Computerized Axial Tomography, CAT, or Computed Tomography, CT Terms +

Short for "contrast media".

Contrast media are X-ray dyes used to provide contrast; for example, between blood vessels and other tissues.

A liquid (usually iodine or gadolinium) that is injected into the body to make certain tissues show up clearly during diagnostic imaging (angiography, CT, myelogram, MRI).

Pictures of structures within the body created by a computer that takes the data from multiple X-ray images and turns them into pictures on a screen.

CT stands for computerized tomography.

Abnormal, closed sac-like structures within a tissue that contain a liquid, gaseous, or semisolid substance.

Cysts can occur anywhere in the body and can vary in size. The outer, or capsular, portion of a cyst is termed the cyst wall.

A substance produced by the medulla (inside) the adrenal gland.

The name epinephrine was coined in 1898 by the American pharmacologist and physiologic chemist (biochemist) John Jacob Abel who isolated it from the adrenal gland which is located above (epi-) the kidney (Greek nephros).

Technically speaking, epinephrine is a sympathomimetic catecholamine.

It causes quickening of the heart beat, strengthens the force of the heart's contraction, opens up the airways (bronchioles) in the lungs and has numerous other effects.

The secretion of epinephrine by the adrenal is part of the fight-or-flight reaction. Adrenaline is a synonym of epinephrine and is the official name in the British Pharmacopoeia.

The unborn offspring from the end of the eighth week after conception; when the major structures have formed, until birth.

Up until the eighth week, the developing offspring is called an embryo.

An abbreviation of X-ray film, an X-ray, a radiograph.

A pear-shaped organ just below the liver that stores the bile secreted by the liver.

During a fatty meal, the gallbladder contracts, delivering the bile through the bile ducts into the intestines to help with digestion.

The abnormal composition of bile leads to formation of gallstones, a process known as cholelithiasis.

The gallstones cause cholecystitis, or inflammation of the gallbladder.

A raised, itchy area of skin that is usually a sign of an allergic reaction.

It can be rounded or flat-topped, but it rises above the surrounding skin. It indicates circumscribed dermal edema (local swelling of the skin).

The hives are usually well circumscribed but may be coalescent and will blanch with pressure.

The growth of a parasitic organism within the body.

A parasitic organism is one which lives on or in another organism and draws its nourishment from that body.

Usually a person with an infection has another organism called a "germ" growing in the body where it gets nourishment from the body, too.

The act of intervening, interfering, or interceding with the intent of modifying a result.

In medicine, an intervention is usually undertaken to help treat or to cure a condition.

From Latin intervenire, "to come between".

An essential element in the diet used by the thyroid gland to make thyroid hormones.

An uncomfortable sensation in the skin that feels as if something is crawling on the skin or in the skin, and which makes the person want to scratch that affected area.

One of a pair of organs located in the right and left side of the abdomen which clear "poisons" from the blood, regulate acid concentration, and control the water balance in the body by excreting urine.

The kidneys are part of the urinary tract where the urine passes through connecting tubes called ureters into the bladder. The bladder stores the urine until it is released during urination.

An organ in the upper abdomen that aids in the digestion of food and removes waste products and worn-out cells from the blood.

The liver is the largest solid organ in the body and weighs about three and a half pounds (1.6 kilograms).

It measures about eight inches (20 cm) horizontally (across) and 6.5 inches (17 cm) vertically (down) and is 4.5 inches (12 cm) thick.