Category: La-Lh

Something that promotes emptying of the bowels. Laxatives are used to combat constipation. They are sometimes overused, producing diarrhea. Laxatives include milk of magnesia and many others.

Laparoscopic assisted vaginal hysterectomy, a procedure using laparoscopic techniques to remove the uterus (womb) and/or tubes and ovaries through the vagina (birth canal). In LAVH, several small incisions (cuts) are made in the abdominal wall through which slender metal tubes known as “trocars” are inserted to provide passage for a laparoscope and other microsurgical tools. The laparoscope is essentially a tiny telescope. A…

Washing out. Gastric lavage, for example, is the washing out of the stomach to remove drugs or poisons.

An X-ray taken from the side of the patient.

Lateral canthotomy and cantholysis is a surgical procedure most commonly used for the emergency treatment of orbital compartment syndrome, which is an emergency condition characterized by increased pressure within the orbit of the eye due to any cause. Immediate treatment is required to preserve vision. With lateral canthotomy and cantholysis, the lateral canthal tendons that attach the eyelids to the orbital rim…

1. In anatomy, the side of the body or a body part that is farther from the middle or center of the body. Typically, lateral refers to the outer side of the body part, but it is also used to refer to the side of a body part. For example, when referring to the knee, lateral refers to the…

Hidden, dormant, inactive. The virus that causes chickenpox remains latent after the initial attack of chickenpox is over. When it becomes reactivated, usually many years later, the virus causes shingles. HIV may remain in a small long-lived population of infected T cells. These cells provide a source for renewed replication of the virus following the cessation of therapy.

By convention, pregnancies are dated in weeks starting from the first day of a woman’s last menstrual period (LMP). If her menstrual periods are regular and ovulation occurs on day 14 of her cycle, conception takes place about 2 weeks after her LMP. A woman is therefore considered to be 6 weeks pregnant 2 weeks after her first missed period. A…

Weakness, weariness, listlessness, exhaustion, lethargy. For example, the patient complained of lassitude. From Latin lassitudo, from lassus meaning weary.

A tube-shaped organ in the neck that contains the vocal cords. The larynx is about 5 cm (2 in.) long. It is part of the respiratory system and is located between the pharynx and the trachea. Humans use the larynx to breathe, talk, and swallow. Its outer wall of cartilage forms the area of the front of the neck referred to as…