Glossary
Index: A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|K|M|N|O|P|R|S|T|V|Z
A [TOP]
Acute Normovolemic Hemodilution: A technique used just before a surgical procedure that is anticipated to result in significant blood loss. Whole blood is removed and replaced with IV fluid. At the end of the surgical procedure, the blood is given back. The hemodilution machine is never disconnected from the patient during surgery, thus the blood is maintained in a closed circuit.
Adenopathy: Swelling or morbid enlargement of the lymph nodes.
Advanced Directive: A legal document giving instructions as to the type and degree of medical care to be administered in the event that the person signing the document becomes mentally incompetent during the course of a terminal illness, or becomes permanently comatose (persistent vegetative state).
State legislatures have enacted so-called Death with Dignity laws to protect the rights of patients to refuse medical care, including life-prolonging and palliative care in terminal illness, as well as to clarify the role of physicians and indemnify them against the accusation of euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide when they withhold such care in compliance with patients' wishes. These laws spell out strict procedural requirements, including the need for the signing of an advance directive to be duly witnessed, and make it easier to revoke an advance directive than to establish one. When an advance directive provides instructions for the types of care the patient does or does not want to receive, it is known as a living will. When it names another person to make such decisions, it is known as a durable power-of-attorney for health care decisions. An advance directive can contain both types of instruction. An agent making end-of-life decisions on behalf of a patient is required to follow the patient's instructions, interpreting them when necessary in the light of the patient's personal philosophy, religious beliefs, and ethical values, and with due consideration for the likelihood that the patient will regain competency or will recover.
Advanced Transfusion Practices: Transfusion alternatives available to treat patients without the use of donor blood.
Albumin: A type of simple protein, varieties of which are widely distributed throughout the tissues and fluids.
Allogeneic: Describes the genetic differences between two individuals.
Allogeneic Blood: Blood from another person.
Alloimmunized: The creation of immunity due to the development of antibodies.
Allopurinol: Inhibitor of uric acid formation.
Alveolocapillary Membrane: The pulmonary diffusion barrier where oxygen is exchanged.
Anemia: Any condition in which the number of red blood cells per mm3, the amount of hemoglobin in 100 ml of blood, and/or the volume of packed red blood cells per 100 ml of blood are less than normal; clinically, generally pertaining to the concentration of oxygen-transporting material in a designated volume of blood. Anemia is frequently manifested by pallor of the skin and mucous membranes, shortness of breath, palpitations of the heart, soft systolic murmurs, lethargy, and fatigability.
Antianemic: Pertaining to factors or substances that prevent or correct anemic conditions.
Antifibrinolytic: Denoting a substance that decreases the breakdown of fibrin; e.g., aminocaproic acid.
Antihypertensive agents: Indicating a drug or mode of treatment that reduces the blood pressure of individuals with high blood pressure.
Apheresis: A technique in which blood products are separated from a donor and the desired elements collected and the rest returned to the donor.
Arthralgia: Pain in a joint, especially one not inflammatory in character.
Asthemia: Weakness or debility.
Autologous Blood Transfusion: Blood that the donor has donated previously and then receives back, usually during surgery.
B [TOP]
Bicarbonate: A central buffering agent in blood.
Blood Coagulation: The process of forming a blood clot where the soft, coherent, jelly-like red mass resulting from the conversion of fibrinogen to fibrin, thereby entrapping the red blood cells (and other formed elements) within the coagulated plasma.
Blood Fractions: Components that make up whole blood. Consists of major and minor fractions. Major fractions include RBC, WBC, plasma and platelets. Minor blood fractions include albumin, cryo, immuneglobulin and clotting factors.
Blood Viscosity: The thickness of blood. The resistance of blood to flow because of a shearing force.
Blood Volume: The total amount of blood in a person's body.
Bone Marrow: The soft, pulpy tissue filling the medullary cavities of bones in which the stroma primarily contain the developmental stages of erythrocytes, leukocytes, and megakaryocytes.
