Terminal
Terminal (medical)
Terminal (pronounced: /tərˈmɪn(ə)l/) is a term used in medicine to describe a disease or condition that cannot be cured or adequately treated and is reasonably expected to result in the death of the patient within a short period of time. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as cancer or advanced heart disease than for trauma.
Etymology
The term "terminal" comes from the Latin word "terminalis", which means "pertaining to or situated at the end". In the medical context, it refers to the end of a person's life.
Related Terms
- Palliative Care: A specialized form of medical care for people with serious illnesses. It focuses on providing relief from the symptoms and stress of a serious illness.
- Hospice Care: A type of care and philosophy of care that focuses on the palliation of a chronically ill, terminally ill or seriously ill patient's pain and symptoms.
- End-of-life care: Health care, not only of patients in the final hours or days of their lives, but more broadly care of all those with a terminal illness or terminal condition that has become advanced, progressive, and incurable.
- Prognosis: A forecast of the likely course of a disease or ailment.
- Life expectancy: The average period that a person may expect to live.
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Terminal
- Wikipedia's article - Terminal
This WikiMD dictionary article is a stub. You can help make it a full article.
Languages: - East Asian
中文,
日本,
한국어,
South Asian
हिन्दी,
Urdu,
বাংলা,
తెలుగు,
தமிழ்,
ಕನ್ನಡ,
Southeast Asian
Indonesian,
Vietnamese,
Thai,
မြန်မာဘာသာ,
European
español,
Deutsch,
français,
русский,
português do Brasil,
Italian,
polski