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CHAPTER 1 This podcast will cover the Language of Medicine textbook by Davi-Ellen Chabner Chapter 1 is titled “Basic Word Structure” in The Language of Medicine textbook. Chapter 1 covers basic goals and basic objectives in regards to the study of medical language, so it does set up a foundation of how you should go about learning medical terminology. Objectives in Studying the Medical Language: 

Some of the objectives that we are trying to accomplish are certainly to be mindful of analyzing medical terms by dividing them into parts.

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I think this is very helpful. If you look at a long medical term that can be intimidating, but by dividing it into pieces, the prefix, the root, the suffix, you are able to look at each individual part of the term and be able to define each piece. We will be over-simplifying terms for this first exam just to get you in practice of analyzing the word into its component parts and defining each piece. You have all had anatomy and physiology and hopefully can relate the medical terms that you are learning. Some of these will be familiar to you, but try to relate them to the anatomy, to the structure and function of the human body. We also want to be aware of spelling and pronunciation. o There are medical terms that are pronounced alike, but maybe spelled different. For example ileum, ilium with an “I” or ileum with an “e” certainly mean two totally different things. Ilium with an I is part of the hip bone, which is part of the musculoskeletal system, and ileum with an e is in the digestive system which is part of the small intestine. So spelling is important, and so is pronunciation. We will be working a little bit with pronunciation a little bit later.

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Your book also goes over information in regards to the way that we can divide medical terms, and we definitely want to look at what the root is of our medical term. The root serves as the foundation of the medical term. Some medical terms only have one root, some medical terms have more than one root. Keep in mind the root, as the foundation, is often a noun. o We would use prefixes and suffixes for example that might further describe the root, but the root is usually something tangible that you can see and touch, and is usually a noun. Another part of a medical term is the suffix. The suffix is the word ending. o You will find this at the end of a medical term, and again as I mentioned previously, it could be an adjective or an adverb that further describes the root. The combining vowel is another part of the medical term.

The combining vowel is usually an “o”. The purpose of the combining vowel would be to link the root to the suffix, or link the root to another root. It doesn’t have a meaning in and of itself, it’s basically used to link and help the pronunciation of the med term flow a lot easier. o What are the tips you want to remember?: When you are defining a medical term, you start off by defining the suffix first, so you start off at the end of the term, and then go back to the beginning and go back and define the rest of the term o In your textbook, you will see the example hematology, and if we divided that medical term we see hemat/o (which is the root that means blood), “o” which is the combining vowel that links the root to the suffix, and -logy is the study of, or the process of studying, y means process, log means study.  So if we were to define hematology, we start with the suffix which is process, and then we work our way back. So it’s the process of studying the blood. You have some further examples in your textbook that show you how to take a medical term and divide it into its component parts, and then define each individual piece. Now to review some of the rules as I mentioned previously. Read the meaning of the medical term by starting with the suffix, and then go back to the beginning of the term. Now there is an exception to the combining vowel, there are times when the combining vowel is not necessary, so we would drop combining vowel, it will not be needed to link the medical term together. For example, a root with a suffix, the general rule is when a root with a suffix begins with a vowel, you will not need the combing vowel so you will drop it. o Refer to the gastritis example in your textbook.  Gastritis, gastr/o is a root which means stomach, -itis is a suffix which means inflammation, but the suffix begins with a vowel “i”, because of that, we are not going to need the combining vowel “o” to link this root with this suffix. So we are not going to pronounce this term gastroitis, we drop the combining vowel “o” and pronounce it gastritis.  I want to caution you that you want to keep the combining vowel always between two roots, even if the second root starts with a vowel.  The example is gastroenterology, gastr/o is stomach, enter/o is small intestine, log/o is study, and -y is process. You will notice that between gastr/o and enter/o we keep the combining vowel o, you might say that enter/o starts with a vowel, but enter/o is not a suffix, it is a root so that is why it is important to identify whether you are dealing with a root or a suffix. Remember the rule again keep the combining vowel between two roots, but drop the combing vowel when the suffix begins with a vowel. Your textbook provides additional examples of these particular principles Another part of a medical term is the prefix. The prefix is attached to the beginning of a term. o It again is usually an adjective or adverb that would further describe the root. o

