Category: H

UK legislation that lays down the framework and rules governing organ transplantation. UK Transplant is a special health authority set up in 1991, responsible for administering the NHS Organ Donor Registry and the Act.  

In simple terms, this is the genetic recipe for making a human being. Genome is a combination of the words gene and chromosome, and a genome is defined as all the genetic material — known as deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA in a cell. Most genes encode sequences of amino acids, the constituents of proteins, thus…

A service provided by a religious denomination, primarily aimed at meeting the spiritual and religious needs of patients in hospitals. In the UK, NHS hospital trusts employ both full-time and part-time chaplains, usually representing the mainline Christian churches (Anglican, Free and Roman Catholic). Their duties vary but involve meeting the specifically religious needs of patients…

Homatropine is an alkaloid derived from atropine, which is used to produce dilatation of the pupil and to paralyse accommodation temporarily for the purpose of examining the interior of the eye. It is used in 1 per cent solution, and its effects last a few hours. A medication employed for the treatment of specific eye…

A hospital unit equipped and staffed to nurse patients who require a high level of technically supported care. Patients are usually moved to such units when they have made satisfactory progress in an intensive therapy unit (ITU) and do not require the one-to-one nursing this provides. Patients who have undergone major surgery are often transferred…

One member of a group of viruses containing DNA which cause latent infections in animals and humans. Viruses from this group cause herpes simplex, herpes zoster (shingles) and chickenpox, and include cytomegalovirus and epstein-barr virus.    

Surgical repair of a hernia. This may be done as an open operation or as minimally invasice surgery (MIS) using a laparoscope.  

This is a tradename for trastizumab, one of the monoclonal antibody drugs used in treating early stage breast cancer in women with the her2 positive type of the disease about one in five of all those diagnosed. It is given, generally for one year, after other treatments such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and/or surgery. It cannot…

Loss of the sense of touch down one side of the body.  

The administrative machinery for planning, delivering and monitoring health care provided by health professionals and their supporting staff. This may range from running a small primary-care centre to organizing a large hospital, or being responsible for meeting the health needs of a region or a nation. Whether the overall structure for providing care is state-funded,…