Medical Transcription Terms

These are some of the common medical transcription terms that a medical transcriptionist comes across.

ABLATION – Removing a part of the body through surgery

ACAMPSIA – Inability to bend or extend a joint

ACROAGNOSIS – Lack of sensation in an arm or leg

ACRONESTHESIA – Loss of sensation in one or more limbs

ACROTIC PULSE – A very weak pulse

ACTINOCYMOGRAPHY – X-raying an organ while it is moving

AFEBRILE – Without fever, person whose temperature is normal

AGLUTITION – Difficulty in swallowing

ALGESIC – Painful

AMBULATORY – Able to walk by oneself

AMPUTATION – Removal of a limb or part of a limb through surgery

ANALGESIA – Absence of pain in response to stimulation that is normally painful

ANALGESIC DRUGS – Pain-relieving medications (anodynes)

ANEMIA – Insufficiency of red blood cells, either in quality or quantity.

ANESTHESIA – Loss of sensation; usually produced for a painless surgery

ANGINA PECTORIS – Pain in the chest, sometimes radiating to the left arm, caused by a spasm of the coronary artery of the heart

ANKYLOSIS – Stiffening or fixation of a joint

ANTAGONIST – A drug which neutralizes the effect of another drug

ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DRUGS – Medication for reducing inflammation

APNEA – A temporary stopping of breathing, often occurring during sleep

CATHETER – A hollow tube for passage into a structure, to inject or remove fluid or blood.

CENTRAL PAIN – Pain associated with a lesion of the central nervous system

CENTRAL VENOUS CATHETER – A hollow plastic tube inserted into a vein in the arm or neck, and pushed forward until it reaches the vena cava in the chest.

CONTRACTURE – The shortening of a muscle, tendon or other structure resulting in inability to straighten or flex and extend.

CRYESTHESIA – Sensitivity to cold.

DEMENTIA – Loss of mental capacity.

DENERVATE – To cut a nerve going to or from an organ or structure, mainly to relieve pain.

DIASTOLIC PRESSURE – The blood pressure level when the heart muscle is relaxed.

DORSUM – The back of an organ or body part.

DYSESTHESIA – An unpleasant abnormal sensation, whether spontaneous or evoked.

DYSTROPHY – Abnormal development, progressive changes, and degeneration that may result from defective nutrition of tissue.

ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY – A test in which sound waves are directed at the heart to get information on the health of the heart muscles and heart function.

EDEMA- Excessive accumulation of fluid in the body tissue leading to swelling.

ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHY – The recording of the electrical impulses of the heart. (EKG, ECG)

ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY – The recording of brain waves. (EEG)

ELECTROMYOGRAPH – An instrument which records the electrical impulses that pass through a muscle as it contracts and relaxes. (EMG)

ENDOSCOPE – An instrument used to look into body cavities and openings.

ERYTHEMA – A patch of redness of the skin.

EXACERBATION – Flare-up or relapse of a condition or disease.

FASCIA – Connective tissue located in various places throughout the body.

FEBRILE – Feverish; relating to an elevation in body temperature above 98.6° F.

FIBROSIS – Thickening and scarring of connective tissue which replaces the normal components of a structure.

FLUOROSCOPY – X-Raying a part of the body and recording the rays on the fluorescent screen to view various organs in motion.

GANGLION CYST – A cyst of the sheath of a tendon, frequently appearing about the wrist.

GOUT – A type of arthritis or inflammation in a joint caused by excess uric acid in the blood.

HEMATEMESIS- Vomiting of blood.

HYDROSIS – Excessive perspiration.

HYPALGESIA – Decreased sensation to pain.

HYPERASTHESIA – Over-sensitivity to touch and light pressure.

HYPERESTHESIA – Excess sensitivity, such as to touch or pinprick.

HYPERGLYCEMIA – Excessive sugar in the blood.

HYPERHYDROSIS – Excessive sweating.

HYPERPIESIS – High blood pressure; hypertension.

HYPERPNEA – Rapid and exceptionally deep breathing.

HYPERPYREXIA – High fever.

HYPERTENSION – High blood pressure.

HYPESTHESIA – Decreased sensitivity, as lessened appreciation of the sense of pain or touch.

HYPOALGESIA – Diminished sensitivity to noxious stimulation.

HYPOESTHESIA – Diminished sensitivity to stimulation, excluding special senses.

HYPOGLYCEMIA – Too little sugar in the blood.

HYPOREFLEXIA – Diminished reflexes.

HYPOTENSION – Low blood pressure.

INDWELLING CATHETER – One that is left in place for prolonged periods of time.

LANCINATING PAIN – A shooting, knife-like, sudden, severe pain.

LIGHTENING PAINS – Severe, sharp pains caused by nerve irritation.

MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGINING (MRI) – A technique for viewing internal organs and bones; and for creating many of the images formerly revealed only by X-rays.

MINIMALLY INVASIVE SURGERY – Operations performed through an endoscope or laparoscope, using the smallest incisions, some no more than approximately two-thirds of an inch in diameter.

MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS – A chronic disease of the nervous system leading to partial paralysis, changes in speech, inability to walk, etc.

MYOCLONUS -Abnormal muscle twitching.

MYOMALACIA – Degeneration of muscle.

MYOSITIS – Inflammation of muscle.

MYOTONIA – Spasm of muscle.

NEURITIS- An inflammatory or degenerative condition of a nerve.

OSTEOARTHRITIS – A form of arthritis associated with bone and cartilage degeneration; seen mostly in aging people.

OSTEOCHONDRITIS – Inflammation of a bone and cartilage.

OSTEODYNIA – Pain in a bone.

OSTEOPORSIS – A loss in bony substances producing brittleness and softness of bones; often seen in aging people or those with debility (weakness).

PAIN THRESHOLD – The point at which one feels pain. A person with a low pain threshold feels pain sooner than one with a high threshold.

POLYARTHRITIS – Inflammation of several joints.

POLYMYOSITIS – Inflammation of several groups of muscles.

RADICULOPATHY – Disease of the spinal nerves.

REBOUND REACTION – A flare-up of symptoms when medication is abruptly terminated.

REFERRED PAIN – Pain which is felt some distance from the site of its origin.

REFLEX – An uncontrollable (involuntary) response to a particular stimulation.

REFLUX- Flowing in a backward direction, as the flowing of the intestinal contents back to the stomach.

REMISSION – A clearing up of a disease or its symptoms.

RHIZOTOMY – Surgery to cut the roots of spinal nerves, carried out to relieve incurable pain.

ROMBERG- Inability to keep one’s balance when standing with eyes closed.

SPASM – An abrupt and forceful contraction of a muscle usually associated with marked pain or discomfort.

SUBCUTANEOUS – Underneath the skin.

SUDECK’S ATROPHY – Degeneration of bone following an injury.

SUDOMOTOR CHANGES – Increased or decreased sweating.

SYMPATHECTOMY- Removal of some of the sympathetic nerves.

SYNCOPE – Fainting.

SYSTOLIC BLOOD PRESSURE – The force with which blood is pumped when the heart muscle is contracting.

TELAGIA – Pain radiating to another part of the body; referred pain.

ULTRASOUND – A type of imaging technique which uses high-frequency sound waves.

Hope these terminologies are good to get started into real time projects !