Medical Terminology and

Scientific Notation
By

Edited by DR CR Makanjee
Compiled by Prof Rob Davidson
 Objectives
◦ Gain an understanding of the basis of medical
terminology
◦ Learn some of medical terminology relevant
to the professions in MRS
◦ Gain an understanding of some of the MRS
acronyms
◦ Gain an understanding of some of the
scientific notation used in MRS
 Origins of Medical Terminology
 Most medical terms originate from
Greek or Latin
 Modern medicine was founded in
Greece
 Latin was the original universal
language of the western world
 Diagnosis & surgical words are
predominantly Greek in origin
 Anatomical terms are
predominantly Latin in origin

Modified from
https://i.pinimg.com/236x/02/9c/33/029c33f
71e7b6157dce65cd61f4bf427.jpg
 UK versus US Spelling
 This course is taught in Australia, however most texts
are from the USA
 US spelling is different than that used in Australia
 In this course you MUST use UK spelling of medical
terms
e.g. paediatric (UK) vs pediatric (US)

https://www.jawhm.or.jp/blog/osakablog/wp-
content/uploads/sites/8/2017/05/british-vs-american-
spelling-.png
UK versus US Spelling (cont)
Medical terminology web sites
 web site with UK spelling
http://medterminologyforcare.com/?page_id=40
 web site with US spelling
http://www.globalrph.com/medterm.htm
 a site to check the differences in UK and
US spelling (inc medical)
http://mt-supports.blogspot.com.au/p/american-
vs-british-spellings.html
Components

 Many medical words have four components /

elements:
Components
 most terms contain a base word or root
which often relates to the anatomy
 a prefix or suffix are added to modify the
root word and add additional meaning
 e.g. electrocardiogram
Root Words
 most terms contain a base word or root
= often equals an element of anatomy

Greek Word Word Root

kardia cardi
gaster gastr
hepar hepat
nephros nephr
osteon oste
Combining Form
 Root word + Vowel = combining form
 o and i are the most common
combining vowels
 used:
– root word + suffix
– root word + root word
 Rules:
not used when suffix begins with a
vowel e.g. dermat/it is
used when suffix begins with a
consonant e.g. rhino/plasty
Suffix Words
 Are ending word
 Indicates procedure, condition, disease, part of language or speech
Arthr/o-centesis joint-puncture
Arthrocentesis puncture of a joint

Thorac/o-tomy - chest-incision
Thoracotomy -incision of the chest

Gastr/o-megaly stomach-enlargement
Gastromegaly enlargement of the stomach
Suffix Words
 -ic = pertaining to
 -ous = pertaining to
 -ism = condition
 -osis = abnormal condition
 -itis = inflammation of
 -ist = one who
 -er = one who
Prefix Words
 beginning word component / element
 changes the meaning of the word
 typically indicates a number, time, position,
direction, colour etc…
 a-mast-ia
without-breast-condition
 hyper-therm-ia
excessive-heat-condition
 hypo-therm-ia
below/under-heat-condition
 intra-muscul-ar
within-muscle-relating to
More Prefix Words
 What do these prefixes mean?
◦ meta
◦ trans
◦ contra
◦ supra
◦ dys
 What do these prefixes mean?
◦ meta – later or change / transformation
◦ example
 metastasis – change of standing / status
– process of cancer spread

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_m8_CWezId8o/So1qhXwkg2I/AAAAAAAAASY/Dc50HUor
OYc/s1600/nlpelvislines.jpg
 what do these prefixes mean?

◦ trans – across or other side

◦ example
 transplantation – grow across
– place organs in another person
 What do these prefixes mean?

◦ contra – against or opposing

◦ example
 contralateral – opposing side

http://cal.vet.upenn.edu/projects/saortho/chapt
er_07/07mast.htm
 What do these prefixes mean?
◦ Supra – above or greater than
◦ Example
 Supraorbital – above the orbits

http://slideplayer.com/slide/6860516/
 what do these prefixes mean?
◦ dys – abnormal or difficult or unfavourable

