Download general health vocabulary

Aleksandra Žmegač Horvat: MEDICAL ENGLISH WORKBOOK
BASICS
GENERAL HEALTH VOCABULARY
I
Complete the sentences with appropriate words or phrases. In most
cases there are several possibilities:
1. There were a lot of people at the doctor’s __________, so I had to wait for
hours.
2. It’s just a small hospital, so all the beds in the surgical __________ are
occupied.
3. There’s been an accident, someone call a(n) __________!
4. You won’t get this antibiotic without a __________.
5. They did a biopsy and took a __________ of the suspicious tissue.
6. The doctor gave her a painkiller to __________ the pain.
7. The flu is a highly ___________ disease.
8. I hurt my wrist yesterday playing tennis and today it’s ______________.
9. The cut was bleeding a lot, so he had to put on a __________.
10. The arm was broken and had to be put in a __________.
11. The usual symptom of an allergy is a __________ on your skin, or, in the
case of hay fever, a __________ nose.
12. I feel sick, I think I’m going to __________.
13. She slipped and fell, and now she’s got a nasty blue __________ on her
forehead and a(n) __________ on her cheek.
II
DISEASE, DISORDER, ILLNESS, or SICKNESS?
disease/disorder = any deviation from the normal structure or function of a
part, organ or system of the body, or the mind,
manifested by characteristic symptoms
illness
= 1. state of bad health, experience of not being healthy
for a period of time; 2. disease
sickness
= 1. feeling ill in the stomach and vomiting; 2. disease
1
Use them appropriately in the following sentences:
1. He died at the age of 83 after a short ___________.
2. Cirrhosis is a serious liver __________.
3. Many women suffer from morning ___________ in the first trimester of
pregnancy.
4. Heart ___________ is one of the leading health problems in developed
countries.
5. It is inconvenient if frequent flyers suffer from air ___________.
6. Her prolonged ___________ was hard for the family.
Which other words for DISEASE can you think of?
III Complete the sentences with the following words:
BENIGN
CURE
DEFICIENCY
HEAL
HEREDITARY
MALIGNANT
RECOVER
RELAPSE
RELIEF
REMISSION
1.
After surgery and chemo, she’s in __________ and feeling fine. We all
Hope the cancer’s gone and there won’t be a __________.
2.
__________ tumors are normally not life-threatening.
3. Due to his young age, it didn’t take him long to __________ after the
operation.
4. In diabetics, wounds tend to __________ with difficulty.
5. Unfortunately, the biopsy proved that the tumor was __________.
6. Diseases which run in families are called ___________.
7. An efficient antibiotic will __________ the infection in a few days.
8. The treatment is going to take some time, but I’ll give you an analgesic for
pain __________.
9. A vitamin __________ can lead to serious health problems.
2
PARTS OF THE BODY
Go through the alphabetical list of some parts of the body and sort them
out under the following headings (2 words belong to two categories):
ABDOMEN
ANKLE
ARCH
ARMPIT
BALL
BUTTOCK
CALF
CHEEK
CHEST
CHIN
ELBOW
head (10)
EYEBROW
EYELASH
EYELID
FINGER
FLANK
FOREARM
FOREHEAD
GROIN
GUM
HEEL
torso (11)
HIP
KNEE
KNUCKLE
LOBE
LOIN
NAIL
NAVEL
NIPPLE
NOSTRIL
PALM
PELVIS
SHIN
SHOULDER
SOLE
TEMPLE
THIGH
THUMB
TOE
WAIST
WRIST
arm + hand (11)
leg + foot (11)
Now look at each category and list the structures from top to bottom
according to their location on the body.
ORGANS AND ORGAN SYSTEMS
I Match the names and functions of the organ systems:
A
B
C
D
E
F
INTEGUMENTARY SYSTEM
FEMALE REPRODUCTIVE S.
CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM
DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
MALE REPRODUCTIVE S.
G
H
I
J
K
MUSCULOSKELETAL SYSTEM
LYMPHATIC SYSTEM
URINARY SYSTEM
NERVOUS S. + SENSE ORGANS
ENDOCRINE SYSTEM
a immunity; drainage of tissue fluid; absorption of lipids
b external protection; thermoregulation; sensory reception
c exchange of gases between lungs and external environment
d coordination of all voluntary and involuntary body activities
e transport of nutrients to all body cells; elimination of waste
materials from the cells
f internal support of the body and protection of inner organs;
body movement
3
g production of hormones responsible for female secondary sex
characteristics; production of ova; place for growth of embryo
and fetus
h production of hormones that regulate many functions of the organism
i production of testosterone and sperm cells
j filtration of blood; maintaining balance of body fluids; endocrine function
k breakdown of foods; absorption of nutrients; elimination of solid wastes
II Decide which systems the listed groups of organs belong to:

