| acute mania | An excited mental state seen in a bipolar (manic-depressive) disorder characterised by hyperactivity, talkativeness, flight of ideas, pressured speech, grandiosity, and, occasionally, grandiose delusions. See: mania, manic-depressive. Synonym: acute mania. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| acute miliary tuberculosis | A rapidly fatal disease due to the general dissemination of tubercle bacilli in the blood, resulting in the formation of miliary tubercles in various organs and tissues, and producing symptoms of profound toxaemia. Synonym: acute miliary tuberculosis, disseminated tuberculosis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| acute monocytic leukaemia | <haematology> The most common translocation in this disorder of poorly differentiated monocytic cells involves chromosome region 11q in a large percentage of cases. The translocation involves a cellular oncogene, c-ets which is mapped to the 11q23-24 region. The most common translocations reported are t(6;11), t(9;11), t(11;17) and t(11;19), of which t(9;11) (p21-22;q23) is by far the most frequently detected and implicated in acute myeloid leukaemia. The cells express CD14 surface antigen, which is diagnostic of monocytic cells. Acronym: AML Classification: FAB M5 (07 Apr 1998) |
| acute mountain sickness | <chest medicine> A condition that results from prolonged exposure to high altitude. Symptoms include a continuous dry cough, shortness of breath, poor exercise tolerance, dizziness, headache, sleep difficulty, anorexia, confusion, fatigue and a rapid pulse. Treatment includes the immediate movement to a lower altitude. Prophylaxis has been accomplished successfully with the use of acetazolamide (Diamox). (27 Sep 1997) |
| acute myeloblastic leukaemia | <haematology> A rapidly progressing cancer of the blood affecting immature cells of the bone marrow, usually of the white cell population. It is much more common in adults than in children. Symptoms include fatigue, weight loss, fevers, weakness, pallor, bone pains, bleeding gums, nosebleeds, easy bruising, enlarged lymph nodes and joint pains. Treatment includes chemotherapy and/or bone marrow transplant. This leukaemia demonstrates granulocyte differentiation, eosinophilia and Auer rods and is associated with a reciprocal translocation between 8 and 21 (q22;q22), which is the most common translocation in acute myeloid leukaemia and is found more often in younger patients than in older patients. The oncogene involved in this translocation is AML1, which can be detected by Southern blot. Numerical abnormalities, particularly monosomy-7, trisomy-4, trisomy-8, trisomy-21, -Y, monosomy-7 and deletions of the long arms of chromosomes 5 and 7 are quite common in all acute myeloid leukaemia and not restricted to any one FAB classification. Many of these abnormalities are observed at diagnosis and at later stage disease, particularly after chemotherapy. Prognosis is generally more favorable than in FAB-M2 patients showing no translocation, because the latter patients show better remission rates for longer periods of time. Immunophenotyping is useful in diagnosis and expression of one or more of the myeloid antigens CD13, CD14 or CD33 must be detected to make a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukaemia. Acronym: AML Incidence: 2,000 new cases per year in the UK. Origin: Gr. Haima = blood (07 Apr 1998) |
| acute myelogenous leukaemia | <haematology> A rapidly progressing cancer of the blood affecting immature cells of the bone marrow, usually of the white cell population. It is much more common in adults than in children. Symptoms include fatigue, weight loss, fevers, weakness, pallor, bone pains, bleeding gums, nosebleeds, easy bruising, enlarged lymph nodes and joint pains. Treatment includes chemotherapy and/or bone marrow transplant. This leukaemia demonstrates granulocyte differentiation, eosinophilia and Auer rods and is associated with a reciprocal translocation between 8 and 21 (q22;q22), which is the most common translocation in acute myeloid leukaemia and is found more often in younger patients than in older patients. The oncogene involved in this translocation is AML1, which can be detected by Southern blot. Numerical abnormalities, particularly monosomy-7, trisomy-4, trisomy-8, trisomy-21, -Y, monosomy-7 and deletions of the long arms of chromosomes 5 and 7 are quite common in all acute myeloid leukaemia and not restricted to any one FAB classification. Many of these abnormalities are observed at diagnosis and at later stage disease, particularly after chemotherapy. Prognosis is generally more favorable than in FAB-M2 patients showing no translocation, because the latter patients show better remission rates for longer periods of time. Immunophenotyping is useful in diagnosis and expression of one or more of the myeloid antigens CD13, CD14 or CD33 must be detected to make a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukaemia. Acronym: AML Incidence: 2,000 new cases per year in the UK. Origin: Gr. Haima = blood (07 Apr 1998) |
