Category: A

  • Air-puff tonometry

    Assessment of intraocular pressure using a burst of air rebounding off the cornea without the instrument touching the patient’s eye.  

  • Airborne precautions

    Actions taken to stop transmission of infectious agents by exposure to airborne droplet spray, including air filtration systems and masks.  

  • Afferent lymphatic vessel

    A small structure that transports lymph from the periphery or distal portions of the body, draining into more central vessels or lymph nodes.  

  • Aerocystoscopy

    Visual examination of the bladder using a cystoscope while the bladder is distended by air. Examination with a cystoscope of the bladder distended by air.  

  • Aerocoly

    Distention of the colon with gas.  

  • Aerocele

    Distention of a bodily cavity with gas.  

  • Adventitious breath sounds

    Abnormal sounds, such as crackles and rhonchi, heard in the lungs during auscultation. Abnormal lung sounds heard when listening to the chest as the person breathes. These may be wheezes, crackles (rales), or stridor. They do not include sounds produced by muscular activity in the chest wall or friction of the stethoscope on the chest.…

  • Adrenocortical steroid hormone

    Hormones, including glucocorticoids, mineralocorticoids, and androgens, that are produced by the adrenal cortex.  

  • Adrenal virilism

    Masculine facial and body features in females due to hypersecretion of androgens.  

  • Adductor magnus muscle

    Muscle of the medial aspect of the thigh which acts to adduct the thigh; the proximal portion acts to rotate the thigh medially and to flex it on the hip. A muscle of the medial thigh originating on the ramus of the ischium and pubis and inserted in the linea aspera and adductor tubercle of…