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root((TOM))
appendectomy
Surgical removal of the human appendix.
🌱Appendectomy is an emergency procedure, since appendicitis can be fatal if its symptoms are ignored. 🌳The appendix is a tiny tube attached to the large intestine that no longer has any real function. Appendicitis—inflammation and swelling of the appendix, usually as a result of bacterial infection—generally occurs between the ages of 10 and 19, and is the most common reason for emergency surgery in the U.S. today. Since the appendix has so little to do, appendectomies normally have no negative aftereffects at all. If appendicitis is ignored, bacteria may enter the blood and infect other parts of the body. gastrectomy Surgical removal of all or part of the stomach.
🌱Gastrectomy is used to treat holes in the stomach wall, noncancerous tumors, and cancer, but is performed only when other treatments have been rejected. 🌳Gastr- comes from the Greek word for "belly," and shows up in English in such words as gastric （"relating to the stomach"） and gastronomy （"the cooking and eating of fine food"）. Believe it or not, there are many people today who have had a gastrectomy and live without a stomach; some of them need to eat fairly steadily and carefully through the day, but many lead almost completely normal and even vigorous lives. tonsillectomy Surgical removal of the tonsils.
🌱His daughter's usual doctor thought antibiotics could cure her swollen tonsils, but a specialist recommended tonsillectomy. 🌳The tonsils are the areas of tissue that you can see in the mirror on both sides of your throat （not to be confused with the uvula, which hangs down in the middle）. Tonsillectomy, the most common surgery performed on children in the U.S., is intended to relieve tonsillitis, or inflammation of the tonsils （usually by strep or staph bacteria）. But the fact is, tonsillitis can often be successfully treated with antibiotics, which means that surgery, including the week or two of pain and discomfort that follows it, is generally unnecessary. mastectomy Surgical removal of all or part of the breast.
🌱She has always dreaded being disfigured by mastectomy, but her talks with the surgeon have calmed her considerably. 🌳Breast cancer is the most common cancer among American women. Early cases can often be treated with drugs or with a small operation called a lumpectomy （because it removes a lump）. Though a "simple mastectomy" is larger than a lumpectomy, it allows the breast to be reconstructed, using artificial implants or tissue from elsewhere on the body. But "radical mastectomy," which is required when the cancer is at an advanced stage, takes much of the chest muscle and makes reconstruction impossible.
🌱Appendectomy is an emergency procedure, since appendicitis can be fatal if its symptoms are ignored. 🌳The appendix is a tiny tube attached to the large intestine that no longer has any real function. Appendicitis—inflammation and swelling of the appendix, usually as a result of bacterial infection—generally occurs between the ages of 10 and 19, and is the most common reason for emergency surgery in the U.S. today. Since the appendix has so little to do, appendectomies normally have no negative aftereffects at all. If appendicitis is ignored, bacteria may enter the blood and infect other parts of the body. gastrectomy Surgical removal of all or part of the stomach.
🌱Gastrectomy is used to treat holes in the stomach wall, noncancerous tumors, and cancer, but is performed only when other treatments have been rejected. 🌳Gastr- comes from the Greek word for "belly," and shows up in English in such words as gastric （"relating to the stomach"） and gastronomy （"the cooking and eating of fine food"）. Believe it or not, there are many people today who have had a gastrectomy and live without a stomach; some of them need to eat fairly steadily and carefully through the day, but many lead almost completely normal and even vigorous lives. tonsillectomy Surgical removal of the tonsils.
🌱His daughter's usual doctor thought antibiotics could cure her swollen tonsils, but a specialist recommended tonsillectomy. 🌳The tonsils are the areas of tissue that you can see in the mirror on both sides of your throat （not to be confused with the uvula, which hangs down in the middle）. Tonsillectomy, the most common surgery performed on children in the U.S., is intended to relieve tonsillitis, or inflammation of the tonsils （usually by strep or staph bacteria）. But the fact is, tonsillitis can often be successfully treated with antibiotics, which means that surgery, including the week or two of pain and discomfort that follows it, is generally unnecessary. mastectomy Surgical removal of all or part of the breast.
🌱She has always dreaded being disfigured by mastectomy, but her talks with the surgeon have calmed her considerably. 🌳Breast cancer is the most common cancer among American women. Early cases can often be treated with drugs or with a small operation called a lumpectomy （because it removes a lump）. Though a "simple mastectomy" is larger than a lumpectomy, it allows the breast to be reconstructed, using artificial implants or tissue from elsewhere on the body. But "radical mastectomy," which is required when the cancer is at an advanced stage, takes much of the chest muscle and makes reconstruction impossible.
TOM comes from the Greek root meaning "cut." Thus, the Latin word anatomia, from which we get anatomy, means "dissection"—that is cutting or separating the parts of an organism for detailed examination. In a lobotomy, the nerves linking a brain lobe to the rest of the brain are removed; even though lobotomies have hardly been performed in the last 50 years, the idea can still fill us with horror.🌸