Diagnostics Terminology

In this lesson we’re going to take a look at Diagnostics in the medical terms used to describe them.

So one of the main tools used for Diagnostics is the use of lab panels. And these are usually different types of blood tests, so these are things like metabolic panels. You look at the difference between basic and comprehensive, their descriptive terms really elaborate on what they’re used for. Basic metabolic panels give you a quick snapshots into your patients metabolic system, whereas a comprehensive is going to be more inclusive of other values that are important. When we’re looking at a CBC, or a complete blood count, we’re going to look at things like a white blood cell count, red blood cell count, platelets, and other values like hemoglobin and hematocrit. Remember we use the terms leukocytes to describe white blood cells, and erythrocytes to describe red blood cells. Other tests that we look at our panels like renal, hepatic, or lipid panels. These terms describe the different systems. So a renal panel would describe all of the values that are associated with the kidneys. Lipid panels would look at the different types of a lipids  in the blood, like cholesterol, triglycerides, or HDL and LDL.

So let’s talk about the different types of Imaging that you may see. The first one is computed tomography, and that is a CT scan. We look at the word tomography, tomo means to cut, and graphy is the recording of something.  What CT scans do or that they take the slices of the images, and that’s where the idea of cutting something comes from. Now if we look at the term angiography angio means blood vessels in graph is the recording of. So what angiography is is it tracking all of the blood flow through the heart during the scan. The last thing you want to pay attention to when you’re dealing with any sort of radiography that uses contrast.  You may see these terms radiopaque or radiolucent, and what it means is that radiopaque substances are things like barium. And they’re going to be reflective on an X-ray. Where is something that is radiolucent, those x-rays are going to pass through and they will appear dark.

Another type of diagnostic tool that will use is a use of ultrasonography or an ultrasound. Ultra means beyond insano means sound. In an obviously graph means a record of something. So what an ultrasound does is it actually sends this inaudible sound that we as humans can’t hear through this transducer and it actually bounces off the tissues and comes back  To the machine and creates an image. Now when you’re doing an echocardiogram, it’s the use of an ultrasound and what the echo does is that that Echo is the repeated sound and it actually bounces off of heart to create a record of what’s going on with the patient.

The other type of image that you may see is an MRI. MRI stands for a magnetic resonance imaging.  magnetic refers to magnets, and resonance refers to the idea of bouncing off of. So the scanner actually uses these magnets and it bounces the magnetic waves off of tissue to create images.

The last area of diagnostics  that we want to look at is nuclear medicine. Nuclear medicine uses this injectable material called radioisotopes. If you look at the term, radio means X-rays, and iso  means the same. Isotopes are elements that have the same number of protons in them, but they have different numbers of neutrons. The reason these are important is because they  can be used in imaging to figure out where maybe certain types of cancers are or inflammation. This comes into play with something like a pet scan. PET stands for positron emission tomography. Positrons are slightly different than other radioIsotopes, in that they are a positively charged isotopes. They’re actually a tracer that goes into the patient and it emits or glows on this type of Imaging. And tomography is that type of scan where slices are viewed on the record. Pet scans are most importantly useful when trying to determine if cancer has spread in  a patient.

I also want to make sure that we cover the really important related terms to Diagnostics. Let’s start with a term of fluoro. This means a luminous, and it’s really common for different types of procedures like fluoroscopy, which is essentially a moving x-ray. We talked about terms for X-ray and sound with a radio and sono,  and therapeuto means therapeutic. A couple of other terms you need to remember our vitro and Vivo. Vitro means glass, so these are tests done in some sort of test tube, where something that’s done in Vivo means that it’s done on a patient or on a living subject. Now it’s also important to remember the difference between gram and graph. Gram is a record, where is graphy is the process of recording. Another term that you may see down the line is echo which actually means a repetitive sound. So in an echocardiogram, the sonogram wave is repeatedly bounced off the tissues and that’s what creates the image in the machine

Okay so let’s recap. Remember that laboratory tests are typically going to be your blood test like your basic metabolic panel, your comprehensive metabolic panel, and your CBC. Don’t forget all of your important medical terms that describe all the different cells in a CBC. Now we were talking about Radiology, this is going to occlude X-rays and CT scans. An MRI, an ultrasound of  fall under different types of Imaging, but they are still vitally important. Nuclear medicine is that use of those Radioactive materials to find areas of cancer or other disease. And not all of these terms are going to come easy for you. If they don’t remember to practice those challenging words.

And that’s it for our lesson on a diagnostic medical terminology. Make sure you check out all the resources attached to this lesson. Now, go out and be your best self today, and as always, happy nursing.