Medical terms - Letter T (page 5) | MedicalVocabulary.org

Test, radionucleide stress

Stress: This procedure involves injecting a radioactive isotope (typically thallium or cardiolyte) into the patient's vein after which an image of the patient's heart becomes visible with a special camera. The…
Test, rapid plasma reagin

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…
Test, rapid strep

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 test for a strep…
Test, Rorschach

A psychological test involving inkblots. The inkblots are used to determine what a person perceives (reads into) in the enigmatic and highly ambiguous shapes. Ten standardized blots are shown one at a time to a subject…
Test, RPR

Rapid plasma reagin, a blood test for syphilis that looks for an antibody that is present in the bloodstream when a patient has syphilis. A negative (nonreactive) RPR is compatible with a person not having syphilis, but…
Test, stool occult blood

A test to see whether there is blood in the bowel movement. Also called a fecal occult blood test: A test to check for hidden blood in stool. (Fecal refers to stool. Occult means hidden.) Abbreviated stool OB.
Test, stress echocardiography

A supplement to the routine exercise cardiac stress test. During stress echocardiography, the sound waves of ultrasound are used to produce images of the heart at rest and at the peak of exercise. In a heart with normal…
Test, sweat

See: Sweat test
Test, sweat chloride

See: Sweat test
Test, syphilis (FTA-ABS)

The fluorescent treponemal antibody absorbed (FTA-ABS) test for syphilis is a blood serum screening test designed to demonstrate the presence or absence of specific antibodies directed against the organism (Treponema…
Test, syphilis (RPR)

Rapid plasma reagin, a blood test for syphilis that looks for an antibody that is present in the bloodstream when a patient has syphilis. A negative (nonreactive) RPR is compatible with a person not having syphilis, but…
Test, syphilis (VDRL)

A blood test for syphilis (VDRL stands for Venereal Disease Research Laboratory) that detects an antibody that is present in the bloodstream when a patient has syphilis. A negative (nonreactive) VDRL is compatible with…
Test, ThinPrep Pap

A modified Pap test technique designed to reduce some of the technical problems inherent in the traditional type of Pap smear. In the traditional Pap test, cell samples are obtained from the vagina, cervix, and cervical…
Test, tilt-table

Tilt-table testing involves placing the patient on a table with a foot-support. The table is tilted upward and the blood pressure and pulse are measured and symptoms are recorded with the patient in diverse positions…
Test, treadmill

A test (sometimes called the exercise treadmill test or exercise test) in which a continuous electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) recording of the heart is made as the patient performs increasing levels of exercise on the…
Test, triglyceride

Triglycerides are the major form of fat. Triglycerides come from the food we eat and are produced by the body. Triglyceride levels are influenced by recent fat and alcohol intake. You should therefore fast (from food)…
Test, VDRL

A blood test for syphilis (VDRL stands for Venereal Disease Research Laboratory) that detects an antibody that is present in the bloodstream when a patient has syphilis. A negative (nonreactive) VDRL is compatible with…
Test, Venereal Disease Research Laboratory

A blood test for syphilis. Venereal Disease Research Laboratory is commonly abbreviated VDRL. A negative ('nonreactive') VDRL is compatible with a person not having syphilis. However, a person may a negative VDRL and…
Test, visual acuity

This test measures how well you see at various distances. It is the familiar eye chart test. The eye chart itself -- the usual one is called Snellen's chart -- is imprinted with block letters that line-by-line decrease…
Test, visual field

A test which measures the extent and distribution of the field of vision. The visual field test may be done by a number of methods including what are termed confrontation, tangent screen exam and automated perimetry…
Testes

The male sex glands. They are located behind the penis in a pouch of skin called the scrotum. The testes produce and store sperm, and are also the body's main source of male hormones, such as testosterone. These…
Testicles

The testicles (also called testes or gonads) are the male sex glands. They are located behind the penis in a pouch of skin called the scrotum. The testicles produce and store sperm, and they are also the body's main…
Testicular cancer