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Refer to the hypogastric example in your textbook. Hypogastric, hypo- is a prefix, gastr/o is a root, and -ic is a suffix. So to define it: -ic means pertaining to, hypo- means below, and gastr/o is stomach. Pertaining to below the stomach, and that’s basically how you would define those terms. You want to retain the material as we go through the chapters. You want to remember the prefixes and suffixes because we will see them over and over again, so this is something that you want to remember comprehensively throughout the semester. You may see them appear over and over again, and it’s not something you want to forget. The last element of a medical term is called the combing form, and it means that it is a combination of the root and the combing vowel. o So one example might be, gast which means stomach, and combining vowel o, so the combining form would be gastr/o. Your textbook goes over some tips on how to study this particular chapter. As recommended by the book, use slashes to divide up each part of the medical term and define each part. I also want to encourage you to complete all of the exercises in your book. This is very helpful, and there are answers provided for most of the exercises. Make flashcards if this is a good way for you to study. I also used an internet based software program called “Quizlet” to create virtual flashcards for you. However, be mindful that I only inputted combining forms, prefixes, and suffixes into Quizlet. You will be responsible for learning the rest of the material in these notes as well for exams. One great way to succeed in this course is to highlight the information in your textbook and then use your paper flashcards or Quizlet flashcards to study along with these notes. You will notice there is some info about the evolve website. This info is a supplement to your textbook. I say it’s optional because as I go through information in the textbook, I will be skipping over some information, and keep in mind the publisher created the Evolve materials, so it encompasses all info in the textbook. It may be more than you need, however they do have helpful activities that will help reinforce your knowledge.

Combining Forms: Your textbook lists of some of the general combing forms. You will see these terms in later chapters. You need to know all of the terms listed in your textbook: 

aden/o means gland o For example, aden/o is in the combining form, the root with the combining vowel, the meaning is gland, and then you will see some examples of the terminology o You will want to work through those meanings o So adenoma, the suffix -oma means tumor or mass, and aden/o means gland, so you know it’s a tumor or mass of a glad o Another example is adenitis, the suffix -itis means inflammation of, aden/o means gland, so inflammation of a gland. Notice we do not have a combining vowel here because the suffix starts with a vowel, so we drop the “o”.

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arthr/o means joint o An example is arthritis bi/o means life carcin/o means cancer o The term carcinoma tells you this is a cancerous tumor cardi/o means heart cephal/o means head o I want to caution you here when you are leaning medical terms, close is not good enough, cephal/o does not mean brain or skull, those are close but not exact o Be very precise. We have other combining forms for skull and brain Cerebr/o which means cerebrum o If you recall from anatomy, this is the largest part of the brain cis/o means to cut o Examples incision and excision o If you divided it into pieces, you would see that -ion is a suffix that means process, cis/o means to cut, and in- means into o Whereas excision, means the process of cutting out o One is to cut into something, and the other means to actually cut it out crin/o means to secrete cyst/o means urinary bladder or it can also mean a sac or cyst containing fluid o One of the other things you will learn in medical terminology is that some combining forms have more than 1 meaning, and depending on how the rest of the term is constructed, it could have two different meanings o Cyst/o could be urinary bladder but it could also be a sac or a cyst which is in the dermatology body system, it depends o This particular term cystoscopy, means the process of visually examining the urinary bladder. So this example, urinary bladder is the definition of cyst/o. o I want to also draw your attention to the phonetics underneath the term cystoscopy, and here you can get assistance with proper pronunciation. Pay attention to short vowel sounds, long vowel sounds, and what syllable should be emphasized. cyt/o means cell derm/o and dermat/o mean skin electr/o means electricity encephal/o means brain o Note that brain is not the same thing as head o We previously mentioned that cephal/o means head enter/o means intestines, usually the small intestine o Combining form for the large intestine is col/o which will we get to in a later chapter erythr/o means red

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gastr/o means stomach

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Now you will notice gastrectomy and gastrotomy, the suffix –ectomy means excision or removal of, all or more, part of the stomach is removed, whereas gastrotomy is the process of cutting the stomach, in this case you are making an incision, but you aren’t removing a part or all of the stomach, -tomy means the process of cutting. o -Ectomy and -otomy mean two different things even though they both involve incisions. glyc/o means sugar gnos/o means knowledge gynec/o means woman or female hemat/o and hem/o is blood hepat/o means liver o Hepatitis means inflammation of the liver; -itis means inflammation, not infection, close but not the same thing. iatr/o means treatment, but it can also mean physician depending on how it is used. o For example, psychiatry, pediatric, in these cases it means treatment; psychiatry is defined as the process treating the mind, pediatric is pertaining to the treatment of children. leuk/o means white log/o means study of nephr/o means kidney o Now kidney has multiple combining forms. Not only does nephr/o mean kidney, but ren/o also means kidney which is a term that we will get to later on in this chapter neur/o means nerve onc/o means tumor ophthalm/o means eye. o Be careful with the spelling of ophthalm/o as it has 2 “h’s”. o

