Category: E

  • Ethinyloestradiol

    An artificial hormone related to oestrogen that is effective in small doses. It forms part of hormone replacement therapy.  

  • Ethical committee

    A group of specialists who monitor experiments involving human beings or who regulate the way in which members of the medical profession conduct themselves. A group of senior doctors and other experts set up (especially in a hospital) to monitor investigations, concerned with teaching or research, that involve the use of human subjects. It is…

  • Ethical

    Concerning ethics. Referring to a drug available on prescription only.  

  • Ethambutol

    A drug that is part of the treatment for bacterial infections such as tuberculosis. A drug used in the treatment of tuberculosis, in conjunction with other drugs. It is administered by mouth and occasionally causes visual disturbances, which cease when the drug is withdrawn. Allergic rashes and digestive upsets may also occur. Ethambutol is a…

  • Essential uterine haemorrhage

    Heavy uterine bleeding for which there is no obvious cause.  

  • Essential hyperkinesia

    A condition of children where their movements are excessive and repeated.  

  • Esotropia

    A type of squint, where the eyes both look towards the nose. A type of strabismus in which the crossed eye is turned toward the nose. Condition in which one or both eyes appear to turn inward, cross-eye. A type of crossed eyes (strabismus), in which one or both eyes may turn inward toward the…

  • Esmarch’s bandage

    A rubber band wrapped round a limb as a tourniquet before a surgical operation and left in place during the operation so as to keep the site free of blood [Described 1869. After Johann Friedrich August von Esmarch (1823-1908), Professor of Surgery at Kiel, Germany.] An extensive rubber bandage is applied around the elevated limb…

  • Escort nurse

    A nurse who goes with patients to the operating theatre and back again to the ward.  

  • Escherichia

    A bacterium commonly found in faeces. A genus of Gram-negative, generally motile, rod-like bacteria that have the ability to ferment carbohydrates, usually with production of gas, and are found in the intestines of man and many animals. E. coli, a lactose-fermenting species, is usually not harmful but under certain conditions can cause infection of the…