◦ example
 dysentry – abnormal
“enteron” or intestine

https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/930708-overview?pa
Singular & Plural
Words ending in Singular Plural
-a vertebra vertebrae
-ax thorax thoraces
-ex or -ix appendix appendices
apex apices
-is metastasis metastases
diagnosis diagnoses
testis testes
-ma sarcoma sarcomata
-nx phalanx phalanges
-on ganglion ganglia
-us nucleus nuclei
-um ovum ova
-y biopsy biopsies
Interpreting a new word
 break it down into the components
 interpret first
◦ the suffix
◦ then the prefix
◦ then the root words
 e.g. pericarditis
Examples
Root/Suffix
e.g. cardi / ac = heart / pertaining to

Prefix/Root/Suffix
e.g. epi / card / ium = upon / heart / tissue

Prefix/Prefix/Root/Suffix
e.g. sub /endo / card / itis =
beneath / within / heart / inflammation
Eponym
 Named after a person, place, society, etc

 Some examples
Bell palsy
Budd-Chiari syndrome
Osgood-Schlatter disease
Note –Upper case

https://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl
Abbreviations & Symbols
 Abbreviations and symbols are used extensively as
shorthand when documenting medical information
◦ saves writing out the entire word
◦ are context specific
◦ can lead to potential miscommunication…
 Symbol e.g.
◦ # = fracture
 Abbreviation e.g.
◦ ECG = electrocardiogram – note US use is EKG, why?
◦ CXR = chest x-ray
◦ ERCP = endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography
◦ NAD = no acute distress or no abnormality detected

Note – abbreviations are uppercase

Normal Anatomic Position
 Anatomic Terms and Directions
Term Definition
anterior (or ventral) towards the front
posterior (or dorsal) towards the back
superior (or cranial) towards the head
inferior (or caudal) towards the feet (or tail)
medial towards the midline of the body
lateral towards the side of the body
proximal towards the centre of the body
distal away from the centre of the body
superficial (or external) towards the surface of the body
deep (internal) away from the surface of the body
abduction move away from the midline of the body
adduction move towards from the midline of the body
flexion motions that decreases the angle between a segment and its
proximal segment
extension motions that increases the angle between a segment and its
proximal segment
"Body Movements I" by Tonye Ogele CNX - http://cnx.org/content/m46398/latest/?collection=col11496/latest.
Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons -
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Body_Movements_I.jpg#/media/File:Body_Movements_I.jpg
Anatomical Planes of the Body
 an anatomical plane is a
hypothetical plane of
the body
◦ coronal plane divides
the body into anterior
and posterior sections
◦ sagittal plane divides
the body into left and
right sections
◦ transverse or axial
plane divides the body
into cranial and caudal
sections
http://training.seer.cancer.gov/module_anatomy/unit1_3_terminology2_planes.html
 Some things to note
◦ median sagittal plane divides the body equally
into left and right sections
 ie it is the mid-section plane and passes through
nose, sternum, naval and equally between the left
and right lower limbs
◦ in medical imaging the term axial is more
commonly used in CT and transverse in US

http://www.radiologyassistant.nl/data/bin/a5097
9794ca898_CT-neck-spaces.jpg
Terminology in Medical Radiations
 Use of correct terminology in Medical Radiations is very important, along
with its correct spelling

 Most texts either originate from the UK or the USA. In Australia we use
UK terminology and spelling

 Bushong is a US text. Refer to mine and other lecturer’s notes for the
accepted use and spelling in Australia.
 Radiography Terms and Acronyms
 some common terms
◦ pt – patient
◦ abdo – abdomen
◦ L (or Lt) – left / R (or Rt) – right
◦ XR – x-ray / CXR – chest x-ray / AXR – abdominal x-ray / SXR – ?
◦ BaE – barium enema / BaM – barium meal / BaSw – ?
◦ CSp – cervical spine / TSp – thoracic spine / LSp – ?
◦ IVP – intravenous pyelogram / IVU – intravenous urogram
◦ CT – computed tomography (not CAT)
◦ US (or U/S) – ultrasound
◦ ant – anterior / inf - inferior
◦ MVA – motor vehicle accident / MBA – ?
◦ SOB – short of breath / MI – myocardial infarction
◦ NOF – neck of femur / IAM – internal auditory meatus
◦ ALARA – as low as reasonable achievable

 more information at
◦ UK site: https://www.rcr.ac.uk/public-and-media/common-medical-
terms/abbreviations
◦ US site: http://www.wikiradiography.net/page/Medical+Abbreviations
 kVp

