Medical Terminology Simplified

110 CHAPTER 4• Respiratory System

Word Element Meaning Word Analysis

pulmon/o lung pulmon/o/logist (pŭl-mŏ-NŎL-ŏ-jĭst): physician who specializes in treating

pathological conditions of the lungs

-logist: specialist in the study of

thorac/o chest thorac/o/pathy (thō-răk-ŎP-ă-thē): disease of the thorax or the organs it contains

-pathy: disease

Suffixes

-algia pain pleur/algia(ploo-RĂL-jē-ă): pain in the pleura

pleur: pleura

-dynia thorac/o/dynia(thō-răk-ō-DĬN-ē-ă): pain in the chest

thorac/o: chest

-ectasis dilation, atel/ectasis(ăt-ĕ-LĔK-tă-sĭs): abnormal condition characterized by the collapse of

expansion alveoli

atel: incomplete; imperfect

Atelectasis is characterized by the collapse of alveoli, preventing respiratory exchange

of carbon dioxide and oxygen in part of the lungs.

-osis abnormal cyan/osis(sī-ă-NŌ-sĭs):bluish discoloration of the skin and mucous membranes

condition; cyan: blue

increase (used Cyanosis is caused by a deficiency of oxygen in the blood.

primarily with

blood cells)

-osmia smell an/osmia(ăn-ŎZ-mē-ă): loss or impairment of the sense of smell, which usually

occurs as a temporary condition

an-: without, not

-oxia oxygen hyp/oxia(hī-PŎKS-ē-ă): abnormally low level of oxygen at the cellular level

hyp-: under, below, deficient

In hypoxia, the whole body (generalized) or a portion of the body (tissue hypoxia) is

deprived of adequate oxygen.

-phagia swallowing, aer/o/phagia(ĕr-ō-FĂ-jē-ă): swallowing air

eating

aer/o: air

-pnea breathing a/pnea(ăp-NĒ-ă): temporary cessation of breathing

a-: without, not

Apnea may be a serious symptom, especially in patients with other potentially life-

threatening conditions. Some types of apnea include newborn, cardiac, and sleep.

-spasm involuntary pharyng/o/spasm(făr-ĬN-gō-spăzm): spasm of muscles in the pharynx

contraction,

twitching

pharyng/o: pharynx (throat)

-thorax chest py/o/thorax(pī-ō-THŌ-răks): accumulation of pus in the thorax

py/o: pus

Pronunciation Help Long sound a ̄in ra ̄te e ̄in re ̄birth ı ̄in ı ̄sle o ̄in o ̄ver u ̄in u ̄nite

Short sound a ̆in a ̆lone e ̆in e ̆ver ̆ıin ı ̆t o ̆in no ̆t u ̆in cu ̆t

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