A-Z List Of Common Medical Abbreviations, Acronyms & Definitions

What should I know about medical abbreviations? What do they mean?

Have you ever wondered why you can't read the doctor's note or the letters and numbers on a prescription? Health care professionals often quickly scribble notes with important medical information that they would like a patient to reference in regard to the type of current, or recently diagnosed disease, syndrome, or other health condition(s). Have you ever seen the doctor's notes in your medical record and found peculiar abbreviations and jargon? Do you wonder what the letters and numbers mean on your prescriptions or other items related to a disease, syndrome, or disorder?

Doctors and other health care professionals commonly use a list of abbreviations, acronyms, and other medical terminology as a reference to rapidly search and accurately record information about, and give instructions to their patients. There is no standard or approved list used by health care professionals to search for medical acronyms or abbreviations. Therefore, it is important to understand the context in which the abbreviation or term has been used.

Abbreviations, acronyms, and medical terminology are used for many conditions, and for instructions on medication prescribed by your doctor. This is a shortlist of common abbreviations you may have seen on a doctor's notepad; a prescription drug package or bottle; lab or other test results; or in your doctor's notes.

• ALL: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
• AMI: Acute myocardial infarction (heart attack)
• B-ALL: B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia
• FSH: Follicle-stimulating hormone. A blood test for follicle-stimulating hormone is used to evaluate fertility in women.
• HAPE: High altitude pulmonary edema
• HPS: Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. A type of contagious, infectious disease is transmitted by rats infected with the virus.
• IBS: Irritable bowel syndrome (A medical disease that involves the gastrointestinal tract.)
• IDDM: Insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Type 1 diabetes.
• MDS: Myelodysplastic syndrome
• NBCCS: Nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome
• PE: Pulmonary embolism. A type of blood clot in the lungs.
• SIDS: Sudden infant death syndrome
• TSH: Thyroid-stimulating hormone. A blood test for TSH is used to diagnose thyroid disease.

Use this list as a resource for common abbreviations and acronyms used in the health care community, to quickly search and answer your questions about those letters and numbers of a drug your doctor has prescribed to you, or other notes from your doctor or other medical professionals.