Medical Definitions - S

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Saline - a salt solution, often adjusted to the normal salinity of the human body; used to re-hydrate the body and flush IV's.

Sara Agers Syndrome - see Simpson-Golabi-Behmel syndrome (SGBS).

Scoliosis - a curve in the spine.

Sedative - a drug that calms a patient down, easing agitation and permitting sleep.

Sepsis - a blood stream infection.

Septum pellucidum - a thin, triangular, vertical membrane of nervous tissue separating the lateral ventricles of the brain. It separates the anterior horn of the left and right lateral ventricles. It runs as a sheet from the corpus callosum down to the fornix.

Seroma - a mass or swelling caused by the localized accumulation of serum, rather than blood (hematoma), within a tissue or organ.

Serous fluid - any of various body fluids resembling serum, especially lymph.

Serum - the clear portion of any liquid separated from its more solid elements.

Simpson-Golabi-Behmel syndrome (SGBS) - also known as Bulldog syndrome or Sara Agers Syndrome; a rare congenital genetic syndrome causing craniofacial and other abnormalities; it is inherited in an X-linked recessive fashion, meaning that generally only males are affected, but females are carriers. Affected individuals typically have pre- or postnatal overgrowth leading to coarse ("bulldog-like") faces with protruding jaw and tongue, widened nasal bridge, and upturned nasal tip. They often are quite tall. Intelligence is usually normal, although mental retardation does occur. They often have abnormalities of the extremities, such as broad, short hands and feet, occasionally with polydactyly. Other abnormalities may include pectus excavatum, ventricular septal defect (or other congenital heart defects), Meckel diverticulum, intestinal malrotation, and congenital diaphragmatic hernia. People with this syndrome may have an increased risk of tumors, such as neuroblastoma or Wilms tumor. SGBS is somewhat similar to another overgrowth syndrome called Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, probably because both syndromes affect insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2).

Spondylocostal dysostosis - a rare, recessively inherited syndrome characterized mainly by rib and spine abnormalities.

Stoma - an opening into the body from the outside created by a surgeon.

subarachnoid space - the space between the arachnoid and the pia mater.

Subcutaneous - under the skin.

Subcutaneous emphysema - also known as crepitus, subcutaneous air or tissue emphysema; occurs when air gets into tissues under the skin covering the chest wall or neck.

Suctioning - procedure during which a small catheter, attached to a suction machine, is inserted into a patient's trach or ET tube to remove secretions that a patient could not normally cough out.

Surfactant - a complex naturally occurring substance made of six lipids (fats) and four proteins that is produced in the lungs. It can also be manufactured synthetically. reduces the surface tension of fluid in the lungs and helps make the small air sacs in the lungs (alveoli) more stable. This keeps them from collapsing when an individual exhales. In preparation for breathing air, fetuses begin making surfactant while still in the womb.

Syndactyly - fused fingers or toes.

Syndrome - refers to the association of several clinically recognizable features, signs (discovered by a physician), symptoms (reported by the patient), phenomena or characteristics which often occur together, so that the presence of one feature alerts the physician to the presence of the others.

Synophrys - also known as a unibrow or monobrow; the condition in which the eyebrows grow together.