A medical procedure is a course of action intended to achieve a result in the delivery of healthcare. A medical procedure with the intention of determining, measuring, or diagnosing a patient condition or parameter is also called a

medical test A medical test is a medical procedure performed to detect, diagnose, or monitor diseases, disease processes, susceptibility, or to determine a course of treatment. Medical tests such as, physical and visual exams, diagnostic imaging, genetic ...

. Other common kinds of procedures are therapeutic (i.e., intended to treat, cure, or restore function or structure), such as surgical and physical rehabilitation procedures.

Definition

*"An activity directed at or performed on an individual with the object of improving health, treating disease or injury, or making a diagnosis."''International Dictionary of Medicine and Biology'', Page 2297. *"The act or conduct of diagnosis, treatment, or operation."''Stedman's Medical Dictionary'', 27th ed. Page 1446. *"A series of steps by which a desired result is accomplished."''Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary'', 28th ed. Page 1353. *"The sequence of steps to be followed in establishing some course of action."''Mosby's Medical, Nursing, & Allied Health Dictionary'', Page 1278.

List of medical procedures

Propaedeutic

* Auscultation * Medical inspection (body features) * Palpation *

Percussion (medicine) Percussion is a technique of clinical examination. Overview Percussion is a method of tapping on a surface to determine the underlying structures, and is used in clinical examinations to assess the condition of the thorax or abdomen. It is one of ...

Vital signs Vital signs (also known as vitals) are a group of the four to six most crucial medical signs that indicate the status of the body's vital (life-sustaining) functions. These measurements are taken to help assess the general physical health of a ...

measurement, such as

blood pressure Blood pressure (BP) is the pressure of circulating blood against the walls of blood vessels. Most of this pressure results from the heart pumping blood through the circulatory system. When used without qualification, the term "blood pressure ...

body temperature Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different. A thermoconforming organism, by contrast, simply adopts the surrounding temperatur ...

, or pulse (or heart rate)

Diagnostic

* Lab tests ** Biopsy test ** Blood test ** Stool test **

Urinalysis Urinalysis, a portmanteau of the words ''urine'' and ''analysis'', is a panel of medical tests that includes physical (macroscopic) examination of the urine, chemical evaluation using urine test strips, and microscopic examination. Macroscopic e ...

* Cardiac stress test * Electrocardiography * Electrocorticography *

Electroencephalography Electroencephalography (EEG) is a method to record an electrogram of the spontaneous electrical activity of the brain. The biosignals detected by EEG have been shown to represent the postsynaptic potentials of pyramidal neurons in the neocorte ...

* Electromyography *

Electroneuronography Electroneuronography or electroneurography (ENoG) is a neurological non-invasive test used to study the facial nerve in cases of muscle weakness in one side of the face (Bell's palsy). The technique of electroneuronography was first used by Essle ...

* Electronystagmography * Electrooculography * Electroretinography * Endoluminal capsule monitoring *

Endoscopy An endoscopy is a procedure used in medicine to look inside the body. The endoscopy procedure uses an endoscope to examine the interior of a hollow organ or cavity of the body. Unlike many other medical imaging techniques, endoscopes are inse ...

** Colonoscopy ** Colposcopy ** Cystoscopy ** Gastroscopy ** Laparoscopy **

Laryngoscopy Laryngoscopy () is endoscopy of the larynx, a part of the throat. It is a medical procedure that is used to obtain a view, for example, of the vocal folds and the glottis. Laryngoscopy may be performed to facilitate tracheal intubation durin ...

** Ophthalmoscopy **

Otoscopy An otoscope or auriscope is a medical device which is used to look into the ears. Health care providers use otoscopes to screen for illness during regular check-ups and also to investigate ear symptoms. An otoscope potentially gives a view of ...

** Sigmoidoscopy *

Esophageal motility study An esophageal motility study (EMS) or esophageal manometry is a test to assess motor function of the upper esophageal sphincter (UES), esophageal body and lower esophageal sphincter (LES). Indications An EMS is typically done to evaluate suspecte ...

