Category: D

  • Domiciliary

    At home or in the home.  

  • Dolorimetry

    The measurement of pain.  

  • Dolichocephaly

    A condition of a person who has a skull which is longer than usual, the measurement across the skull being less than 75% of the length of the head from front to back. The condition of having a relatively long skull, with a cephalic index of 75 or less.  

  • Dolichocephalic

    Referring to a person with an unusually long skull. Dolichocephalic means long-headed, and is applied to a skull the breadth of which is less than four-fifths of the length. Having a skull with a long anteroposterior diameter.  

  • Doderlein’s bacillus

    A bacterium usually found in the vagina [After Albert Siegmund Gustav Doderlein (1860-1941), German obstetrician and gynaecologist]. This type of bacteria is commonly found in the vagina of a healthy individual, beginning in the first few weeks of life. The bacteria ferments sugar, contributing to the acidic and antiseptic nature of normal vaginal secretions through…

  • Doctor-assisted suicide

    The suicide of someone with an incurable disease carried out with the help of a doctor.  

  • Dobutamine

    A drug used to stimulate the heart. A cardiac stimulant drug of the inotropic sympathomimetic group, dobutamine acts on sympathetic receptors in cardiac muscle, increasing the contractility and hence improving the cardiac output, but with little effect on the cardiac rate. It is particularly useful in cardiogenic shock, and must be given by intravenous infusion.…

  • Dizzy

    Feeling that everything is going round because the sense of balance has been affected.  

  • Dizygotic

    Developed from two separately fertilised eggs. Medical term referring to nonidentical or fraternal twins, who grew from two separate fertilized eggs, or zygotes; literally, “two eggs.” Fraternal twins: twins who developed from two separate fertilized eggs. Dizygotic twins may be of the same or opposite sex; they do not contain the same genetic makeup and…

  • Divulsor

    A surgical instrument used to expand a passage in the body. A medical tool used to dilate a body part, such as the urethra. A surgical instrument used to dilate forcibly any canal or cavity, usually the urethra.