mA
x-ray tube
Overview of
x-ray image light beam diaphragm
(LBD)
production to collimate the x-ray beam

x-ray beam

patient or object

grid

image receptor
transmitted x-ray photons reaching the receptor
Radiographic imaging patient
positioning
 Supine
◦ the pt is lying on their back
 Prone
◦ the pt is lying on their front
 Erect
◦ the pt is standing or sitting vertically
 Semi-recumbent
◦ the pt is between supine and erect
 Decubitus
◦ the patient is lying down and the x-ray beam is
horizontal
 lateral decubitus – the pt is lying on their side (L or R)
 dorsal decubitus – the pt is lying on their back
Radiographic Projections
 A projection describes the path of the x-ray
beam through the patient and / or the
positioning of the patient
 Antero-posterior (AP)
◦ The x-ray beam travels from the anterior aspect
of the pt and exits from the posterior aspect
 Postero-anterior (PA)
◦ the x-ray beam travels from the posterior aspect
of the pt and exits from the anterior aspect
◦ for hand / wrist and feet some medico’s use the
term DP (dorso-plantar for feet and
dorso-palmar for the hands)
 infero-superior (IS)
◦ the beams travels inferior to superior
 supero-inferior (SI)
◦ the beams travels superior to inferior
 lateral
◦ the beams travels from one side and exits on
the other
◦ the side closest to the image receptor is
labelled on the image
 oblique
◦ left or right anterior oblique (LAO or RAO)
◦ left or right posterior oblique (LPO or RPO)
 indicates the aspect closet to the image receptor
and labelled as such
 Viewing Radiographic Images
 Planar x-ray
◦ the image is viewed as if the
person is standing the normal
anatomical position
immediately in front of you
◦ ie, the patient’s image right
side is on your left & the
patient’s image left side is on
your right
◦ this is independent of weather
the patient is imaged AP or PA
 Which is the correct viewing orientation?
a) or b) or c) neither or d) can’t tell

a)

b)
Note the use of a
lead “L” to indicate
the left side of the
patient
 axial images eg CT and MRI
◦ viewed as if the pt is supine and looking
superiorly (ie. from the inferior direction)

R L
Specific MI Terminology and Spelling
– there will be many others
 x-ray (unless starting a sentence:- X-ray)
 peak kiloVoltage (kVp)
 milliampere seconds (mAs)
 source to image (receptor) distance (SID)
 most Aussies call this FFD (focal film distance)
 source to object distance (SOD)
◦ Aussies call this FOD (focal object distance)
 object to image (receptor) distance (OID)
◦ Aussies call this OFD (object film distance)
 kVp
Overview of x-ray
image production mA
x-ray tube

light beam diaphragm

(LBD)
to collimate the x-ray beam
source to image distance
(SID)

source to object distance x-ray beam

(SOD)

patient or object

object to image distance

grid
(OID)
image receptor
transmitted x-ray photons reaching the receptor
Greek symbols and mathematical
notation
 some symbols that will be commonly use are:
= means “equal to”
≈ or ≃ means “approximately equal to”
≠ means “ not equal to”
> means “greater than”
< means “less than”
>= or ≥ means “greater than or equal to”
<= or ≤ means “less than or equal to”
+ means “add”
- means “subtract”
* or . (or even a space) means “multiple”
/ means “divide”

 if you are not familiar with such notation, get hold of an

introductory physics text and get a good understanding of
such terms (eg. Bushong inside the front & back covers). They
will be use in a lot of units in the course.
Significant Figures
 Significant figures are generally used to
determine the precision needed.
Examples:
◦ 1.23 has 3 significant figures
◦ 0.000123 also has 3 significant figures
◦ what about 1.230?

