Pulmonology
The study and science of the anatomy, physiology, and pathology of the lungs.
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- Pulse
The rhythmic dilation of an artery that results from beating of the heart. Pulse is often measured by feeling the arteries of the wrist or neck.
- Pulse, Corrigan
A pulse that is forceful and then suddenly collapses. It is usually found in patients with aortic regurgitation, a condition caused by a leaky aortic valve. The left ventricle of the heart ejects blood under high pressure into the aorta. Then the aortic valve normally shuts tight so that blood cannot return to the ventricle. […]
- Pulse, water hammer
A jerky pulse that is full and then collapses because of aortic insufficiency (when blood ejected into the aorta regurgitates back through the aortic valve into the left ventricle). This type of pulse was likened to a water hammer, a Victorian toy consisting of a glass tube filled partly with water or mercury in a […]
- Pump-oxygenator
A machine that does the work both of the heart (pump blood) and the lungs (oxygenate the blood). Used, for example, in open heart surgery. Blood returning to the heart is diverted through the machine before returning it to the arterial circulation. Also called a heart-lung machine. John H. Gibson invented the heart-lung machine which […]
- Punch biopsy
A biopsy that is performed by using a punch, an instrument for cutting and removing a disk of tissue. For example, a punch biopsy of the skin may be done to make a diagnosis of skin cancer.