Glossary Term - E
Alphabetical glossary of health & disability services, health terms and general MidCentral District Health Board information.
Eating Disorders
ECG
This stands for ElectroCardioGram and is a test which shows the electrical impulses travelling through your heart to make it beat.
Echo or Ultrasound
This is short for Echocardiogram and it uses sound waves to show a picture of your heart and how it is beating. It also shows how blood is flowing through your heart.
Eczema
A skin disease that makes your skin really itchy and sore. It’s not catching and can be treated using ointments that stop the skin drying out.
EEG
This is a machine that draws a picture of your brain waves - showing the electricity that flows through your brain. You might need an EEG if you're having seizures.
Elective
When you have a test or operation planned for the future, the doctors may call it an ‘elective’ test or operation. This just means that it’s not an emergency and that it is planned to happen at some point in the future.
Elderly Services
Embolism
This is when you have a blockage in an artery. The blockage can be made up of a blood clot, a bubble of air or gas, or a lump of fat. If it’s not found quickly and broken down with medicines, it can be very dangerous.
Emergency Department
Emergency Response Planning
EMG
This stands for electromyography – a test for measuring electrical signals in your muscles. These signals are the messages from your brain telling the muscle to move.
Employee Relations
Enable New Zealand
Endocrine System
This consists of the glands around the body which release hormones – chemical
messengers that switch on and off processes within the body. The master gland is the pituitary gland, deep inside your brain, which sends chemical messages to the other glands, telling them to produce other hormones.
Endocrinology
Endocrinologist
An endocrinologist is a doctor who cares for children who have difficulties with their hormones.
Endoscope
This is a thin wobbly tube that has a light and a camera on the end.
Endoscopy Clinic
ENT
Enviroment Support Services
Enzyme
This is a substance that controls a chemical reaction within the body. There are lots of different enzymes and each does a different job. For instance, enzymes control how your food is broken down in your stomach.
Epiglottis
This is a flap of tissue in your throat that is normally open to let air flow into your lungs. When you eat, it flops down to cover your windpipe to stop food and drink getting into your lungs. When something ‘goes the wrong way’, this means that your epiglottis has let some food or drink into your windpipe by mistake and you need to cough to get rid of it.
Epilepsy
It's a type of brain disorder where your brain 'short circuits' so the electrical messages travelling to and from the brain are disrupted.
Eye Clinic
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Last Updated 29/10/2007