muscles, bones, joints, tendons, ligaments

mouth, pharynx, esophagus /gullet, stomach,
intestines (small & large) + liver, gallbladder, pancreas ______________

brain, spinal cord, nerves (motor & sensory)
+ eye & ear
______________

heart, blood vessels (arteries, veins, capillaries)
______________

nose, pharynx, larynx /voice box, trachea /windpipe,
bronchi, lungs, bronchioles, alveoli
______________
______________

ovaries, fallopian tubes /uterine tubes /salpinges /oviducts,
uterus /womb, vagina, vulva + mammary glands
______________

testes & associated tubes, urethra, penis
+ prostate & other glands
______________

skin + hair, nails, glands (oil /sebaceous & sweat /sudoriferous) ________

hypophysis /pituitary, epiphysis /pineal, thyroid,
parathyroid, thymus, pancreas (islets of Langerhans),
adrenal, gonads
______________

lymph vessels & nodes + spleen, thymus gland
______________

kidneys, ureters, urinary bladder, urethra
______________
4
WHAT IS IT IN ENGLISH?
There are many medical words that are also frequently used in everyday
speech. What are their equivalents in general English?
ANALGESIC (ANALGETIC)
____________________________
CEREBRAL INSULT
____________________________
DILATATION (DILATION)
____________________________
EDEMA
____________________________
FETUS
____________________________
FRACTURE
____________________________
GRAVIDITY
____________________________
HEMORRHAGE
____________________________
HYPERTENSION
____________________________
INSOMNIA
____________________________
LARYNGITIS
____________________________
MENSTRUATION
____________________________
MUCUS
____________________________
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION
____________________________
NAUSEA
____________________________
NECROSIS
____________________________
SALIVA
____________________________
SPASM
____________________________
5
COLLOCATIONS
Collocations are typical, common or frequent combinations of certain
words (e.g. adjectives + nouns, or verbs + nouns, etc.) in a specific
language. But what may function in one language does not necessarily
work in another. That is why you have to make sure and check in a
dictionary before you mechanically translate Croatian collocations into
English.
For example: teško disanje translates as hard (heavy, labored) breathing,
teško krvarenje as heavy bleeding, težak porod as difficult birth, teška
bolest (ozljeda) as serious (grave) disease (injury), etc.
I
See how many of the following common collocations for body
structures and functions or conditions you can get right:
KLJUČNA kost
SLOBODNA rebra
TANKO crijevo
DEBELO crijevo
arterijska STIJENKA
KUCANJE srca
SPUŠTENA stopala
CUREĆI nos
MASNA koža
MASNA kosa
MASNE naslage
_______________ bone
_______________ ribs
_______________ intestine
_______________ intestine
arterial _________
heart _________
_______________ feet
_______________ nose
_______________ skin
_______________ hair
_______________ plaques
Now match the adjectives on the left with the nouns on the right to get
some more common medical collocations:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
allergic
bedside
bone
brain
clinical
general
general
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
death
trial
anesthetic
marrow
reaction
manner
practitioner
II From the jumble below, make as many collocations around the words
DISEASE and TREATMENT as you can. Then use some of your
collocations in sentences of your own:
DISEASE
TREATMENT
6
HOME INFECTIOUS FATAL VIRULENT PALLIATIVE DRUG
INCURABLE DENTAL HOSPITAL CANCER CONTAGIOUS
PROGRESSIVE HEART HEREDITARY INTENSIVE CHRONIC
SURGICAL DEGENERATIVE ACUTE CONGENITAL
SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED MANAGEMENT
GIVE PROVIDE DIAGNOSE CAUSE RECEIVE CARRY
CURE SUFFER FROM TRANSMIT CATCH FIGHT
CONTROL TREAT PASS ON CONTRACT
III
Spot the medical collocations in the following text and list them
under the headings below:
IN-FLIGHT EMERGENCIES
A recent study about in-flight medical emergencies estimated that there are
an average of 30 emergencies on U.S. flights every day. Most of them are
not serious; fainting, dizziness and hyperventilation are the most frequent
complaints. But 13% of them – roughly four a day – are serious enough to
require a pilot to change course. The most common of the serious
emergencies include heart trouble (46%), strokes and other neurological
problems (18%), and breathing difficulties (6%).
Most people agree that plane rides are stressful. First, cabin pressures at high
altitudes can be compared to living at 5,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level.
Usually people can tolerate these pressures easily, but passengers with heart
disease may experience chest pains as a result of the reduced amount of
oxygen flowing through their blood. Low pressure can also cause the air in
body cavities to expand up to 30%. Again, most people won't notice anything
beyond mild stomach cramping. But if someone has recently had an
operation, their wound could open. And if a medical device has been
implanted in your body – a splint, a tracheostomy tube or a catheter – it could