C [TOP]
Capillaries: The tiniest blood vessels in the body.
Carbaminohemoglobin: Carbon dioxide bound to hemoglobin; approximately 20% of the total content of carbon dioxide in blood is combined with hemoglobin in this manner.
Chelates: A complex formed through chelation that is a complex formation involving a metal ion and two or more polar groupings of a single molecule; thus, in heme, the Fe2+ ion is chelated by the porphyrin ring. Chelation can be used to remove an ion from participation in biological reactions, as in the chelation of Ca2+ of blood by EDTA, which thus acts as an anticoagulant.
Cholestyramine: An anion exchange resin used to bind dietary cholesterol and hence prevent its systemic absorption. Used to treat hypercholesteremia. Can bind many acidic drugs in the gastrointestinal tract and prevent their absorption.
Clotting Factors: Any of the various plasma components involved in the clotting process.
Clotting Time: The time required for you to stop bleeding or for your blood to clot.
Coagulation: Clotting; the process of changing from a liquid to a solid, said especially of blood (i.e., blood coagulation).
Coagulation Factor: Any of the various plasma components involved in the clotting process. There are 13 "factors" in the blood that can make it clot.
Connective Tissue: The supporting or framework tissue of the body, formed of fibrous and ground substance with more or less numerous cells of various kinds; it is derived from the mesenchyme, and this in turn from the mesoderm; the varieties of connective tissue are: areolar or loose; adipose; dense, regular or irregular, white fibrous; elastic; mucous; and lymphoid tissue; cartilage; and bone; the blood and lymph may be regarded as connective tissues the ground substance of which is a liquid.
Coumadin TM (Warfin): An anticoagulant that causes your clotting time to be prolonged. Used after surgeries when there is concern about clots forming and causing problems.
Cryoprecipitate: Precipitate that forms when soluble material is cooled, especially with reference to the precipitate that forms in normal blood plasma which has been subjected to cold precipitation and which is rich in factor VIII, which is needed for your blood to clot.
D [TOP]
Deoxygenated Blood: Blood that is low in oxygen because it has released it to the body tissues.
Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA): The type of nucleic acid containing deoxyribose as the sugar component and found principally in the nuclei (chromatin, chromosomes) and mitochondria of animal and plant cells, usually loosely bound to protein (hence the term deoxyribonucleoprotein). Considered to be the autoreproducing component of chromosomes and of many viruses, and the repository of hereditary characteristics. Chromosomes are composed of double-stranded DNA; mitochondrial DNA is circular.
Diffusion: The random movement of particles from an area of greater concentration to one of a lower concentration.
Diphosphoglycerate: A chemical in the blood that attaches to the hemoglobin molecule and helps the hemoglobin release oxygen to the tissues and grab oxygen in the lungs.
Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC): A hemorrhagic syndrome that occurs following the uncontrolled activation of clotting factors and fibrinolytic enzymes throughout small blood vessels; fibrin is deposited, platelets and clotting factors are consumed, and fibrin degradation products inhibit fibrin polymerization, resulting in tissue necrosis and bleeding.
DNA: Abbreviation for deoxyribonucleic acid.
E [TOP]
Encephalopathy: Any disorder of the brain.
Endogenous: Originating or produced within the organism or one of its parts.
Endogenous Hormone: A hormone produced in the body.
Endothelium: A layer of flat cells lining especially blood and lymphatic vessels and the heart. Bleeding occurs when these cells are torn or ruptured until a clot forms.
Erythroblasts: The first generation of cells in the red blood cell series that can be distinguished from precursor endothelial cells.
Erythrocyte: A mature red blood cell. It contains hemoglobin and oxygen.
Erythroid Progenitor Cells: A cell that will become a red blood cell.
Erythropoiesis: The formation of red blood cells.
Erythropoietin: A sialic acid-containing protein that enhances red cell production by stimulating formation of proerythroblasts and release of reticulocytes from bone marrow; it is formed by the kidney and liver, and can be detected in human plasma and urine.
