nephrectomy
1
9.9
- noun
- /nɛfˈrɛktəmi/
- Specialized
- After her nephrectomy, she needed time to recover and adjust to the changes in her body.
- a laparoscopic nephrectomy
- a bilateral nephrectomy
Examples
-
The surgeon explained that the nephrectomy would involve removing the diseased kidney.
-
Nineteen months earlier, he had undergone a nephrectomy and adrenalectomy for a 7.5-cm-diameter renal carcinoma.
Academic text (2001) -
It was a partial nephrectomy.
-
Laparoscopic nephrectomy in the living donor has constituted a significant advance.
Academic text (2007) -
She subsequently underwent treatment with Interferon Alpha without nephrectomy.
Academic text (1996) -
The index patient subsequently underwent right nephrotomies and ureterotomies for renal calculi and a left nephrectomy because of pyonephrosis.
Academic text (1996) -
In dogs with bilateral nephrectomy, maintained on peritoneal dialysis, an accelerated uraemic syndrome develops if urea is added to the dialysate.
Academic text (1991) -
A laparoscopic nephrectomy is often performed to minimize recovery time for kidney donors.
How Invasive
- Specialized
1
9.9
- Specialized
10
4.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
nephrectomy = nephr + ectomy
This is a learned medical term built from a Greek combining form plus a specialist surgical suffix, so most B1 learners would not be able to infer the meaning from the parts alone.
Etymology
The word nephrectomy comes from the Greek root nephr- meaning 'kidney' and the ending -ectomy meaning 'removal', and like appendectomy it names a surgery to remove something. So, a nephrectomy is the surgical removal of a kidney.