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oste/o means bone path/o means disease but it also means feelings (sympathy, empathy) ped/o means child, but it also means foot o For example, pedal on a bicycle, in this example in means foot. psych/o means mind o For example the term psychiatrist, means a specialist who treats the mind. radi/o means x-rays ren/o means kidney as well as nephr/o that we previously discussed rhin/o means nose sarc/o means flesh sect/o means to cut. o This is third combining form that we see that means the same thing, to cut. o Tom/o, cis/o, and now sect/o all mean to cut thromb/o means a clot or clotting ur/o can mean urinary tract itself or urine depending on how it’s used

I will not give you any questions on your first exams regarding spelling of the medical terms, however I will give you questions regarding the correct spelling of the medical terms on subsequent exams. If you are pronouncing medical terms, chances are you will spell them correctly, and that’s just as important. The way that I will test spelling for example, on a multiple choice question, I may have the medical term spelled incorrectly for one choice, and correctly for another choice, so you want to be careful making the proper selection of the answer that is spelled correctly. Suffixes: Moving onto the suffixes you need to know all of the terms listed in your textbook. I want to caution you that we have 12 or so suffixes that all mean pertaining to:     

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-ac means pertaining to o Ex: cardiac is pertaining to the heart -al means pertaining to, and you will see others as we go through the various chapters -alga means pain o So arthralgia is pain in a joint -cyte means cell o Ex: erythrocyte is a red cell -ectomy which means the process of cutting out, which means the same thing as excision or removal o So a nephrectomy is an excision of the kidney. -emia means blood condition -genic means pertaining to producing, produced by, or produced in. o Example, carcinogenic, pertaining to, producing cancer. o Pathogenic, pertaining to, producing disease. -globin means protein -gram means record -ic and -ical means pertaining to -ion means process -ist means specialist -itis means inflammation o Example: cystitis is inflammation of urinary bladder -logy means process of study -oma means tumor, mass, or swelling o We don’t know if its malignant or benign just by the suffix, a tumor can be malignant or benign -opsy means the process of viewing -osis means an abnormal condition -pathy is a suffix that means disease condition o Example: enteropathy is a disease condition of the small intestine

Remember we mentioned earlier that enter/o means intestines, usually the small intestine -scope is the instrument to visually examine -scopy means the process of visually examining o Therfore -scope is the instrument and -scopy is the actual procedure. -sis means state of; condition -tomy means process of cutting, incision o Example: osteotomy is the process of cutting bone -y means process but can also mean condition o

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Prefixes: Moving on to prefixes.  

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If you see “a-” or “an-” at the beginning of a medical term, this means no, not, or without aut- and auto- means self or own o I think of the term automatic, things working all by itself o Try to find ways to remember the terms, no matter how silly, or what technique you have to use o You want to go beyond memorization and try to find a way to retain this information dia- means complete, through endo- means within epi- means above or upon, so epigastric is pertaining to above the stomach ex- and exo- means out, outside of, or outward hyper- means excessive, above, more than normal, high, elevated hypo- means deficient, below, under, less than normal, low in- means into or in peri- means surrounding or around. o peri- does not mean above, below, near, or beside, it specially means surrounding or around pro- means before, or forward re- means back, backward, again retro- means behind o Example: retrocardiac is pertaining to behind the heart sub- is another prefix that means below or under o So sub- means the same thing as hypoo Where as epi- means the same thing as hypertrans- means across or through o Example: transhepatic is pertaining to across or through to the liver. o Often we talk about using a transhepatic needle which is a very long needle that will be inserted and go all the way across and through into the liver.

This concludes the material for this chapter. Again I want to encourage you to work through all the exercises on the following pages after the chapter including the Practical Applications, Exercises, Pronunciation of Terms, and Review Sheet. The Practical Applications section provides an opportunity for you to use your skill in understanding medical terms and to increase your knowledge of new terms. The Exercises section is designed to help you learn the terms presented in the chapter. Writing terms over and over again is a good way to study this new language. Your textbook also includes the answers for the Practical Applications and Exercises. The Pronunciation of Terms section is very helpful in that you are able to look at the pronunciation and try to make sure that you pronouncing the medical terms correctly, so hopefully you will be able to spell the terms correctly, and be able to communicate and converse with other allied health professionals. The Review Sheets are complete lists of the word elements contained in the chapter. They are designed to pull together the terminology and to reinforce your learning by giving you the opportunity to write the meanings of each word part in the spaces provided and to test yourself. All of these exercises will be very beneficial in helping you with your retention....