F [TOP]
Factor IX: Participates in the clotting of blood. It is found in the plasma. Required for the formation of intrinsic blood thromboplastin and affects the amount formed (rather than the rate). Deficiency of factor IX causes hemophilia B.
Factor VII: Essential for blood to clot. It is found in the plasma. It accelerates the conversion of prothrombin to thrombin, in the presence of tissue thromboplastin, calcium, and factor V.
Factor VIII: Participates in the clotting of the blood by forming a complex with factor IXa, platelets, and calcium and enzymatically catalyzing the activation of factor X. It is found in the plasma. Deficiency of factor VIII is associated with classic hemophilia A. A deficiency of factor VIII can lead to impaired blood coagulation.
Factor XII: Participates in the clotting of blood, also known as plasma thromboplastin antecedent. It is found in the plasma. Deficiency of factor XI results in a hemorrhagic tendency and is caused by an autosomal recessive gene.
Ferritin: An iron-protein complex, containing up to 23% iron, formed by the union of ferric ions with apoferritin; it is found in the intestinal mucosa, spleen, bone marrow, reticulocytes, and liver, and regulates iron storage and transport from the intestinal lumen to plasma.
Fibrin: An elastic filamentous protein in the blood that cannot be dissolved and which forms clots along with platelets.
Fibrinogen (Factor I): A protein of the blood that is necessary for the blood to clot.
Fibrinoysis: The process of splitting fibrin into smaller pieces as the blood clot is being dissolved.
G [TOP]
Gammaglobulin: A protein precipitated from plasma (or serum).
Glucocorticoid: Any steroid-like compound capable of significantly influencing intermediary metabolism such as promotion of hepatic glycogen deposition, and of exerting a clinically useful anti-inflammatory effect. Cortisol (hydrocortisone) is the most potent of the naturally occurring glucocorticoids; most semisynthetic glucocorticoids are cortisol derivatives.
Glycoprotein: Proteins containing small amounts of carbohydrate.
H [TOP]
Haptoglobin: A group globulins in human serum that combine with hemoglobin, preventing hemoglobin loss in the urine.
Hematinic: An agent that improves the quality of blood by increasing the number of erythrocytes and/or the hemoglobin concentration.
Hematocrit: Percentage of the volume of a blood sample occupied by red blood cells.
Hematology: The medical specialty that pertains to the anatomy, physiology, pathology, symptomatology, and therapeutics related to the blood and blood-forming tissues.
Hematopoietic Agents: Natural or artificial chemicals used to stimulate blood-cell growth and development.
Heme: The porphyrin chelate of iron in which the iron is Fe(II) (or Fe2+); the oxygen-carrying, color-furnishing, prosthetic group of hemoglobin.
Hemochromatosis: A disorder of iron metabolism characterized by excessive absorption of ingested iron, saturation of iron-binding protein, and deposition of hemosiderin in tissue, particularly in the liver, pancreas, and skin; cirrhosis of the liver, diabetes (bronze diabetes), bronze pigmentation of the skin, and, eventually heart failure may occur; also can result from administration of large amounts of iron orally, by injection, or in forms of blood transfusion therapy.
Hemodilution: Reduced concentration of red blood cells in the circulation.
Hemoglobin (Hgb): The protein found in red blood cells that transports oxygen from the lungs to the tissues where the oxygen is readily released and CO2 from the tissues to the lungs where it is released.
Hemolytic Disease of the Newborn: A condition resulting from differences between the fetus's blood group and that of the mother's.
Hemophilia: An inherited disorder of blood coagulation characterized by a permanent tendency to hemorrhages spontaneous or traumatic, because of the result of a missing or a low amount of one of the clotting factors.
Hemorrhagic Disorder: Excessive or abnormal bleeding as a result of a disorder of the blood coagulation system.
Hemosiderin: A golden yellow or yellow-brown insoluble protein produced by phagocytic digestion of hematin; found in most tissues, especially in the liver, spleen, and bone marrow, in the form of granules much larger than ferritin molecules (of which they are believed to be aggregates), but with a higher content, as much as 37%, of iron.
