commissurotomy
- noun
- /ˌkɒmɪsʊˈrɒtəmi/
- Specialized
:
comisurotomía
- After the commissurotomy, the patient experienced fewer seizures and improved cognitive function.
Examples
-
Her progressive mitral stenosis from old rheumatic disease brought her to the university hospital for one of the first commissurotomies, but not soon enough.
Fiction book (1993) -
Hemispheric dominance was demonstrated by severing nerve fibers between the left and right hemispheres (a commissurotomy), thus creating two brains.
Academic text (2000) -
The doctor performed a commissurotomy to help alleviate the patient’s severe epilepsy symptoms.
-
Many patients with extreme epilepsy find relief after undergoing a commissurotomy procedure.
Synonyms
24
4.1
An operation on the brain to treat illness or injury
A surgery that cuts the tissue connecting the two halves of the brain to reduce severe seizures from epilepsy
An operation that cuts the connection between the two sides of the brain to reduce severe seizures
A surgery that cuts the connection between the two halves of the brain
Surface Forms
Morphology
commissurotomy = commissure (opaque) = commissure + otomy
The form literally means 'cutting of a commissure', but both 'commissure' and the medical combining suffix '-otomy' are rare/specialized, so an average learner cannot derive the meaning from familiar components.
Etymology
Commissurotomy comes from the parts commissure which means 'joining' and -otomy which means 'cutting', as in lobotomy. So it literally means 'cutting a join', which is why a commissurotomy cuts the connections between the two sides of the brain to help control severe seizures.