Glossary

Category: V

  • Varicose veins

    Enlarged and twisted veins that can occur anywhere in the body, but are most common in the legs. Swollen, tortuous vein with abnormally functioning valves. It is a common condition, usually affecting the veins of the legs; it is more common in women than men and often associated with congenitally weak valves, pregnancy, obesity, or…

  • Variola

    Variola

    Or smallpox, a contagious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is characterised by fever, weakness and skin eruption with pustules that form scabs that leave scars.  

  • Vagus nerve

    A cranial nerve, that is, a nerve connected to the brain. The vagus nerve has branches to most of the major organs in the body, including the larynx, throat, windpipe, lungs, heart, and most of the digestive system. Cranial nerve that is extremely long, extending from the brain stem all the way to the internal…

  • Vagotomy

    The surgical cutting of the vagus nerve to reduce acid secretion in the stomach. A surgical operation to cut through the vagus nerve which controls the nerves in the stomach, as a treatment for peptic ulcers. Cutting of branches of the vagus nerve, usually performed with stomach surgery, to reduce the secretion of gastric juice…

  • V‐Y advancement flap

    Flap designed to lengthen an area of soft tissue and/or assure primary coverage without tension following tissue removal. Incision is first made in the form of a V and then sutured in the form of a Y.  

  • VRML (abbrev)

    Virtual reality modeling language.  

  • VR (abbrev)

    Virtual reality.  

  • Voxel (volumetric pixel or volumetric picture element)

    Volume element, representing a value on a regular grid in 3D space. Isotropic is cube shaped (CBCT) and orthotropic is rectangular (CT).  

  • Volkmann’s canals

    Passages containing arteries. They run within the osteons perpendicular to the Haversian canals, interconnecting the latter with each other and the periosteum. A canal running horizontally through compact bone, carrying blood to the Haversian systems [After Richard von Volkmann (1830—89), German surgeon]. Small canals found in bone through which blood vessels pass from the periosteum.…

  • Vitreous carbon

    Biomaterial with a glassy amorphous structure once used for the fabrication of endosseous implants or as an implant coating.