◦ rounding 9.87 to 2 significant figures is 9.9

◦ rounding 0.000123 to 2 significant figures is 0.00012
◦ rounding rules:
 round up if last number is ≥ 5
 round down if last number is < 5
Scientific Notation
 A method of managing very large or very small numbers

 Some examples
◦ 5,431 = 5.431 x 103 (note 4 significant figures)
 if rounding to 3 significant figures is required then
5,431 ≈ 5.43 x 103
◦ 0.00023456 = 2.3456 x 10-4 (note 5 significant figures)
 if rounding to 3 significant figures is required then
0.00023456 ≈ 2.34 x 10-4
Prefixes for Units of Measurement

Common metric prefixes are:

Log of
Text Symbol Factor Factor
tera T 1,000,000,000,000 or 1 x 1012 12
giga G 1,000,000,000 or 1 x 109 9
mega M 1,000,000 or 1 x 106 6
kilo k 1,000 or 1 x 103 3
hecto h 100 or 1 x 102 2
unit 1 0
deci d 0.1 or 1 x 10-1 -1
centi c 0.01 or 1 x 10-2 -2
milli m 0.001 or 1 x 10-3 -3
micro μ 0.000001 or 1 x 10-6 -6
nano n 0.000000001 or 1 x 10-9 -9
Logarithms or Logs
• A method of managing very large or very small numbers, however they
do not seem as straight forward as scientific notation

• The first number in a log indicates the exponential factor (see previous
page)
◦ eg 500 as a log (base 10) is 2.69897
0.005 as a log (base 10) is -2.30103
noting that 0.005 < 0.01 (log of -2) and
> 0.001 (log of -3)
 logs are the inverse of exponentials
◦ 10 to the power 2 (102) = 100
◦ base 10 log of 100 = 2
 used in medical imaging eg log-mean value (LgM)
 other bases, common ones are:
◦ natural logarithm or base e (a constant)
 e ≈ 2.71828
 will see the use of e in radioactive decay
◦ binary log or base 2
 used in computing
◦ decibel (dB) – it is a base 10 log multiplied by 10
 used to measure power gains (or ratios)
 dB = 10 log(x)
 Number Log base 10 dB
1,000,000,000,000 12 120
1,000,000,000 9 90
1,000,000 6 60
1,000 3 30
100 2 20
10 1 10
4 0.6 6 *
2 0.3 3 *
1.259 0.1 1 *
1 0 0
0.8 -0.1 -1 *
0.5 -0.3 -3 *
0.251 -0.6 -6 *
0.1 -1 -10
0.01 -2 -20
0.001 -3 -30
0.000,001 -6 -60
NB. * indicates
0.000,000,001 -9 -90 approximate values
0.000,000,000,001 -12 -120
Units of Measurement
 In Australia and most countries around the world
the International System (SI) of unit measurements
is used. This is also commonly known as the metric
system.
◦ Note, some texts, mainly those from the USA, may still
use imperial units.

 Base units are:

◦ metre (m) for length
◦ kilogram (kg) for mass
◦ second (s) for time
◦ Ampere (A) for electric current
◦ Kelvin for (K) temperature
◦ candela (cd) for luminous intensity
◦ mole (mol) for the amount of a substance
Derived Units
 every other unit is made up of
combination of the base units. These are
called derived units
 metric or SI units themselves may not be
small or large enough to describe the unit
of measurement so prefixes are used to
make this easier
Derived Units - common ones in MRS are:
• velocity – m/s or m s-1 – symbol is v
• weight – Newton (N) = kg m s-2 – symbol is w
• density (of mass) – kg m-3 – symbols is  (Greek rho)
• energy – Joules (J) = kg m2 s-2 – symbol is E
• electrical potential – Volt (kg m2 A-1 s-3) – symbol is V
• frequency – Hertz (Hz) = s-1 – symbol is f or  (Greek nu)
• dose – an amount of ionising radiation absorbed in tissue
– Gray (Gy) = J kg−1 = m2 s−2 – symbol is D
• dose equivalent – an amount of ionising radiation
dependant on tissue – Sievert (Sv) = J kg−1 – symbol is H
• radioactivity – unit is becquerel (Bq) = s-1 – symbol is A
• magnetic field strength – A m−1– symbol is B or H
Useful reading

 Mosby's Medical Dictionary, 9th ed

◦ an Australian medical dictionary
 Medical terminology
◦ Adler A, Carlton R. Introduction to Radiologic
and Imaging Sciences and Patient Care, 6th ed. St.
Louis, Elsevier Saunders, 2016.
 Chapters 1 & 2
 Scientific notation
◦ Bushong SC. Radiologic Science for Technologists:
Physics, Biology, and Protection, 10th ed., St. Louis,
Elsevier Mosby, 2013
 Chapter 1 and the front and back cover sections