Hemosiderosis: Accumulation of hemosiderin in tissue, particularly in liver and spleen.
Hemostasis: The arrest of bleeding.
Heparin: A drug used to prevent blood from clotting.
Hormone: A chemical substance formed in one organ or part of the body and carried in the blood to another organ or part.
Hypercoagulable Disorders: Disorders or diseases characterized by abnormally increased coagulation.
Hypertensive Encephalopathy: A metabolic encephalopathy caused by diffuse cerebral edema; follows an abrupt elevation of blood pressure in a long-term hypertensive patient.
Hyperviscosity:
Hypervolemia: Abnormally increased volume of blood.
Hypochromic: Denoting decrease in light absorption with a shift in wavelength to a lower wavelength.
Hypovolemia: A decreased amount of blood in the body.
I [TOP]
Immunoglobulins: One of a class of structurally related proteins. Classified (in order of relative amounts present in normal human serum) as IgG (80%), IgA (10-15%), IgM (5-10%), IgD (less than 0.1%), and IgE (less than 0.01%).
Iron: A metallic element that occurs in the heme of hemoglobin, myoglobin, transferrin, ferritin, and iron-containing porphyrins.
K [TOP]
Kidney: One of the paired organs that excrete urine. The kidneys are bean-shaped organs (about 11 cm long, 5 cm wide, and 3 cm thick) lying on either side of the vertebral column, posterior to the peritoneum, about opposite the twelfth thoracic and first three lumbar vertebrae.
M [TOP]
Major Blood Fractions: The major components of whole blood - red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma, platelets.
Melanotic: The presence of melanin (the word means black) which is any of the dark brown to black polymers that normally occur in the skin, hair, pigmented coat of the retina, and inconstantly in the medulla and zona reticularis of the adrenal gland. Melanin may be formed in vitro or biologically. Melanotic stools are black stools that contain blood.
Methylprednisolone: An anti-inflammatory glucocorticoid.
Minor Blood Fractions: Substances found in whole blood - albumin, cryoprecipitate, immuneglobulin, clotting factors.
Myalgia: Muscular pain.
Myelodysplastic Syndromes: A syndrome that in time may develop into overt leukemia. It is characterized by bone marrow dysfunction manifested by anemia, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia.
N [TOP]
Nanograms: One-billionth of a gram (10-9 g).
Neoplastic: Pertaining to or characterized by neoplasia, or containing a neoplasm. A neoplasm is an abnormal tissue that grows by cellular proliferation more rapidly than normal and continues to grow after the stimuli that initiated the new growth cease. Neoplasms show partial or complete lack of structural organization and functional coordination with the normal tissue, and usually form a distinct mass of tissue that may be either benign (benign tumor) or malignant (cancer).
Nonwash Device: A system used during surgery to collect, filter, and reinfuse the patient's blood back into the body.
Normochromic: Being normal in color; referring especially to red blood cells that possess the normal quantity of hemoglobin.
O [TOP]
Oxygenated Blood: Blood that is carrying oxygen.
Oxyhemoglobin: Hemoglobin in combination with oxygen, the form of hemoglobin present in arterial blood, scarlet or bright red when dissolved in water.
P [TOP]
Pancreatin: A mixture of the enzymes from the pancreas of the ox or hog, used internally as a digestive, and also as a peptonizing agent in preparing predigested foods.
Parenchyma: The distinguishing or specific cells of a gland or organ, contained in and supported by the connective tissue framework, or stroma.
Penicillamine: A degradation product of penicillin; a chelating agent used in the treatment of lead poisoning, hepatolenticular degeneration, and cystinuria, and in the removal of excess copper in Wilson disease.
Perfusion: The flow of blood through capillaries.
Perioperative: Around the time of operation.
Peripheral Vascular Resistance: The resistance to flow of blood in the systemic circuit.