* Evoked potential * Magnetoencephalography * Medical imaging ** Angiography ***

Aortography Aortography involves placement of a catheter in the aorta and injection of contrast material while taking X-rays of the aorta. The procedure is known as an aortogram. The diagnosis of aortic dissection can be made by visualization of the intima ...

*** Cerebral angiography *** Coronary angiography *** Lymphangiography ***

Pulmonary angiography Pulmonary angiography (or pulmonary arteriography,conventional pulmonary angiography, selective pulmonary angiography) is a medical fluoroscopy, fluoroscopic procedure used to visualize the pulmonary arteries and much less frequently, the pulmona ...

*** Ventriculography ** Chest photofluorography ** Computed tomography ** Echocardiography ** Electrical impedance tomography ** Fluoroscopy ** Magnetic resonance imaging *** Diffuse optical imaging *** Diffusion tensor imaging ***

Diffusion-weighted imaging Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI or DW-MRI) is the use of specific MRI sequences as well as software that generates images from the resulting data that uses the diffusion of water molecules to generate contrast in MR images. It ...

*** Functional magnetic resonance imaging ** Positron emission tomography **

Radiography Radiography is an imaging technique using X-rays, gamma rays, or similar ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation to view the internal form of an object. Applications of radiography include medical radiography ("diagnostic" and "therapeu ...

** Scintillography **

SPECT Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT, or less commonly, SPET) is a nuclear medicine tomographic imaging technique using gamma rays. It is very similar to conventional nuclear medicine planar imaging using a gamma camera (that is ...

** Ultrasonography ***

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is the application of ultrasound contrast medium to traditional medical sonography. Ultrasound contrast agents rely on the different ways in which sound waves are reflected from interfaces between substances. T ...

*** Gynecologic ultrasonography ***

Intravascular ultrasound Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) or intravascular echocardiography is a medical imaging methodology using a specially designed catheter with a miniaturized ultrasound probe attached to the distal end of the catheter. The proximal end of the cathe ...

*** Obstetric ultrasonography **

Thermography Infrared thermography (IRT), thermal video and/or thermal imaging, is a process where a thermal camera captures and creates an image of an object by using infrared radiation emitted from the object in a process, which are examples of infrared i ...

** Virtual colonoscopy *

Neuroimaging Neuroimaging is the use of quantitative (computational) techniques to study the structure and function of the central nervous system, developed as an objective way of scientifically studying the healthy human brain in a non-invasive manner. Incr ...

Posturography Posturography is the technique used to quantify postural control in upright stance in either static or dynamic conditions. Among them, Computerized dynamic posturography (CDP), also called test of balance (TOB), is a non-invasive specialized clinica ...

Therapeutic

* Thrombosis prophylaxis * Precordial thump *

Politzerization Politzerization, also called the Politzer maneuver or method, is a medical procedure that involves inflating the middle ear by blowing air up the nose during the act of swallowing. It is often performed to reopen the Eustachian tube and equalise ...

* Hemodialysis *

Hemofiltration Hemofiltration, also haemofiltration, is a renal replacement therapy which is used in the intensive care setting. It is usually used to treat acute kidney injury (AKI), but may be of benefit in multiple organ dysfunction syndrome or sepsis. During ...

* Plasmapheresis * Apheresis * Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) *

Cancer immunotherapy Cancer immunotherapy (sometimes called immuno-oncology) is the stimulation of the immune system to treat cancer, improving on the immune system's natural ability to fight the disease. It is an application of the fundamental research of cancer ...

Cancer vaccine A cancer vaccine is a vaccine that either treats existing cancer or prevents development of cancer. Vaccines that treat existing cancer are known as ''therapeutic'' cancer vaccines or tumor antigen vaccines. Some of the vaccines are "autologous" ...

Cervical conization Cervical conization ( CPT codes 57520 (Cold Knife) and 57522 (Loop Excision)) refers to an excision of a cone-shaped sample of tissue from the mucous membrane of the cervix. Conization may be used for either diagnostic purposes as part of a biopsy ...

Chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemother ...

Cytoluminescent therapy Cytoluminescent Therapy is a proposed cancer treatment as a form of Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) characterized by a photosensitiser that is supposedly eliminated from normal tissue but selectively accumulated in neoplastic and dysplastic tissue. ...

* Insulin potentiation therapy *

Low-dose chemotherapy Low-dose chemotherapy is being studied/used in the treatment of cancer to avoid the side effects of conventional chemotherapy. Historically, oncologists have used the highest possible dose that the body can tolerate in order to kill as many cance ...

Monoclonal antibody therapy Monoclonal antibody therapy is a form of immunotherapy that uses monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to bind monospecifically to certain cells or proteins. The objective is that this treatment will stimulate the patient's immune system to attack tho ...

* Photodynamic therapy *

Radiation therapy Radiation therapy or radiotherapy, often abbreviated RT, RTx, or XRT, is a therapy using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer treatment to control or kill malignant cells and normally delivered by a linear accelerator. Rad ...

* Targeted therapy * Tracheal intubation * Unsealed source radiotherapy * Virtual reality therapy * Physical therapy/Physiotherapy * Speech therapy *

Phototerapy Light therapy, also called phototherapy or bright light therapy is intentional daily exposure to direct sunlight or similar-intensity artificial light in order to treat medical disorders, especially seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and circadi ...

* Hydrotherapy * Heat therapy * Shock therapy **

Insulin shock therapy Insulin shock therapy or insulin coma therapy was a form of psychiatric treatment in which patients were repeatedly injected with large doses of insulin in order to produce daily comas over several weeks.Neustatter WL (1948) ''Modern psychiatry ...

** Electroconvulsive therapy ** Symptomatic treatment * Fluid replacement therapy * Palliative care * Hyperbaric oxygen therapy * Oxygen therapy *

Gene therapy Gene therapy is a Medicine, medical field which focuses on the genetic modification of cells to produce a therapeutic effect or the treatment of disease by repairing or reconstructing defective genetic material. The first attempt at modifying ...

* Enzyme replacement therapy * Intravenous therapy * Phage therapy * Respiratory therapy * Vision therapy *

Electrotherapy Electrotherapy is the use of electrical energy as a medical treatment. In medicine, the term ''electrotherapy'' can apply to a variety of treatments, including the use of electrical devices such as deep brain stimulators for neurological dis ...

* Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) * Laser therapy *

Combination therapy Combination therapy or polytherapy is therapy that uses more than one medication or modality. Typically, the term refers to using multiple therapies to treat a ''single'' disease, and often all the therapies are pharmaceutical (although it can al ...

* Occupational therapy *

Immunization Immunization, or immunisation, is the process by which an individual's immune system becomes fortified against an infectious agent (known as the immunogen). When this system is exposed to molecules that are foreign to the body, called ''non-s ...

Vaccination Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulat ...

* Immunosuppressive therapy * Psychotherapy * Drug therapy * Acupuncture * Antivenom * Magnetic therapy *

Craniosacral therapy Craniosacral therapy (CST) or cranial osteopathy is a form of alternative therapy that uses gentle touch to palpate the synarthrodial joints of the cranium. CST is a pseudoscience and its practice has been characterized as quackery. It is bas ...

Chelation therapy Chelation therapy is a medical procedure that involves the administration of chelating agents to remove heavy metals from the body. Chelation therapy has a long history of use in clinical toxicology and remains in use for some very specific me ...

* Hormonal therapy * Hormone replacement therapy * Opiate replacement therapy * Cell therapy *

Stem cell treatments Stem-cell therapy is the use of stem cells to treat or prevent a disease or condition. , the only established therapy using stem cells is hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. This usually takes the form of a bone-marrow transplantation, bu ...

* Intubation * Nebulization * Inhalation therapy * Particle therapy * Proton therapy * Fluoride therapy *

Cold compression therapy Cold compression therapy, also known as hilotherapy, combines two of the principles of rest, ice, compression, elevation to reduce pain and swelling from a sports or activity injury to soft tissues and is recommended by orthopedic surgeons follow ...

