Letter A
ARTICULAR
Anything related to the end of the bone, where one bone meets another bone.
ARTICULAR CARTILAGE
Cartilage (flexible material found at joints) at the end of bones where one bone meets another bone.
ARTIFACT
A condition that occurs during scanning that obscures or blurs normal body tissue. There are many types of artifacts in the body some of which may be related to external hardware like dental implants or spinal fusion hardware.
ARTIFACTUAL
Of or relating to an artifact.
ARYEPIGLOTTIS
Located behind the epiglottis forming the structure of the swallowing mechanism.
ASCENDING AORTA
The first part of the aorta in the chest. It connects to the heart (left ventricle). It is located at the anterior (or front) part of the chest. The blood within the ascending aorta flows towards the head.
ASCITES
Water in your abdomen. It can be caused by many things such as having too much IV fluid, heart failure, cancer, cirrhosis (sick liver), etc.
ASPIRATION
Fluid or solid material (i.e. food) goes into the airways instead of going into the stomach (through the esophagus). Nonmedical people sometimes call this “stuff going into the wrong pipes”. This can cause pneumonia.
ASYMMETRY
A white spot in the breast seen from just one view on a mammogram. This may be a “fake out”. The radiologist may request the patient to come back for additional mammograms or ultrasound to see if the white spot is really something to worry about.
ATELECTASIS
An area of compressed or deflated lung. Large atelectasis is sometimes called “collapsed lung”.
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