Testicular cancer: Cancer of the male sex organ, the testicle, that normally produces the hormone testosterone. One of the most common cancers in young men. Most testicular cancers are found by men in themselves as a…
Testicular feminization syndrome

Now more appropriately called the complete androgen insensitivity syndrome, this is a genetic disorder that makes XY fetuses insensitive (unresponsive) to androgens (male hormones). Instead, they are born looking…
Testicular self-examination

A monthly procedure for detecting the early signs of testicular cancer. Men should check the testes visually for new swelling or other changes on the skin of the scrotum, roll each testicle between thumb and fingers to…
Testing, anonymous

Testing in which no name or other means is used to identify the person tested. There is total anonymity. For example, the State of Florida requires that each county have a site for anonymous HIV testing
Testis

The testis (or testicle) is the male sex gland. A pair of testes are located behind the penis in a pouch of skin called the scrotum. The testes have two functions: one in regard to sperm and the other in regard to…
Testosterone

A 'male hormone' -- a sex hormone produced by the testes that encourages the development of male sexual characteristics, stimulates the activity of the male secondary sex characteristics, and prevents changes in them…
Testosterone replacement therapy

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…
Tetanus

Tetanus: An often fatal infectious disease caused by the bacteria Clostridium tetani (C. tetani) which usually enters the body through a puncture, cut, or open wound. Tetanus is characterized by profoundly painful…
Tetany

>Hyperreflexia (overactive neurological reflexes), >Carpopedal spasm (spasms of the hands and feet), >Cramps, and >Laryngospasm (spasm of the larynx, the voice box). Tetany characteristically is considered to result…
Tetracycline

Tetracycline: A family of broad-spectrum antibiotics effective against a remarkably wide variety of organisms. Bacteria susceptible to teracycline include H. flu (Hemophilus influenzae), strep (Streptococcus…
Tetraethyl lead

Tetraethyl lead.
Tetraethylplumbane

Tetraethyl lead
Tetrafluoroethylene

A substance that is a possible carcinogen (cancer-causing agent) used in the production of polymers such as polytetrafluoroethylene. The US government in 2000 classified tetrafluoroethylene as 'reasonably anticipated to…
Tetrahydrogestrinone

A 'designer steroid' with anabolic properties. Known as THG
Tetralogy of Fallot

A combination of four heart defects that are present together at birth, accounting for about 10% of all congenital heart disease. The four defects that constitute the tetralogy of Fallot are: > >Ventricular septal…
Tetranucleotide

A sequence of 4 base pairs. (Bases are the building blocks of DNA.) Expansion of a tetranucleotide repeat (CCTG) in the ZNF9 gene causes type 2 myotonic dystrophy
Tetrapeptide

A peptide consisting of four amino acids
Tetraphocomelia-thrombocytopenia syndrome

See TAR syndrome
TGA

1. Transient global amnesia.2. Transposition of the great arteries
TGF

Transforming growth factor
Th1

A distinct type of T-helper cell. See: T-helper cell
Th2

A distinct type of T-helper cell. See: T-helper cell
Th3

A distinct type of T-helper cell. See: T-helper cell
Thai hemorrhagic fever

A syndrome due to the dengue virus that tends to affect children under 10, causing abdominal pain, hemorrhage (bleeding) and circulatory collapse (shock). Known also as dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), it starts abruptly…
Thalassemia

Not just one disease but rather a complex series of genetic (inherited) disorders all of which involve underproduction of hemoglobin, the indispensable molecule in red blood cells that carries oxygen. The globin part of…
Thalassemia major

The dire disease also known as beta thalassemia. The clinical picture of this form of anemia was first described in 1925 by the pediatrician Thomas Benton Cooley. Other names for the disease are Cooley's anemia and…
Thalassemia minor

Also called thalassemia trait, thalassemia minor is the carrier state for beta thalassemia. People who are carriers (heterozygotes) have just one thalassemia gene, are said to have thalassemia minor, and are essentially…
Thalassemia, alpha

A blood disorder, thalassemia is not one disease but rather a group of disorders that have a single feature in common: they all have a genetic defect in the production of hemoglobin, the protein that enables red blood…