Since 2008, there have been many updates to the list:
acinic, actinic anisakiasis, anisokaryosis aptotic, apoptotic arboreal, aboriginal arteritis, arthritis auxilliary, axillary brachial, brachium, branchial callous, callus causality, casualty chlorpropamide, chlorpromazine chondroid, chordoid chondroma, chordoma chorionic, chronic cingula, singular coitus, colitis colic, colonic colitis, coitus costal, coastal cryptogam, cryptogram cygnet, signet decease, disease deceased, desist digitate, digitize dioecious, deciduous diploic, diploid disc, disk disease, decease diseased, deceased dyskaryosis, dyskeratosis dysphasia, dysphagia ectatic, ecstatic endochondral, enchondral (these are synonyms) engram, n-gram, ngram epistasis, epistaxis, epitaxis (the last is a misspelling of the second) exxon, exon facial, fascial facies, faeces fetal, fatal firearm, forearm foreword, forward hallux, helicis helicis, hallux herpetic, herpangina hydatid, hydatidiform ileitis, iliitis ileum, ilium insular, insulin intercostal, intercoastal intubation, incubation isotope, isotrope kerasin, kerosene, keratin keratotic, keratinic, actinic keratinocytic, keratinolytic keratosis, ketosis lipoma, lymphoma lumbar, lumber malleolus, malleus metachronous, metacrinus milia, milium miotic, mitotic, meiotic mitosis, meiosis, myosis, myiasis monogenic, monogenetic, and Monogenetic (last, related to class Monogenea) mucous, mucus myelofibrosis, myofibrosis myofibroma, myelofibroma neuroplastic, neoplastic nucleus, nucleolus oncocyte, onychocyte oncology, ontology, ontogeny organic, organoid palatal, palatial paleodontology, paleontology palette, palate palpation, palpitation parasite, pericyte parental, parenteral pathogen, parthenogen pathogenesis, parthenogenesis pathogenic, pathogenetic (these two are synonyms) penal, penile, pineal, panel penicillamine, penicillin perineal, peroneal, perianal pleiotropic, pleiotrophic, pleiotypic (the first two are synonyms) plural, pleural porphyria, porphyruria proptosis, ptosis prostrate, prostate protuberant, protruberant (the second term is simply a common misspelling) quinine, quinidine rachischisis, rachitis, rachischitic, rachitic radial, radical relics, relicts reticle, reticule, radical rett, ret rosacea, rosea semantic, somatic serous, serious silicon, silicone singleton, singultus sinusitis, synositis somatic, semantic sonography, stenography taenia, tinea takoma, trachoma thecoma, thekeoma torsion, distortion trachoma, trachea trichina, trachoma, trichura trichinosis, trichosis, trichuriasis trichrome, trichome trochlear, tracheal troglobite, troglodyte, trilobite tuberous sclerosis, tuberculosis tunicate, tourniquet urethral, ureteral vagitis, vaginitis venous, venusIf you know the meaning of half of the terms in this list, you have a good grasp of medical terminology; but please don't settle for half measures. Physicians, nurses, chart reviewers, and medical transcriptionists should be aware of the correct meaning of each alternate word in these listed pairs.
In June, 2014, my book, entitled Rare Diseases and Orphan Drugs: Keys to Understanding and Treating the Common Diseases was published by Elsevier. The book builds the argument that our best chance of curing the common diseases will come from studying and curing the rare diseases.
I urge you to read more about my book. There's a generous preview of the book at the Google Books site. If you like the book, please request your librarian to purchase a copy of this book for your library or reading room.
- Jules J. Berman, Ph.D., M.D. tags: common disease, orphan disease, orphan drugs, rare disease, medical terminology, medical errors, malaprop, malapropism, definition, confusing terms, confused medical terms, medical definitions, medical transcription, nomenclature, terminology, transcription errors, transcription mistakes, EMR, EHR, electronic medical record, electronic chart, electronic health record, avoidable errors, avoidable mistakes, sources of confusion, sources of error, common mistakes, common sources of confusion
