnifying glass will reveal short, wavy lines of red skin…
Scabies, crusted

A severe form of scabies caused by delayed treatment of the initial infestation, characterized by mite-filled lesions covered with scabs. These lesions often fall victim to secondary infections, as with Staphylococcus…
Scaffold

1. In genetics, the chromosome structure consisting entirely of nonhistone proteins remaining after all the DNA and histone proteins have been removed from a chromosome.2. In genomic mapping, a series of contigs that…
Scalded skin syndrome

A potentially serious side effect of infection with the Staph (Staphylococcus) bacteria that produces a specific protein which loosens the 'cement' holding the various layers of the skin together. This allows blister…
Scale, Centigrade

Thermometer scale in which the freezing point of water is 0°C and the boiling point of water at sea level is 100°C. The Centigrade scale is used around most of the world to indicate the temperature on a thermometer…