expand and cause damage.
Another common in-flight problem is deep venous thrombosis – the so-called
economy-class syndrome. When you sit too long in a cramped position, the
blood in your legs tends to clot. Most people just feel a pain in their calves.
But blood clots could travel to the lungs, causing breathing difficulties and
even death. Such clots are easily prevented by keeping blood flowing, so you
should walk and stretch your legs when possible.
But there’s no reason for panic. Emergency medical kits with automated
defibrillators in case of heart attacks have become standard equipment on
most flights since 2004.
adjective + noun
verb + noun
7
Now use some of the collocations from your lists in the following
sentences:
1. One of the symptoms of food poisoning is ________ ________.
2. If there is an obstruction of the upper airways, a ________ ________
may be implanted.
3. Heart attack patients usually _________ _______ ________.
4. Deep venous thrombosis is caused by a ________ ________, and if
untreated may even ________ ________.
5. Ambulances should be equipped with ________ ________.
6. Smoking may ________ serious ________ to your respiratory and
cardiovascular systems.
.
8. In case of a ________ _________, call 911.
REGISTER
By register we mean the style or ‘level’ of language (vocabulary and
grammar) we use in particular situations, from highly formal to informal,
colloquial, or even vulgar.
Additionally, each profession has its own language (jargon), which is
especially true of medicine, with its huge corpus of professional
terminology.
Professional words and idioms are usually classified as formal.
I Words for some body parts and basic body functions are frequently
used in different registers, depending on the occasion. Fill in the
tables:
MEDICAL
FORMAL
NEUTRAL
INFORMAL
COLLOQUIAL
trbuh
pupak
bol u želucu
žgaravica
podrigivanje
nadutost
8
vjetrovi
mučnina
povraćati
imati stolicu
mokriti
SPECIALIZED
NON-SPECIALIZED
painkiller
auscultation
swelling
expectoration
hidrosis
slime
feeling sick
(examination by) touching
paroxysm
percussion
pyrexia
rhinorrhea
chest
windpipe
II Copy the passage below using neutral instead of medical terms from
the table. Make any other necessary changes:
The patient presented with intense gastralgia, eructation and constant nausea
accompanied by flatulence. He reported repeated emesis and defecation in
the past 12 hours. His abdomen was tender to palpation in the umbilical area.
Now do the opposite with the passage below:
The patient reports severe coughing fits, with coughing out slime,
accompanied by fever, sweating and a runny nose lasting for 5 days.
Examination by listening to and tapping his chest revealed no swelling of the
windpipe and upper airways. A drug to bring down the fever, painkillers and
agents to make coughing out easier were prescribed.
STATISTICS
I Look at the list of 10 TOP CAUSES OF DEATH AND DISABILITY in the
US in the last decade of the 20th century (left) and the Harvard School
of Public Health projection for the year 2020 (right):
1. Respiratory infections
2. Diarrheal diseases
1. Heart disease
2. Severe depression
9
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Complications of birth
Severe depression
Heart disease
Stroke
Tuberculosis
Measles
Traffic accidents
Congenital anomalies
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Traffic accidents
Stroke
Chronic pulmonary disease
Respiratory infections
Tuberculosis
War injuries
Diarrheal diseases
HIV/AIDS
Comment on the changes predicted to occur and their possible causes.
How might a 10 top causes list for Croatia be different at present?
II Translate the following sentence, and then add 2 more sentences
based on the lists above:
Devedesetih su godina prve na listi 10 najčešćih uzroka smrti bile infekcije
dišnih puteva, dok se za 2020. godinu kao glavni uzrok predviđaju bolesti
srca.
A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE
I Read the text about ‘tailored’ medicines of the future and underline the
passages which answer the following questions:
1. What does the patient give the doctor?
2. How does the doctor reach her diagnosis and what does she prescribe?
3. What will be the main practical consequences of the decoded human
genome?
4. What are customized drugs? Which other term for them is used in the text?
5. How and why will pharmacology of the future affect human reproduction?
6. What will be the drawbacks of those wonderful new drugs?
TAILORED MEDICINES
It’s the year 2025, and you are at your doctor’s. You're feeling terrible. It's not
just a hangover after an all-night party. You're sweating. You're listless.
You're aching all over. The doctor examines you. Then she asks for your
gene card. The computer processes the rectangle of plastic you hand her,
confirming her diagnosis of flu. She sends you to the pharmacy, where they
will create a drug specially for you.
This is a very likely scenario of what will be happening when you visit your
physician 20 years from now, given molecular biology's current pace of
