The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary

New treatments, new tests, and new insights into health and disease have resulted in an unprecedented explosion in medical terminology. The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary provides students, health care professionals, and general consumers interested in medical vocabulary with a comprehensive reference that reflects the most recent developments in medicine and health care delivery.

The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2007, 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. No part of this database may be reproduced or otherwise used without prior written permission from the publisher unless such use is expressly permitted by applicable law.

Words are included in this Dictionary on the basis of their usage. Words that are known to have current trademark registrations are shown with an initial capital and are also identified as trademarks. No investigation has been made of common-law trademark rights in any word, because such investigation is impracticable. The inclusion of any word in this Dictionary is not, however, an expression of the Publisher's opinion as to whether or not it is subject to proprietary rights. Indeed, no definition in this Dictionary is to be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark.

American Heritage and the eagle logo are registered trademarks of American Heritage, Inc. Their use is pursuant to a license agreement with American Heritage, Inc.

This book was originally published in a slightly different form as The American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary, Second Edition © 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.