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Monday, November 05, 2007

Medical Abbreviations

It has been a while since I last updated this blog. Beside the busy schedule that I have, I am not sure what should I write here.

Anyway, I would like to introduce the common medical abbreviations that I have learned so far from my three rotations. Every time I look at patient medical records, I learned new medical abbreviation and sometimes it can be confusing to read.

First rotation: Neurosciences, Opthalmology, Ear, Nose & Throat Surgery.
AF - Atrial fibrillation
AMI - Acute Myocardial Infarction
AVM - Arteriovenous Malformation
CCF - Congestive Cardiac Failure
CIDP - Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy
CRAO - Central retinal artery occlusion
CSF - Cerebrospinal fluid
CVA - Cerebrovascular accident
GBS - Gullain-Barre syndrome
GCA - Giant cell arteritis
ICP - Intracranial Pressure
IOP - Intraocular pressure
MS - Multiple Sclerosis
MSA - Multiple System Atrophy
PERLA - Pupil Equal and Reactive to Light and Accommodation
POAG - Primary Open Angle Glaucoma
PSP - Progressive Supranuclear Palsy
RAPD - Relative Afferent Pupillary defect
SAH - Subarachnoid Haemorrhage
SOL - Space Occupying Lesion
Second rotation: Haematology, Oncology, Infectious Diseases and Breast disease.
ALL - Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia
AML - Acute Myeloid Leukaemia
CHOP - Cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin (hydroxydoxorubicin), vincristine (Oncovin), prednisone
CLL - Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia
CML - Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia
DCIS - Ductal Carcinoma In-situ
DIC - Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation
EPO - Erythropoietin
ITP - Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura
LCIS - Lobular Carcinoma In-situ
LRTI - Lower Respiratory Tract Infection
MGUS - Monoclonal Gammopathy of Unknown Significance
MM - Multiple Myeloma
NHL - Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
NSCLC - Non Small Cell Lung Cancer
PSA - Prostatic Specific Antigen
SCLC - Small Cell Lung Cancer
STD - Sexually Transmitted Disease
TTP - Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura
URTI - Upper Respiratory Tract Infection
UTI - Urinary Tract Infection
VAD - Vincristine, adriamycin and dexamethasone
Third rotation: Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Gastrointestinal & Hepatobiliary Surgery and General Surgery.
AAA - Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm
AIH - Autoimmune Hepatitis
BPH - Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia
CLD - Chronic Liver Disease
ETOH - ethanol / Ethyl alcohol
EUS - Endoscopic Ultrasonography
HBV - Hepatitis B Virus
HCC - Hepatocellular carcinoma
HCV - Hepatitis C Virus
IBD - Inflammatory Bowel Disease
IRS - Irritable Bowel Syndrome
IVDU - Intravenous Drug user
MRCP - Magnetic Resonance Cholangiopancreatography
NASH - Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis
OLT - Orthotopic Liver Transplantation
PBC - Primary Biliary Cirrhosis
PHT - Portal Hypertension
PSC - Primary sclerosing cholangitis
SBP - Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis
Duration of Time
It is common for medical professionals to use this abbreveation for time

x/24 - x number of hours
x/7 - x number of days
x/52 - x number of weeks
x/12 - x number of months

Medical Prescription
This is quite common and can cause confusion if not written properly
time
mane - morning
nocte - night

Frequency
bd - twice daily
tds - three times a day
qid - four times a day

Route of administration
po - per oral
pr - per rectum
IV - Intravenous
IM - Intramuscular
tab - tablet
supp - suppository
sc - subcutaneous
Ending with x
It is quite common to see few medical abbreviations ending with x :). I guess this is a trend among doctors and nurses.

Hx - History
Sx - Symptoms
Dx - Diagnosis
DDx - Differential Diagnosis
Rx - Treatment
Mx - Management

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

i can understand the need of others except, mane and noctre?

hayad said...

adoi!! camne saya nk apal neh? kekeke

Hafiz said...

moshimoshi: mane and nocte are used to describe what time to take the medication. for example take this pill in the morning and at night. this means that there are no specific time period to take the medication.

there are few drugs that need to be taken within specific time interval ie take this drug in 6-hour interval.


hayad, nak hafal satu hal...nak memahami tulisan doktor adalah satu lagi halangan yang cukup besar ;)

hayad said...

agaknya tu psl saya tak jadi doc psl tulisan saya cantik dan comey2,haha :p

Sarah Mohd Shukor said...

Salam Hafiz.
informative. hehe. i found 2 diff.
1) CCD - i use CHD here. H for heart.

2)Rx - i use Tx here. T for treatment :)

and the rest are just the same. worldwide abbreviations :)

SoFie NuR said...

susah gak nk igt sume ni ek...mmg confuse jadinye kalo x biase...huhu..

nway,gud luck..!!

Hafiz said...

sarah, sometimes we used CHD too depending on our own preference :)

sofie, memang banyak dan ini hanya abbreviation not full differential diagnosis.

Anonymous said...

dalam ward notes hospital penang ada STAT..meaning immediately

contoh:
IV MgSO4 4g bolus STAT

ada banyak sangat abbreviation dalam ward notes. and different department kadang2 guna abbrv. yg lain. kitorg memang selalu sangat tanya dr/staff nurses apa yg ditulis dlm notes.

btw, abbrv. yg paling different skali time Obs&Gynae. memang banyak sangat (tapi best & cool..hehe) sampai terbawak2 time present hx :)

Hafiz said...

sini pun rasanya ada guna STAT juga...setiap department memang guna abbreviation yang berlainan dan kadangkala boleh confuse juga...

not sure abbreviation in O&G yet since my rotation will be next year...

aria ayumi said...

ohmisgosh. manyak nye perkataan pelik2. huhu. sume tu nama penyakit ke hafiz? cuma beberapa hurup je diya penah dengar. yg lain. baru 1st time tahu :)

Hafiz said...

aria, tu hanya sebahagian kecil sahaja dan tak tahu apa nama penyakit ni di dalam Bahasa Melayu :). susah juga kalau nak menerangkan penyakit yang jarang dengar kepada orang kampung kalau macam ni.

nur said...

salam hafiz, minta izin sy nak kongsi post ini dgn kawan2.TK

Hafiz said...

boleh sahaja kalau nak kongsikan post ni dengan orang lain yer