edgepedia

Clinical assessment and procedures

5,159 articles

Near visual acuity

Near visual acuity is the smallest readable print at reading distance (about 35-40 cm), tested with Jaeger, Rosenbaum, N-notation, or ETDRS near charts; Jaeger's 1854 Schrift-Scalen was the first standard, but Jaeger sizes were never defined.

Near-infrared fluorescence imaging

Near-infrared fluorescence imaging, also called infrared fluorescence imaging, is an optical technique using fluorescent probes to visualize vessels, bile ducts, lymphatics, and tumors during diagnosis and surgery.

Near-infrared II fluorescence imaging

Near-infrared II fluorescence imaging is an optical technique using 1,000–1,700 nm fluorescent probes to image deep tissue, such as blood vessels and tumors, with high resolution.

Near-infrared photoimmunotherapy

Near-infrared photoimmunotherapy (NIR-PIT) is a targeted cancer therapy in which an antibody-bound dye activated by near-infrared light kills tumor cells; its agent Akalux is approved in Japan for head and neck cancer.

Necrosectomy

Necrosectomy is the removal of dead tissue, most often necrotic pancreatic and peripancreatic tissue in severe necrotizing pancreatitis, now usually done by a minimally invasive step-up approach starting with drainage.

NEED study

NEED study (Neuromed Epilepsy EEG Database, NCT04647825): observational IRCCS Neuromed trial building a free long-term EEG and ECG database of 200 drug-resistant epilepsy patients with expert seizure annotations for automatic seizure detection research.

Needle biopsy

Needle biopsy is a diagnostic procedure in which a hollow needle, usually guided by imaging, removes cells or tissue from a suspected lesion for microscopic examination.

Needle fasciotomy

Needle fasciotomy, also called needle aponeurotomy or percutaneous needle fasciotomy, is a minimally invasive hand procedure that divides Dupuytren's contracture cords with a hypodermic needle under local anesthesia.

Needle-free injection

Needle-free injection is a drug delivery method that uses a high-velocity fluid jet instead of a needle, delivering vaccines and medications in about a tenth of a second.

Negative-Pressure Ventilators

Negative-pressure ventilators (iron lungs, cuirass ventilators, Exovent) assist breathing by lowering pressure around the chest; mainstay of polio care until 1950s, now used for neuromuscular disorders and kyphoscoliosis.

Negative-pressure wound therapy

Negative-pressure wound therapy (NPWT), also called vacuum-assisted closure, is a wound treatment using a sealed dressing connected to a vacuum pump. Pioneered by Argenta and Morykwas in the 1990s; best evidence supports incisional use to reduce surgical site infections.

Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy

Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) is chemotherapy and radiotherapy given before surgery, used mainly for locally advanced rectal and esophageal cancer; in rectal cancer it cut five-year local relapse from 13% to 6%.

Neoadjuvant radiotherapy

Neoadjuvant radiotherapy is radiation therapy given before surgical removal of a tumor, standard in rectal cancer, soft tissue sarcoma, and esophageal cancer, where it lowers local recurrence.

NeoAKISTOP study

NeoAKISTOP (NeoAKI STOP, NCT05851222) is a single-center retrospective observational study at Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda, Milan, using big data and machine learning to predict neonatal AKI in NICU infants exposed to nephrotoxic drugs; planned enrollment 4,200, status not yet recruiting.

Neobladder reconstruction

Neobladder reconstruction is a urinary diversion operation that builds a new intestinal reservoir connected to the urethra, most often from terminal ileum, so patients can urinate normally after radical cystectomy.

NeoMassage trial

NeoMassage (NCT06273202) is a randomized trial at Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, testing whether infant massage changes quadriceps muscle thickness and trophism on ultrasound in stable preterm infants aged 28 to 35 weeks.

Neonatal resuscitation

Neonatal resuscitation is the emergency care given to newborns who fail to breathe at birth, from ventilation within the first minute to chest compressions and epinephrine.

Neonatology

Neonatology: pediatric subspecialty for medical care of newborn infants, especially preterm and ill babies, practiced in NICUs. Covers incubators, surfactant, CPAP, resuscitation, family-centred care, and disparities.

Neoplasm Grading

Neoplasm grading, also called histologic or tumor grade, describes how abnormal cancer cells look under a microscope and how quickly they are likely to grow and spread.

Nephrectomy

A nephrectomy is an operation to remove all or part of a kidney, performed to treat kidney cancer or to harvest a kidney from a living donor.

Nephrologists

Nephrologists, also called renal physicians, are internal medicine specialists treating kidney disease, dialysis, hypertension, and transplant care. US density is 3.6 per 100,000; projected 2025–2037 demand growth of 19.5% far exceeds 1.4% supply growth.

Nephrology (νεφρός)

Nephrology (νεφρός, kidney) is the internal medicine specialty for kidney disease, hypertension, dialysis, and transplantation; coined by A.A. Osman, it emerged as a specialty around 1960.

Nephrometry

Nephrometry, or nephrometry score, is a set of urology scoring systems that rate kidney tumor complexity on CT imaging, led by the R.E.N.A.L. and PADUA scores from 2009.

Nephron-sparing surgery

Nephron-sparing surgery is a family of operations for kidney tumors, usually partial nephrectomy, that removes the tumor while preserving the rest of the kidney; it is the standard of care for localized T1 renal tumors.

Nephroscopy

Nephroscopy is the endoscopic examination of the kidney's interior via a tract through the flank, serving as the visual and working component of percutaneous nephrolithotomy.

Nephrostomy

Nephrostomy, or percutaneous nephrostomy, is a urology and interventional radiology procedure that drains an obstructed kidney through a tube placed through the skin, first reported by Willard Goodwin in 1955.

Nephrotomy

Nephrotomy: surgical incision into any part of the kidney (MeSH D000074643), historically for renal stones; anatrophic nephrotomy uses Brödel's avascular plane and remains in limited open use.

Nephroureterectomy

Nephroureterectomy, also known as radical nephroureterectomy, is the en bloc removal of the kidney, entire ureter, and bladder cuff, performed mainly for upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma.

Nerve ablation

Nerve ablation is a procedure that destroys nerve tissue with heat or chemicals to interrupt pain. It is used to target chronic joint and back pain.

Nerve crush

Nerve crush is a surgical technique that deliberately compresses a peripheral nerve to interrupt axons while preserving the connective tissue sheaths, producing a standardized axonotmesis used to study nerve regeneration.