Nomenclature and principles of

diseases
Dr Yafet Solomon
 Nomenclature of diseases
• Common prefixes
– Primary vs Secondary
• Diseases without antecedent causes eg. Primary
hypertension
• Disease with known underlying causes eg Secondary
hypertension
• Stages of a disease eg. Primary tumor, Secondary tumor
– Acute vs chronic: Dynamicity of severity and onset
• Acute: Rapid onset and sharp or sever. Usually self resolve
• Chronic: Slow onset and of prolonged course
– Benign vs Malignant
• Benign: Non lethal and slow progression eg. benign tumor,
benign hypertension
• Malignant: Lethal and rapid course eg. Malignant tumor,
Malignant hypertension
– Hyper, Hypo and meta: Description of amount or
status
• Hyperthyrodism
• Hypothyrodism
• Metaplasia (change of status) eg squamous metaplasia of
endocervix
 Common suffixes
• –itis: denotes Inflammatory eg appendicitis,
colitis
• –oma: denotes swelling or mass eg Fibroma,
carcinoma, lymphoma
• –osis: denotes state or condition not necessarily
pathological eg osteoporosis, osteoarthrosis,
nephrosis
• –oid: denotes resemblance eg. Rheumatoid
disease, Leukomoid reaction, Mongoloid
 Common suffixes
• –plasia: related to proliferation or growth eg.
Hyperplasia, dysplasia
• –opathy: recognized pathologic abnormality, but
not specific eg Lymphadenopathy,
osteorathropathy
• –megaly: denotes enlargement eg.
Splenomegaly, hepatomegaly
• -ithiasis: denotes concretions eg. Urolithiasis,
Cholelithiasis
 Epynomous names
• Def. Epynomous names: Disease naming after
a person, place or abbreviations, eg.:
– Grave’s disease, Hodgkin disease, Bantu’s disease,
COPD (chronic obsructive lung diseases), GOO
(Gastric outle obstruction)
– Syndromes: Constellation of sign and symptoms
characterizing a particular disease eg. Cushing
syndrome, Nephrotic syndrome
 Principles of diseases
• A rather delicate balance exists between our
defenses and the disease-producing
mechanisms
• When our defenses resist these disease-
producing capabilities, we maintain our health
• But when the disease-producing capability
overcomes our defenses, disease results
• After the disease has become established, an
infected person
-may recover completely,
-suffer temporary or permanent damage, or
-die
 Disease
• A change away from a normal state of health
to an abnormal state in which health is
diminished