873 articles
Speech Articulation Tests
Speech articulation tests are standardized single-word instruments, such as the Goldman-Fristoe and Arizona scales, that measure accuracy of speech sound production in children, supplemented by connected speech sampling, screening tools, and stimulability testing.
Speech audiometry
Speech audiometry is a clinical hearing test measuring how well a listener detects and understands speech rather than pure tones, using the speech recognition threshold and word recognition score.
Speech Discrimination Tests
Speech discrimination tests, now usually called word recognition testing, measure the percentage of standardized monosyllabic words a listener repeats correctly at suprathreshold levels; rooted in Egan's 1948 phonetically balanced lists and Hahlbrock's German test, they assess speech understanding in quiet and in noise.
Speech Reception Threshold Test
Speech Reception Threshold Test (SRT, spondee threshold): audiology test finding the lowest hearing level at which a listener repeats 50% of two-syllable spondaic words, used to cross-check the pure-tone audiogram.
Sphygmomanometry
Sphygmomanometry is the indirect measurement of arterial blood pressure with an inflatable cuff, a pressure gauge, and a stethoscope or automated sensor, yielding systolic and diastolic values.
Spontaneous breathing trial
A spontaneous breathing trial (SBT) is a bedside critical care test, usually lasting 30 to 120 minutes, that assesses whether a mechanically ventilated patient is ready for extubation.
Spurting
Spurting: present participle of the English verb spurt, to flow out suddenly and forcefully in a stream; verb attested 1560s, of obscure origin; also a medical term for arterial bleeding and a GEMET agricultural term for spray application.
Sputum culture
A sputum culture is a laboratory test that grows mucus coughed up from the lungs to identify bacteria or fungi causing pneumonia, tuberculosis, or bronchiectasis infections.
Sputum cytology
Sputum cytology is a noninvasive, inexpensive diagnostic test that examines cells from coughed-up sputum under the microscope to detect lung cancer, though it is no longer recommended for screening.
ST2-IPF trial
ST2-IPF: sit-to-stand exercise testing in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, anchored by trial NCT03268915 (3-minute test reproducibility, Grenoble/Lyon) and validation studies comparing 1-min, 3-min, and 5-repetition protocols with the 6-minute walk test.
Stabilometry
Stabilometry is a clinical assessment method that quantifies postural sway in standing subjects with a force platform, used in evaluating vestibular deficit and fall risk.
Star excursion balance test
The star excursion balance test (SEBT) is a clinical test of dynamic postural control: balancing on one leg while reaching maximally with the other along taped floor lines.
Static perimetry
Static perimetry, also known as standard automated perimetry, is an ophthalmic test measuring visual field sensitivity at fixed grid locations, the clinical standard for glaucoma since the 1980s.
Static posturography
Static posturography, also called stabilometry, is a noninvasive test that measures body sway during quiet standing on a force platform, used to assess balance in vestibular and neurological disorders.
Steady-state visually evoked potential
The steady-state visually evoked potential (SSVEP) is the brain's periodic electrical response to a flickering visual stimulus, recorded from the scalp and easy to isolate in the frequency domain.
Step nucleic acid amplification test
Step nucleic acid amplification test (sNAAT) is a proposed label for an isothermal nucleic acid amplification test detecting pathogen genomes at one constant temperature, without PCR's thermal cycling.
Stereo electroencephalography
Stereo electroencephalography (SEEG) is an invasive brain monitoring technique using depth electrodes through small skull holes to locate the seizure onset zone in drug-resistant focal epilepsy.
Stereoelectroencephalography
Stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) is an invasive neurophysiological technique in which depth electrodes are implanted in the brain to locate seizures in drug-resistant focal epilepsy, developed in Paris in the 1950s.
STONE score
The STONE score is a clinical prediction rule that estimates the probability of a ureteral stone in emergency department patients with suspected renal colic, using five bedside variables.
Stool culture
Stool culture is a microbiological test that grows bacteria from fecal specimens to identify the pathogens causing bacterial gastroenteritis, including Salmonella, Shigella, Campylobacter, and E. coli O157:H7.
Stool DNA test
A stool DNA test is an at-home colorectal cancer screening test that detects DNA shed from tumors into stool, marketed as Cologuard and FDA approved in 2014.
STOP-BANG questionnaire
The STOP-Bang questionnaire is an 8-item yes/no tool that estimates obstructive sleep apnea risk, developed for surgical patients by Frances Chung and colleagues in 2008.
Stress electrocardiography
Stress electrocardiography, or exercise ECG testing, records a continuous electrocardiogram during treadmill or cycle exercise to detect myocardial ischemia and assess prognosis in known or suspected coronary artery disease.
Structured Clinical Interview for DSM
The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM (SCID) is a semi-structured clinician interview that establishes psychiatric diagnoses using DSM criteria, long considered the research gold standard.
Subjective refraction
Subjective refraction is the assessment of refractive error by presenting lenses and using patient responses to find the best correction, the gold standard for spectacle prescription.
Substance abuse detection
Substance abuse detection, also called drug abuse screening, is the set of clinical methods for identifying drug or alcohol misuse through questionnaires, laboratory testing, and electronic health record analysis.
Surgical Clearance
Surgical clearance, also called medical clearance, is the process of evaluating whether a patient is healthy enough for surgery, usually a preoperative history and physical examination done to minimize perioperative risk.
Surgical Diagnostic Techniques
Surgical diagnostic techniques (MeSH D003949) are procedures for diagnosing disease by examining the pathological site or operative field during surgery, including frozen section, intraoperative ultrasound, endosonography, and margin assessment.
Surveillance culture
A surveillance culture is a microbiology test that detects colonization by multidrug-resistant organisms such as MRSA, VRE, and Candida auris in patients without infection signs, guiding isolation and decolonization.
Sweat test
The sweat test is a diagnostic procedure that measures chloride concentration in stimulated sweat to diagnose cystic fibrosis; a chloride level of 60 mmol/L or above supports the diagnosis.