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Medical Dictionary Terms Beginning with F
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Fetal alcohol effects (FAE)
Fetal alcohol effects (FAE): A softer diagnosis than fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). The diagnosis of possible FAE is considered when: 1. The person has some signs of FAS; 2. The person does not meet all of the necessary criteria for FAS; and 3. There ismore detail info...
Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)
Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS): The sum total of the damage done to the child before birth as a result of the mother drinking alcohol during pregnancy. FAS always involves brain damage, impaired growth, and head and face abnormalities. No amount of alcohmore detail info...
Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) diagnosis
Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) diagnosis: To establish the diagnosis of FAS, the following signs must be present: 1. Small size and weight before and after birth (pre- and postnatal growth retardation); 2. Brain involvement with evidence for delay in devmore detail info...
Fetal circulation
Fetal circulation: The blood circulation in the fetus before birth. Before birth, the blood from the heart headed for the lungs in the aptly named pulmonary artery is shunted away from the lungs and returned to the greatest of arteries, the aorta. Thismore detail info...
Fetal distress
Fetal distress: Compromise of the fetus during the antepartum period (before labor) or intrapartum period (birth process).more detail info...
Fetal dystocia
Fetal dystocia: Difficult labor and delivery caused by the fetus’ size (too big), shape or position. Dystocia comes from the Greek &dys& meaning &difficult, painful, disordered, abnormal& + &tokos& meaning &birthmore detail info...
Fetal mortality rate
Fetal mortality rate: The ratio of fetal deaths divided by the sum of the births (the live births + the fetal deaths) in that year. In the United States, the fetal mortality rate plummeted from 19.2 per 1,000 births in 1950 to 9.2 per 1,000 births in 1more detail info...
Fetoprotein, alpha- (AFP)
Fetoprotein, alpha- (AFP): AFP is a plasma protein that is normally produced by the fetus. It serves as the basis for some valuable tests. AFP is manufactured principally in the fetus's liver and, also, in the fetal gastrointestinal (GI) tractmore detail info...
Fetoscope
Fetoscope: There are two types of fetoscopes: one is a fiberoptic scope for looking directly at the fetus within the uterus; the other is a stethescope designed for listening to the fetal heart beat.more detail info...
Fetoscopy
Fetoscopy: A technique for looking directly at the fetus within the uterus (using a fetoscope).more detail info...
Fetus
Fetus: The unborn offspring from the end of the 8th week after conception (when the major structures have formed) until birth.more detail info...
Fever
Fever: Although a fever technically is any body temperature above the normal of 98.6 degrees F. (37 degrees C.), in practice a person is usually not considered to have a significant fever until the temperature is above 100.4 degrees F (38 degrees C.).more detail info...
Fever blisters
Fever blisters: Common with a wide range of infectious diseases.more detail info...
Fever with renal syndrome, hemorrhagic
Fever with renal syndrome, hemorrhagic: A set of diseases characterized by the abrupt onset of high fever and chills, headache, cold and cough, and pain in the muscles, joints and abdomen with nausea and vomiting followed by bleeding into the kimore detail info...
Fever, breakbone
Fever, breakbone: 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 ôdenguemore detail info...
Fever, cat scratch
Fever, cat scratch: A mild flu- like infection, with swollen lymph nodes (lymphadenitis) and mild fever of short duration, due to cat scratches, especially from kittens There is usually a little bump (a papule) which may be pus-filled (a pustule)more detail info...
Fever, dandy
Fever, dandy: 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...
Fever, dengue
Fever, 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 trmore detail info...
Fever, dengue hemorrhagic (DHF)
Fever, dengue hemorrhagic (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 headacmore detail info...
Fever, Ebola virus
Fever, Ebola virus: A deadly form of hemorrhagic fever, mainly in southern Sudan and Zaire. The initial symptoms are fever and headache followed by vomiting and diarrhea, muscle pain, rash, and bleeding problems with bloody nose, spitting up blmore detail info...