Category: S

A technique used in plastic surgery to expand skin prior to excising an area to achieve a more cosmetic wound closure. One or more expander balloons are inserted under the skin. The balloons are then expanded by progressively increasing the amount of saline solution in them. This is done on a weekly basis for whatever…

Firm connective tissue such as bone and cartilage.  

The time required for a material to polymerize or harden, as in dental amalgam, cement, plaster, resin, or stone.  

A deformity caused by gummatous periostitis (syphilitic) in which the tibia curves outward.  

A palpable heaving of the chest in the substernal area. This is a physical finding detectable in some persons with right ventricular hypertrophy.  

Treatment for patients suspected of having a complete airway obstruction. For conscious, standing adults, it consists of upward and inward thrusts of the thumb side of the rescuer’s closed fist, coming from behind the victim, in the area between the umbilicus and the xiphoid process.  

Formation of a blood clot in a venous sinus.  

An infected blood clot usually found in the heart or the venous sinuses of the brain.  

A thrill felt during systole over the precordium. It may be associated with aortic or pulmonary stenosis or an interventricular septal defect.  

A thermometer for indicating the temperature of the body’s surface. Used, for example, in infant warmers.