creation date: 2025-07-23 17:56
tags:
Of Pedantry
Foreword
The intentions of this page are to:
- Differentiate between the near-irrelevant minutia of medical terminology
- Appreciate word accuracy
- Be annoyingly pedantic
Word(s)
Hypercarbia / Hypercapnia
These terms can be used interchangeably and simply differ in the etymology.
Hyper-: Greek prefix meaning over
Capnia: Greek root kapnos meaning smoke
Carbia: Latin root meaning charcoal (carbon)
While smoke is a reach from carbon dioxide and is at risk of the a typo “hypercapnea”, hypercarbia requires a combination of a Greek prefix with a Latin root - arguably a bigger offence.
(Anesthesiology. 22(2):324, Mar 1, 1961.)
Hypoxemic / Hypoxic
Hypoxemic: blood oxygen is low, as measured by, for example, pulse oximetry
Hypoxic: a deficiency of oxygen supply to the body
While hypoxemia, that is sufficiently severe to cause changes in cerebral function and ECG abnormalities, can be used interchangeably with hypoxia, the same cannot be said when hypoxemia is mild and chronic (eg. COPDer)
Dilation / Dilatation
Dilation: used to refer to the action of stretching or the state of being dilated
Dilatation: refers to the condition of being stretched or dilated beyond the normal
Examples:
- In pharmacology, a vasodilator causes dilatation, not dilation, of blood vessels
- Balloon valvuloplasty is a technique of dilation, not dilatation, of a stenotic valve
- Dilatation, not dilation, of the aortic root, is a common complication of Marfan syndrome
- Dilation, not dilatation, of a stenotic aortic valve may sometimes result in dilatation, not dilation, of its annulus
- TAVI is a transcatheter technique of dilation, not dilatation, of the stenotic aortic valve in order to achieve dilatation, not dilation, of the stenotic aortic valve.
(International Journal of Cardiology. 199:373-374, Nov 15, 2015.)
Abnormalities / Anomalies
Anomalies: refers to a finding that deviated from the expected. Ie. something that is “rare” or “odd”. For example, “anatomical anomalies”.
Abnormalities: refers to a problematic difference from the normal
The key distinction here is the negative (or pathological) association that is attached to abnormalities. Contrastingly, anomalies can refer to negative, neutral, or even positive variations.