Phagocytic Cells: A cell possessing the property of ingesting bacteria, foreign particles, and other cells. Phagocytes are divided into two general classes: 1) microphages, polymorphonuclear leukocytes that ingest chiefly bacteria; 2) macrophages, mononucleated cells (histiocytes and monocytes) that are largely scavengers, ingesting dead tissue and degenerated cells.
Picogram: One-trillionth of a gram.
Plasminogen: An inactive form of plasmin, which is an enzyme in the blood that helps dissolve blood clots.
Polycythemia: An increase above the normal in the number of red cells in the blood.
Polypeptide Chains: A peptide formed by the union of an indefinite (usually large) number of amino acids by peptide links.
Porphyrin Chelate: Complex formation involving a metal ion and two or more polar groupings of a single molecule; thus, in heme, the Fe2+ ion is chelated by the porphyrin ring. Chelation can be used to remove an ion from participation in biological reactions, as in the chelation of Ca2+ of blood by EDTA, which thus acts as an anticoagulant.
Protein: Macromolecules consisting of long sequences of amino acids. Protein is three-fourths of the dry weight of most cell matter and is involved in structures, hormones, enzymes, muscle contraction, immunologic response, and essential life functions.
R [TOP]
Radionuclide Scan Preparations: An isotope of artificial or natural origin that exhibits radioactivity that is used in various radiologic scans to highlight parts of the body for diagnosis.
Recombinant: In a laboratory setting, a cell or organism that has received genes from different parental strains.
Recombinant DNA: Altered DNA resulting from the insertion into the chain, by chemical, enzymatic, or biologic means, of a sequence (a whole or partial chain of DNA) not originally (biologically) present in that chain.
Recombinant Erythropoietin: Erythropoietin made in the laboratory.
Reticulocytes: A young red blood cell. Such cells become more numerous during the process of active blood regeneration.
Rheumatoid Arthritis: A generalized disease, occurring more often in women, which primarily affects connective tissue; arthritis is the dominant clinical manifestation, involving many joints, especially those of the hands and feet, accompanied by thickening of articular soft tissue, with extension of synovial tissue over articular cartilages, which become eroded; the course is variable but often is chronic and progressive, leading to deformities and disability.
RNA: A macromolecule found in all cells, in both nuclei and cytoplasm.
S [TOP]
Sickle Cell Anemia: An autosomal recessive anemia characterized by crescent- or sickle-shaped erythrocytes and accelerated hemolysis, due to substitution of a single amino acid (valine for glutamic acid) in the sixth position of the *-chain of hemoglobin the gene of which is on chromosome 11. Develop "crisis" episodes of severe pain due to microvascular occlusions, bone infarcts, leg ulcers, and atrophy of the spleen associated with increased susceptibility to bacterial infections, especially streptococcal pneumonia.
Stem Cell: A cell capable of forming all the cells in a person's blood system.
Streptokinase: An extracellular metalloenzyme from hemolytic streptococci that cleaves plasminogen, producing plasmin, which causes the liquefaction of fibrin (same activity as staphylokinase and urokinase); thus, used in the removal of clots.
Stroma: The framework, usually of connective tissue, of an organ, gland, or other structure, as distinguished from the parenchyma or specific substance of the part.
Sulfasalazine: A sulfonamide (acid-azosulfa compound) with a marked affinity for connective tissues, especially for those rich in elastin, used in chronic ulcerative colitis; it is broken down in the body to aminosalicylic acid and sulfapyridine.
Sulfonamide: The sulfa drugs, a group of bacteriostatic drugs containing the sulfanilamide group (sulfanilamide, sulfapyridine, sulfathiazole, sulfadiazine, and other sulfanilamide derivatives).
T [TOP]
Thrombotic: Relating to, caused by, or characterized by clotting within a blood vessel.
Transferrin: A nonheme globulin of the plasma, capable of acting as an iron-transporting protein.
V [TOP]
Vascular System: The cardiovascular and lymphatic systems collectively better known as the circulatory system.
Z [TOP]
Zona Reticularis: The inner layer of the cortex of the adrenal gland, where the cell cords anastomose in a netlike fashion.
