CATABOLISM—A destructive process in which the complex compounds of the
digestive process are reduced to more simple substances.
CATHARTICS—Drugs that promote bowel movement.
CERVICAL—Pertaining to the neck or the neck of any organ or structure.
CHEYNE-STOKES—Breathing characterized by alternating periods of apnea
and deep respirations.
COAGULATION—Clotting.
COAPTATION—To fit together, as the edges of a wound or the ends of a fractured
bone; category of splint.
COCCYX—Tailbone.
COLATION—The process of straining or filtration.
COMMUNICABLE—Capable of being transmitted from one person to another.
COMMUNICABLE PERIOD—The period of time in which an infectious agent
may be passed from an infected animal or man to a receptive host. There may be
more than one such period of time during the course of disease.
COMMINUTION—The process of physical reduction of a substance to fine
particle size.
CONTACT—A person or animal known to have been associated with an infected
person or animal, or a contaminated environment, and to have had the
opportunity to acquire the infection.
CONTAMINATION—The presence of an infectious agent or toxin on the surface
of a body or inanimate article, such as clothing, dishes, surgical dressings or
instruments, as well as in food or water.
CONTRACTURE—A condition of muscle shortening and fibrous tissue
development that results in a permanent joint deformity.
CONTUSION—A bruise.
CORROSIVE—A substance that rapidly destroys or decomposes body tissue at
point of contact.
CREPITUS—The cracking or grating sound produced by fragments of fractured
bones rubbing together.
DEBILITY—The state of abnormal bodily weakness.
DEBRIDEMENT—The removal of all foreign matter and devitalized tissue in or
about a wound.
DECANTATION—Separating liquids from solids by letting the solids settle to the
bottom and pouring off the liquid.
DECEREBRATE—A person with brain damage that produces certain abnormal
neurologic signs.
DECORTICATION—Removing portions of the cortical substance of a structure
or organ, such as the brain, kidney, or lung.
DECUBITUS ULCER—Bed or pressure sore.
DESQUAMATE—To shed, peel, or scale off.
AV-3
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