Medical Technology Blog

The medical word of the day typically has longer definitions, along with images. The surgical procedure of the week is a quick overview of a variety of procedures and the definitions.

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Lets review cardiac procedures and the definitions.

Cardiac Surgical Procedures:

Aneurysmectomy [ann-ure-is-meck-ta-me] removal of an aneurysm

Arterial anastomosis [ann-ass-to-moe-sis] end-to-end union of two different arteries or two separate segments of the same artery

Atriotomy [a-tree-ott-toe-me] - incision of the atrium

Biopsy - arterial, etc. - carried out to examine a specimen of an arterial vessel wall.

Arterial biopsy often confirms inflammation of the vessel wall, or arteritis, [aart-urh-ite-iss]a type of vasculitis [vass-kule-ite-iss].

Cardiolysis - freeing of pericardial adhesions from surrounding tissues, involving resection of ribs and sternum (open chest surgery)

Cardioplasty - surgical repair of the heart to relieve spasm

Cardiorrhaphy - suture of the heart (note the two rr’s)

Cardiotomy - incision of the heart

Pericardiectomy - excision of a portion of the pericardium

Pericardiocentesis - [pair-ee-kard-ee-oh-sent-ee-suss] the pericardium is surgically punctured in order to remove a small sample of the pericardial fluid for laboratory examination. This test is performed while the patient is in a semisitting position and under EKG monitoring. The fluid removed is tested for protein, sugar, and LDH. Most often it is used to determine the cause of pericarditis (bacterial, fungal, tubercular or viral), or to confirm suspected carcinomatous infiltration of the pericardium.

Phleborrhaphy, [flee-bore-uh-fee] or venorrhaphy - suturing of a vein

Phlebotomy, venisection, [veen-ee-section] venipuncture - opening or piercing of a vein for removal of blood, or for the introduction of fluids or medications via an IV

Thrombectomy - removal of a thrombus

Valvotomy, mitral commissurotomy - [come-iss-sure-ott-tomy] surgical incision of a mitral valve to increase the size of the orifice; used in treating mitral stenosis

Venotomy [veen] - surgical incision of a vein

Greg Olson :: Ubiquity :: 303-962-8700 :: greg@ubiquitygroup.com

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