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Doctor Talk - Made Easy

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Contents

Chapter 1: Structure of the human body...............................iChapter 2: Introduction to medical word analysis.....................18Chapter 3: General Medical Vocabulary................................26Chapter 4: The respiratory system....................................40Chapter 5: The cardiovascular system (CVS)...........................60Chapter 6: The urinary system........................................81Chapter 7: The digestive system......................................94Chapter 8: The reproductive systems..................................112Chapter 9: The musculoskeletal system................................134Chapter 10: The sensory system.......................................151Chapter 11: The nervous system.......................................166Chapter 12: Psychiatry and psychology................................178Puzzle answer keys...................................................199Glossary of Word Parts...............................................209Index................................................................217

Chapter One

To understand what a doctor says, one must first understand about the human body. Learning medical terms is much easier once you know the names of the organs in the body and some of the words used to describe an area of pain or discomfort. It also helps to have some understanding of how the organs work together to perform a function for the body.

When you have finished this chapter you will be familiar with:

* The major body systems * Briefly how each body system works * Simple clinical terms

1.1 The major body systems

The human body works like a machine. For a car to work properly, for example, there are different parts that work together to take gas to the motor, move the oil, keep the motor cool and so on. A group of parts working together is called a system.

There is always more than one organ involved in a body system. A body system is a group of organs that work together to do a job for the body. We have a body system that supplies energy to the body, like the gas in a car, one that moves blood, like oil in a car, and one that keeps our bodies cool like coolant in a car. As we will go into more detail with the body systems in later chapters, the systems mentioned here include only the main organs and simple descriptions of the functions they perform.

Anatomy:

The word anatomy can be broken down (analyzed) into smaller parts and means "to cut up". Some common sense must be used when analyzing many medical words. Anatomy is not cutting up the body with a knife, but instead is cutting up the body into systems that can be understood more easily.

The following table explains the main body systems, the organs involved in each system, and the function which each system performs.

1.2 Briefly how each body system works

The following pages describe each of the systems mentioned above in more detail. The names of more of the organs in each system are provided as well as very basic physiology.

Physiology:

The word physiology can be analyzed into smaller parts and means the study of the natural order of the body. Physiology refers to the function of each system

The Respiratory System:

The respiratory (res-per-a-tor-e) system is about breathing. We must breathe to live. When we breathe in, we take in oxygen. When we breathe out, we breathe out carbon dioxide (waste products from the cells). The oxygen that we breathe into our lungs is taken into the blood stream and carried by red blood cells to the body tissues so the cells can live.

Oxygen enters the mouth and nose, passes through the trachea (windpipe), into two bronchi and then into the lung tissue through smaller and smaller vessels resembling a tree. The tiniest vessels, where the oxygen is released into the cells, and carbon dioxide is picked up, are called capillaries.

The Cardiovascular System:

The cardiovascular (kar-de-o-vask-u-ler) system includes the heart, arteries, veins and blood. The heart pumps blood around the body. Veins are tubes that carry blood to the heart, and arteries are tubes that carry blood away from the heart. Blood carries oxygen and nutrients to all of the body cells. Without blood to carry oxygen, our cells would die - and so would we.

The heart pumps blood to the lungs through the pulmonary veins, where the blood lets go of carbon dioxide and picks up oxygen. The blood is then returned to the heart through the pulmonary arteries to be pumped to the body tissues and cells through smaller and smaller arteries. After the blood has released the oxygen to the cells, at the capillaries, it picks up carbon dioxide (which is waste product from the cells) and travels through the veins back to the heart. From the heart, the blood is pumped back to the lungs, where the cycle repeats itself, with the red blood cells releasing carbon dioxide and picking up oxygen.

The Urinary System:

The urinary (u-rin-ar-e) system also removes waste products from the blood. This system includes the kidneys, urinary bladder and tubes. The kidneys take waste products out of the blood and remove them from the body in urine (as of now, not called pee).

Blood enters the left and right kidneys from arteries which branch off of the aorta. The aorta is the largest artery in the body. The kidneys filter the blood through tubes and capillaries. The waste products are moved to the central holding area of the kidney called the renal pelvis. From the renal pelvis, the urine moves down a ureter from each kidney to the urinary bladder. As the bladder fills up, pressure causes the need to urinate (pee). When you find a place to relieve yourself, the urine moves from the bladder to the outside of the body through the urethra.

The Digestive System:

The digestive system is also called the gastrointestinal (gast-ro-in-test-in-el) system. It allows us to absorb nutrients from the food we eat and gets rid of the waste products which result from eating.

Food enters the mouth then moves to the pharynx (throat) when you swallow. From the pharynx, food travels down the esophagus then enters the stomach. After stomach acid has helped break the chewed food into smaller parts, the food moves to the small intestine, where it mixes with juices from the liver and pancreas. Nutrients are taken out of the food and are absorbed into the blood in the small intestine. The solid waste is taken into the large intestine and then out of the body at the anus.

The Reproductive Systems: FEMALE

The female reproductive system is mostly about making babies. This is called reproduction. A woman's reproductive organs are inside the pelvis. The vagina is the entrance to the reproductive organs.

Women have two ovaries, one on each side of the uterus. An ovum (egg cell) leaves one of the ovaries approximately every 28 days and travels down the fallopian tube toward the uterus. An ovum fertilized by a male sex cell attaches itself to the lining of the uterus...