| microsphere method | A method for measuring organ blood flow by indicator dilution, but more importantly, a method for measuring the distribution of cardiac output or the intraorgan distribution of blood flow. To measure distribution of flow, neutrally buoyant, chemically inert microspheres that have an indicator property (e.g., radioactivity) are injected into a cardiac chamber or arterial blood. They are presumed to distribute in proportion to the distribution of arterial blood flow. Injected sphere size is selected to be large enough to embolise the vessels of interest. Injected quantity is selected to be large enough to provide statistically meaningful samples and small enough not to alter the organ blood flow under investigation. Organ samples are taken to quantify the distribution of the microspheres and hence the flow. See: Fick method, Stewart-Hamilton method. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| mitotic shake off method | <cell biology, procedure> A method of collecting cells in mitosis, so that the chromosomes can be examined and the karyotype determined. Many cultured cells round up during mitosis and so become less firmly attached to the culture substratum. Cells in mitosis thus can be removed into suspension by gentle shaking of the culture vessel, leaving the nonmitotic cells still attached. The number of cells that are in mitosis is usually increased by using a drug, such as colcemid that blocks mitosis at metaphase. (18 Nov 1997) |
| closed circuit method | A method for measuring oxygen consumption in which the subject rebreathes an initial quantity of oxygen through a carbon dioxide absorber and the decrease in the volume of oxygen being rebreathed is noted. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Wardrop's method | Treatment of aneurysm by ligation of the artery at some distance beyond the sac, leaving one or more branches of the artery between the sac and the ligature. (05 Mar 2000) |
| monte carlo method | In statistics, a technique for numerically approximating the solution of a mathematical problem by studying the distribution of some random variable, often generated by a computer. The name alludes to the randomness characteristic of the games of chance played at the gambling casinos in monte carlo. (12 Dec 1998) |
| Moore's method | Treatment of aneurysm by the introduction of silver or zinc wire into the sac to induce fibrin deposition. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Westergren method | A procedure for estimating the sedimentation rate of red blood cells in fluid blood by mixing venous blood with an aqueous solution of sodium citrate and allowing it to stand in an upright standard pipet (200 mm long) filled to the zero mark; the fall of the red blood cells, in millimeters, is then observed in 1 hr; the normal rate for men is 0 to 15 mm (average, 4 mm), and for women 0 to 20 mm (average, 5 mm). (05 Mar 2000) |
| Wheeler method | A surgical procedure for correction of cicatricial ectropion. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Wilson's method | A simple saline flotation method for concentrating helminth eggs in the faeces. See: flotation method. Synonym: Hung's method. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Wolfe's method | A full-thickness skin graft without any subcutaneous fat. Synonym: Wolfe-Krause graft. (05 Mar 2000) |
| confrontation method | A method of perimetry; the examiner compares the visual fields of the patient with his own by facing the patient who has one eye covered and the other fixed upon the corresponding (confronting) eye of the examiner. The examiner then holds his finger midway between the patient and himself and moves it slowly in different directions until the patient fails to see it. In each instance the finger is moved again toward the original position until it is just seen by the subject. (05 Mar 2000) |
| cooled-knife method | The cutting of frozen sections with a knife cooled to a few degrees below the freezing point. (05 Mar 2000) |
| copper sulfate method | A method for the determination of specific gravity of blood or plasma in which the blood or plasma is delivered by drops into solutions of copper sulfate graded in specific gravity by increments of 0.004, each of the bottles of solution being within the expected range of the blood or plasma sample; the specific gravity of the copper sulfate solution in which the drop of blood or plasma remains suspended indefinitely indicates the specific gravity of the sample. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Politzer method | Inflation of the eustachian tube and tympanum by forcing air into the nasal cavity at the instant the patient swallows. (05 Mar 2000) |
| correlational method | A statistical method, most often used in clinical and other applied areas of psychology, to study the relationship which exists between one characteristic and another in an individual. (05 Mar 2000) |