* Animal-Assisted Therapy *

Negative Pressure Wound Therapy Negative-pressure wound therapy (NPWT), also known as a vacuum assisted closure (VAC), is a therapeutic technique using a suction pump, tubing and a dressing to remove excess exudate and promote healing in acute or chronic wounds and second- ...

Nicotine replacement therapy Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is a medically approved way to treat people with tobacco use disorder by taking nicotine through means other than tobacco. It is used to help with quitting smoking or stopping chewing tobacco. It increases the ...

* Oral rehydration therapy

Surgical

Ablation Ablation ( la, ablatio – removal) is removal or destruction of something from an object by vaporization, chipping, erosive processes or by other means. Examples of ablative materials are described below, and include spacecraft material for ...

* Amputation *

Biopsy A biopsy is a medical test commonly performed by a surgeon, interventional radiologist, or an interventional cardiologist. The process involves extraction of sample cells or tissues for examination to determine the presence or extent of a dise ...

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure consisting of chest compressions often combined with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore spont ...

(CPR) * Cryosurgery *

Endoscopic surgery An endoscopy is a procedure used in medicine to look inside the body. The endoscopy procedure uses an endoscope to examine the interior of a hollow organ or cavity of the body. Unlike many other medical imaging techniques, endoscopes are inse ...

Facial rejuvenation Facial rejuvenation is a cosmetic treatment (or series of cosmetic treatments), which aims to restore a youthful appearance to the human face. Facial rejuvenation can be achieved through either surgical and/or non-surgical options. Procedures can va ...

* General surgery * Hand surgery * Hemilaminectomy * Image-guided surgery * Knee cartilage replacement therapy *

Laminectomy A laminectomy is a surgical procedure that removes a portion of a vertebra called the lamina, which is the roof of the spinal canal. It is a major spine operation with residual scar tissue and may result in postlaminectomy syndrome. Depending ...

* Laparoscopic surgery * Lithotomy * Lithotriptor * Lobotomy * Neovaginoplasty * Radiosurgery *

Stereotactic surgery Stereotactic surgery is a minimally invasive form of surgical intervention that makes use of a three-dimensional coordinate system to locate small targets inside the body and to perform on them some action such as ablation, biopsy, lesion, inj ...

* Radiosurgery * Vaginoplasty * Xenotransplantation

Anesthesia

Dissociative anesthesia Dissociatives, colloquially dissos, are a subclass of hallucinogens which distort perception of sight and sound and produce feelings of detachment – dissociation – from the environment and/or self. Although many kinds of drugs are capable of ...

General anesthesia General anaesthesia (UK) or general anesthesia (US) is a medically induced loss of consciousness that renders the patient unarousable even with painful stimuli. This effect is achieved by administering either intravenous or inhalational general ...

Local anesthesia Local anesthesia is any technique to induce the absence of sensation in a specific part of the body, generally for the aim of inducing local analgesia, that is, local insensitivity to pain, although other local senses may be affected as well. It ...

Topical anesthesia A topical anesthetic is a local anesthetic that is used to numb the surface of a body part. They can be used to numb any area of the skin as well as the front of the eyeball, the inside of the nose, ear or throat, the anus and the genital area. To ...

(surface) ** Epidural (extradural) block **

Spinal anesthesia Spinal anaesthesia (or spinal anesthesia), also called spinal block, subarachnoid block, intradural block and intrathecal block, is a form of neuraxial regional anaesthesia involving the injection of a local anaesthetic or opioid into the subara ...

(subarachnoid block) * Regional anesthesia

Other

Interventional radiology Interventional radiology (IR) is a medical specialty that performs various minimally-invasive procedures using medical imaging guidance, such as x-ray fluoroscopy, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, or ultrasound. IR performs b ...

* Screening (medicine)

References

{{Reflist Medical terminology Medical treatments