Heather Wipijewski CVT ALAT
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Suffix – Found at the end of a word.
-ectomy: Surgical removal
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Mastectomy – surgical removal of breast or mammary glands.
-pexy: Suture to stabilize
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Gastropexy – surgically stabilizing the stomach to the abdominal wall (tacking)
-plasty: Surgically repair
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Rhinoplasty – Surgically repair the nose
(nose job)
• Note that the “o” in rhino was NOT removed.
WHY?

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-stomy: Surgically created opening
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Colostomy – surgically created opening between colon and outside of body.
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- tomy: Cutting into
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Enterotomy – to cut into the small intestine
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NOTE – tomy and stomy look very much alike, so it’s very important to read the word carefully, determine what the root word is and what the suffix is.

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- Centesis: Surgical puncture to remove fluid or gas
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Cystocentesis – to puncture the bladder with a needle to remove urine.
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-Gram: Record of
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Electrocardiogram – Hard copy record of electrical current of the heart.
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-Graph: Instrument used to record
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Electrocardiograph – Instrument used to record the electrical currents of the heart ( the print out from this machine would be the electrocardiogram

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-Graphy: Procedure that records
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Electrocardiography – The procedure used to record the electrical current of the heart.
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Important to realize the difference between
–graph, -graphy and –gram.
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-Lysis: Separation or breakdown
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Urinalysis – separation of the urine into its constituents.
Hemolysis – Breakdown of blood (specifically red blood cells)

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-scope: Instrument used to visually examine
-scopy: Procedure to visually examine.
• Arthroscope vs. Arthroscopy
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Arthro/scope (instrument)
Arthro/scopy (procedure)
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-therapy: treatment
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Chemotherapy – Treatment with chemical substances or drugs.

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-algia/-dynia: pain
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Arthralgia/Arthrodynia – joint pain
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-itis: Inflammation
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Hepatitis – Inflammation of the liver
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-malacia: abnormal softening
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Osteomalacia – abnormal softening of bone
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-megaly: enlargement
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Cardiomegaly – enlargement of the heart

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-osis: abnormal condition
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Cardiosis – abnormal condition of the heart
Can you break this word down? Root vs. suffix?
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-pathy: disease
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Enteropathy – disease of the small intestine
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-sclerosis: abnormal hardening
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Arteriosclerosis – abnormal hardening of the arteries.
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-um: structure
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Pericardium – structure surrounding the heart
Can you break this word down?

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-rrhagia or –rrhage – bursting forth
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Hemorrhage – bursting forth of blood from the vessels.
-rrhaphy – to suture
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Enterorrhaphy – suturing of the small intestines.
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-rrhea – flow, discharge
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Diarrhea – discharge of the bowels.
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-rrhexis – rupture
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Myorrhexis – rupture of the muscle

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Allow for easier pronounciation of a word .
ac (cardiac)
-al (renal)
-an (ovarian)
-ar (lumbar)
-ary (alimentary)
-eal (laryngeal)
-ic (enteric)
-ine (uterine)
-ous (cutaneous)
-tic (nephrotic)

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For each of the following words – let’s break them down into prefix, root and suffix and define.
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Example – Gastritis = gastr/itis inflammation of the stomach
Gastric
Gingivitis
Presurgical
Ovariohysterectomy
Subcutaneous
Hepatomegaly