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Medical Dictionary Terms Beginning with D
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Deformity, cauliflower ear
Deformity, cauliflower ear: An acquired deformity of the external ear to which wrestlers and boxers are particularly vulnerable, caused by trauma. Bleeding under the skin of the ear creates a clot that disrupts the connection of the skin to the ear carmore detail info...
Degenerative arthritis
Degenerative arthritis: Also known as osteoarthritis, this type of arthritis is caused by inflammation, breakdown and eventual loss of the cartilage of the joints. Among the over 100 different types of arthritis conditions, osteoarthritis is the most cmore detail info...
Degenerative joint disease
Degenerative joint disease: Also known as osteoarthritis, this type of arthritis is caused by inflammation, breakdown and eventual loss of the cartilage of the joints. Among the over 100 different types of arthritis conditions, osteoarthritis is the momore detail info...
Dehydration
Dehydration: Excessive loss of body water. Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract may lead to dehydration. One clue to dehydration is a rapid drop in weight. A loss of over 10% (15 pounds in a person weighing 150 pounds) is considered severe. Symptomsmore detail info...
Delay, developmental
Delay, developmental: Behind schedule in reaching milestones of early childhood development.more detail info...
Deletion
Deletion: Loss of a segment of DNA from a chromosome. An example is the cat-cry (cri du chat) syndrome which is due to loss of part of chromosome 5. A deletion is the opposite of a duplication.more detail info...
Delivery, breech
Delivery, breech: A breech delivery is birth, buttocks first.more detail info...
Delivery, footling
Delivery, footling: There are single-footling or double-footling deliveries depending upon whether the presenting part of the baby at delivery is just one foot or both feet.more detail info...
Delivery, vertex
Delivery, vertex: In a vertex delivery, the top of the baby’s head comes first. The vertex here refers to the top of the head The word &vertex& in Latin means a &whirlpool, whirlwind, top of the mountain, or the top of the head.&quomore detail info...
Delta cell, pancreatic
Delta cell, pancreatic: A type of cell in the pancreas (the organ of the digestive system located behind the stomach). Within the pancreas, the delta cells are located in areas called the islets of Langerhans. The delta cells make somatostatin,more detail info...
Dementia
Dementia: Significant loss of intellectual abilities such as memory capacity, severe enough to interfere with social or occupational functioning. Criteria for the diagnosis of dementia include impairment of attention, orientation, memory, judgementmore detail info...
Dengue
Dengue: An acute mosquito-borne viral illness of sudden onset that usually follows a benign course with headache, fever, prostration, severe joint and muscle pain, swollen glands (lymphadenopathy) and rash. The presence (the ôdengue triadö) of fevmore detail info...
Dengue fever
Dengue fever: An acute mosquito- borne viral illness of sudden onset that usually follows a benign course with headache, fever, prostration, severe joint and muscle pain, swollen glands (lymphadenopathy) and rash. The presence (the ôdengue triadö)more detail info...
Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF)
Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF): A syndrome due to the dengue virus that tends to affect children under 10, causing abdominal pain, hemorrhage (bleeding) and circulatory collapse (shock). DHF starts abruptly with high continuous fever and headachemore detail info...
Dengue shock syndrome
Dengue shock syndrome: A syndrome due to the dengue virus that tends to affect children under 10, causing abdominal pain, hemorrhage (bleeding) and circulatory collapse (shock). Known also as dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), it starts abruptly witmore detail info...
Dental braces (orthodontics)
Dental braces (orthodontics): The use of devices to move teeth or adjust underlying bone. The ideal age for starting orthodontic treatment is between ages 3 to 12 years. Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) problems can be corrected with splinting or dental bmore detail info...
Dental impaction
Dental impaction: Teeth pressing together. For example, molar teeth (the large teeth in the back of the jaw) can be impacted, cause pain and require pain medication, antibiotics, and surgical removal.more detail info...
Dental pain (toothache)
Dental pain (toothache): The most common cause of a toothache is a dental cavity. The second most common is gum disease. Toothache can be caused by a problem that does not originate from a tooth or the jaw.more detail info...
Dental Research, National Institute of (NIDR)
Dental Research, National Institute of (NIDR): One of the National Institutes of Health in the U.S., the NIDR is the NIH for dental and other craniofacial diseases. NIDRÆs mission is, in formal terms, to ôprovide leadership for a national research promore detail info...
Dentin
Dentin: Dentin is the hard tissue of the tooth surrounding the central core of nerves and blood vessels (pulp).more detail info...