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

Surgical removal of both breasts was Angelina Jolie's choice in 2013, after tests showed a faulty BRCA1 gene gave her a high risk of breast cancer.

Q 03/05

A colostomy or tracheostomy involves surgically creating what?

A) A narrowing

B) A valve

C) A graft

D) An opening

Answer · why

D) An opening

An opening called a stoma, from the Greek for mouth, is often only temporary: once the bowel beyond it has rested and healed, surgeons can reverse it.

Q 04/05

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

A) Surgical repair or formation

B) Surgical cutting into

C) Removal of tissue

D) Injection of plastic

Answer · why

A) Surgical repair or formation

Surgical repair or formation is the sense, from the Greek for moulding, so plastic surgery got its name about 70 years before plastic the material did...

Q 05/05

Myalgia is pain in which tissue?

A) Muscle

B) Bone

C) Nerve

D) Skin

Answer · why

A) Muscle

Muscle soreness felt days after hard exercise is not lactic acid at work: researchers have found little link between lactate levels and that later pai...