| acute myeloid leukaemia | <haematology> A rapidly progressing cancer of the blood affecting immature cells of the bone marrow, usually of the white cell population. It is much more common in adults than in children. Symptoms include fatigue, weight loss, fevers, weakness, pallor, bone pains, bleeding gums, nosebleeds, easy bruising, enlarged lymph nodes and joint pains. Treatment includes chemotherapy and/or bone marrow transplant. This leukaemia demonstrates granulocyte differentiation, eosinophilia and Auer rods and is associated with a reciprocal translocation between 8 and 21 (q22;q22), which is the most common translocation in acute myeloid leukaemia and is found more often in younger patients than in older patients. The oncogene involved in this translocation is AML1, which can be detected by Southern blot. Numerical abnormalities, particularly monosomy-7, trisomy-4, trisomy-8, trisomy-21, -Y, monosomy-7 and deletions of the long arms of chromosomes 5 and 7 are quite common in all acute myeloid leukaemia and not restricted to any one FAB classification. Many of these abnormalities are observed at diagnosis and at later stage disease, particularly after chemotherapy. Prognosis is generally more favorable than in FAB-M2 patients showing no translocation, because the latter patients show better remission rates for longer periods of time. Immunophenotyping is useful in diagnosis and expression of one or more of the myeloid antigens CD13, CD14 or CD33 must be detected to make a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukaemia. Acronym: AML Incidence: 2,000 new cases per year in the UK. Origin: Gr. Haima = blood (07 Apr 1998) |
| acute nephritic syndrome | <nephrology, syndrome> A disease of the kidneys that results in inflammation of the glomerulus (the portion of the kidney that filters the blood). Conditions which may cause glomerulonephritis include post-streptococcal disease (strep throat), lupus, syphilis, bacterial endocarditis, membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis, sepsis, vasculitis, Goodpasture's syndrome, typhoid fever, Henoch-Schonlein purpura, hepatitis or a viral infection (for example mumps, measles, mononucleosis). (15 Jan 1998) |
| acute nephritis | <nephrology> A disease of the kidneys that results in inflammation of the glomerulus (the portion of the kidney that filters the blood). Conditions which may cause glomerulonephritis include post-streptococcal disease (strep throat), lupus, syphilis, bacterial endocarditis, membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis, sepsis, vasculitis, Goodpasture's syndrome, typhoid fever, Henoch-Schonlein purpura, hepatitis or a viral infection (for example mumps, measles, mononucleosis). (27 Sep 1997) |
| acute nephrosis | Acute oliguric renal failure, especially that caused by certain poisons. (05 Mar 2000) |
| acute non-lymphocytic leukaemia | <haematology> A form of leukaemia which is characterised by the proliferation of immature bone marrow precursor cells in the marrow and immature white blood cells (granulocytes) in the bloodstream. Occurs primarily in adults and in infants under 1 year of age. Complications include abnormal bleeding and susceptibility to infections. Symptoms include fatigue, weight loss, fevers, weakness, pallor, bone pains, bleeding gums, nosebleeds, easy bruising, enlarged lymph nodes and joint pains. Trisomy-8 is the most common cytogenetic abnormality observed, followed by monosomy-7 and monosomy-5. Approximately 8% of cases show trisomy-8, mostly in AML (M1), AM (M4) and acute monocytic leukaemia (M5). Many pre-leukaemic conditions, acute non-lymphocytic leukaemia and secondary leukemia show monosomy-7 or deletion of the long arm of chromosome 7. Treatment includes chemotherapy and/or bone marrow transplant. Acronym: ANLL Incidence: 2.5 cases per 100,000 (all ages). Origin: Gr. Haima = blood (07 Apr 1998) |
| acute organic brain syndrome | <syndrome> A constellation of behavioural or psychological signs and symptoms including problems with attention, concentration, memory, confusion, anxiety, and depression caused by transient or permanent dysfunction of the brain. Synonym: acute organic brain syndrome, OBS, organic mental syndrome. (05 Mar 2000) |
| acute pancreatitis | <radiology> Findings: elevated hemidiaphragm, atelectasis / consolidation, pulmonary oedema (direct toxic effect? cardiosuppression?), pleural effusion (more common on left), sentinel loops, colon cut-off sign, antral pad, duodenum: widened loop, thickened folds, inverted 3 (Frostberg sign) (12 Dec 1998) |
| acute parenchymatous hepatitis | A lesion in which there is extensive and rapid death of parenchymal cells of the liver, sometimes with fatty degeneration of the size of the organ; the necrosis may result from fulminant viral infection or chemical poisoning; associated with jaundice. Synonym: acute parenchymatous hepatitis, Rokitansky's disease. (05 Mar 2000) |
| acute-phase protein | <haematology> These plasma proteins (in addition to fibrinogen) increase 25% or more in response to inflammation and injury are under direct control of interleukin-6 (IL-6) (hepatocyte-stimulating factor). Other proteins which increase are ceruloplasmin, C3 and C4 which increase 50% or more; alpha-1 acid glycoprotein, alpha-1 antitrypsin, haptoglobin and fibrinogen (the major determinant of viscosity 1 ) which increase two- to fourfold; C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum amyloid A which increase several hundred-fold. Despite long-held clinical opinion to the contrary, available data indicate that neither ESR nor measurement of specific acute-phase reactants are useful in excluding underlying infection or inflammation regardless of the pretest probability. These proteins are secreted into the blood in increased or decreased quantities by hepatocytes in response to trauma, inflammation, or disease. They can serve as inhibitors or mediators of the inflammatory processes. Certain acute-phase proteins have been used to diagnose and follow the course of diseases or as tumour markers. See also: amyloid, c-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, viscosity. (25 Jun 1999) |