progress. By then scientists will have found exactly where common diseasecausing errors lie along the genome's long, interlocked chains of DNA.
10
That will have numerous practical consequences. Your genetic profile,
recorded on a chip, will let doctors and their computerized diagnostic tools
determine your exact level or risk for a particular disease. So you'll get
customized prescriptions, created to ‘fit’ on the very first try without producing
adverse reactions.
And that's not all. The genetically based pharmacology of the future will offer
you not only the usual well-known drugs like tranquilizers, antihistamines,
analgesics and antibiotics, but also all kinds of new medicines for virtually
every ailment and condition. These will range from mood and pleasure
enhancers (legal or not) to new medications for diseases likely to be much
more common in an aging population, like Alzheimer's, cardiovascular
problems and cancer.
Since in developed countries at least 20% of the population will be over 60,
drug companies will turn from contraception to conception with the purpose to
help older women have babies. As for aging men, they'll have at their disposal
libido and sex-performance boosters compared to which Viagra will seem like
baby aspirin.
But when you take your gene card to the pharmacy in 2025, bring a credit
card too. Made-to-fit drugs won't be cheap, so many of us will still have to
keep to the old aspirin!
Vocabulary check - match the underlined words from the text with their
meanings. Which two are synonyms?
1
2
3
hangover
listless
current pace
4
5
adverse
ailment
6
7
8
enhancer
conception
booster
A present tempo
B illness
C something that improves / increases the
quality, amount or strength of something
D fusion of egg and sperm cell
E feeling of illness after drinking too much
alcohol
F lacking energy and enthusiasm
G bad, negative
In paragraph 4, different kinds of drugs are mentioned. Do you know
what they are used for?
tranquilizers
antihistamines
analgesics
antibiotics
In pairs, take turns to define the following to each other:
ANTIARTHRITICS
ANTICONVULSANTS
ANTIPYRETICS
ANTISPASMODICS
ANTIASTHMATICS
ANTIDEPRESSANTS
ANTIRHEUMATICS
ANTICOAGULANTS
ANTIEDEMICS
ANTISEPTICS
11
II Put the following paragraphs about how people could be computerenhanced in the future into sequence:
GETTING CHIPPED
A
Implant technology is progressing at high speed. In England, cybernetics
experts are working on the next step. Implants that wirelessly connect the
nerves of a body part to a PC are being tested on volunteers. In such cases
the computer records the activity of the nervous system and stimulates the
nerves to produce small movements and sensations; such an implant could
eventually help a person suffering from paralysis to move parts of the body
the brain can’t reach.
B
The operation to insert the chip is simple. An antiseptic swab, a local
anesthetic, an injection and a Band-Aid – that’s all it takes. Once the skin
heals, the chip is completely invisible, and you will hardly know it’s there.
C
An American family are the first volunteer test subjects for a new, implantable
computer device called VeriChip. In a few months, if they get approval by the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration, doctors will load a needle with a
microchip containing a few kilobytes of silicon memory and a tiny radio
transmitter and inject it under the skin of their left arms, where it will serve as
a medical identification device. It sounds like science fiction.
D
In the next few years, it will be possible to add sensors to the chip that will
read your vital signs – pulse, temperature, blood sugar and so on – and a
satellite receiver that can track where you are. There is already great interest
for such a device in Brazil, where kidnapping has become common, especially
among the rich and powerful.
VeriChip seems to be looking at a great future!
E
But VeriChip is real, and this family could be the first in a new generation of
computer-enhanced human beings. They are particularly well suited to test
VeriChip for use in medicine, because one of them suffers from allergies to
antibiotics and another has undergone chemotherapy. If a patient with
VeriChip is injured, an ER doctor can quickly access the victim’s medical
background by scanning the chip, which could be a lifesaver.
Now choose the correct answer:
1. The family have not had the VeriChip implanted yet because
a) they are still having second thoughts about it.
b) they are waiting for the FDA to approve it.
c) the device has some imperfections which need to be corrected
before implantation.
12
2. The actual procedure of implantation
a) is very simple.
b) is done under general anesthesia.
c) will leave a scar on your arm.
3. The future development of implant technology will make it possible to
a) restore damaged nerve tissue.
b) connect human beings with PCs.
c) cure paralysis.
4. People who will probably be most interested in having VeriChip
implanted are
a) people with serious medical conditions.
b) those whose personal security is at a greater than average risk.
c) both categories of people.
13