Q 01/05

The suffix -itis, as in tonsillitis and appendicitis, means what?

A) Inflammation

B) Infection

C) Removal

D) Enlargement

Answer · why

A) Inflammation

Inflammation and infection are not the same thing: an inflamed joint in arthritis usually has no germ in it at all.

Q 02/05

A mastectomy, appendectomy or tonsillectomy all involve what?

A) Making an opening

B) Repair with sutures

C) Surgical removal

D) Examination with a scope

Answer · why

C) Surgical removal

The suffix -ectomy comes from the Greek for cutting out; the -tomy family (mastoidotomy, laparotomy) means cutting into without removing.

Q 03/05

A colostomy or tracheostomy involves surgically creating what?

A) A removal

B) A drain to the outside

C) A brace

D) An opening

Answer · why

D) An opening

The word is built from the Greek stoma, mouth, and the ostomy is the artificial mouth the surgeon makes; the -otomy in tracheotomy is just the cut.

Q 04/05

Rhinoplasty and arthroplasty share the suffix -plasty, meaning what?

A) Surgical repair or formation

B) Artificial replacement

C) Removal of tissue

D) Injection of plastic

Answer · why

A) Surgical repair or formation

The Greek plassein means to mould, the same root as plastic and plaster.

Q 05/05

Myalgia is pain in which tissue?

A) Muscle

B) Bone

C) Nerve

D) Skin

Answer · why

A) Muscle

The my(o)- root gives us myocardium and myoblast; -algia is pain, and its cousin -dynia (as in vulvodynia) means the same.