tetralogy of Fallot
- noun
- /ˌtɛtrəˈlɑːdʒi əv fəˈloʊ/
- Specialized
:
tetralogía de Fallot
- Congenital cardiac malformations occur in approximately 35% of patients; they are characterized by a completely anomalous pulmonary venous return and by the tetralogy of Fallot.
Examples
-
The standard treatment for tetralogy of Fallot is surgery to correct the heart's structural abnormalities.
-
Doctors informed the parents that their newborn had a congenital heart defect known as tetralogy of Fallot that required immediate medical attention.
-
Children with tetralogy of Fallot often show signs of fatigue and difficulty breathing, making early diagnosis crucial.
Synonyms
A heart problem present at birth that makes the skin turn blue because four parts of the heart are wrong
A heart condition present at birth with four defects that make blood low in oxygen and cause blue skin
Surface Forms
Morphology
tetralogy + of + Fallot
This is an eponymous medical term: 'tetralogy' is a technical morpheme indicating a set of four and 'Fallot' is a proper name, but a B1 learner who only knows the surface constituents would not be able to infer the specific meaning (a particular congenital heart defect composed of four abnormalities). The phrase requires specialized medical knowledge and the exact diagnostic content is not derivable from the constituent words, so it is opaque to general learners.
Etymology
Tetralogy of Fallot is a medical name made from tetra, meaning 'four', and the doctor Fallot who first described it, so it literally points to four heart problems. That's why the name helps you remember the condition as a group of four related heart defects present from birth.
