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Clinical assessment and procedures

5,159 articles

Placental Function Tests

Placental function tests assess placental health in pregnancy via maternal biochemistry (oestriol, hPL, PlGF), uterine and umbilical artery Doppler, and ultrasound. Cochrane evidence shows biochemical tests alone do not improve pregnancy outcomes; Doppler benefits high-risk pregnancies.

Plain radiography

Plain radiography is an imaging method in which an X-ray beam passed through a patient produces a two-dimensional image, first-line for suspected fractures, pneumonia, and intestinal obstruction.

Plane tree (Platanus) pollen allergen skin prick test solution

悬铃木花粉变应原皮肤点刺液 (Platanus pollen allergen skin prick solution), Wolwo Bio-Pharmaceutical's Class 1 biological product approved by China's NMPA in December 2024 (国药准字S20240057); skin prick test reagent aiding diagnosis of Platanus pollen type I allergy, sensitivity 91.13%, specificity 88.39%.

Plane wave imaging

Plane wave imaging is an ultrasound method that transmits an unfocused plane wave covering the whole region at once, reaching ultrafast frame rates conventional focused scanning cannot attain.

Planimetry (medicine)

Planimetry is a clinical method that measures the surface area of wounds, ulcers, burns, and skin lesions from traced or photographed outlines to track healing.

Plaque brachytherapy

Plaque brachytherapy is a radiation therapy technique in which a radioactive plaque is sutured to the sclera to deliver a localized dose to an intraocular tumor, most often uveal melanoma.

Plaque radiotherapy

Plaque radiotherapy is a brachytherapy technique in which a radioactive plaque is sutured to the sclera over an intraocular tumor, mainly to treat uveal melanoma.

Plasma exchange

Plasma exchange, also called therapeutic plasma exchange or plasmapheresis, is a procedure that removes a patient's plasma and replaces it with albumin or donor plasma.

Plasma osmolality

Plasma osmolality (serum osmolality) is the concentration of osmotically active particles in plasma, normally 275-295 mOsm/kg, measured by freezing point osmometry; the osmolal gap screens for toxic alcohols.

Plasma Skin Regeneration

Plasma skin regeneration (PSR, Portrait, NeoGen): non-laser skin resurfacing using millisecond pulses of nitrogen plasma, 1-4 J, FDA cleared 2006 for wrinkles, actinic keratoses, and acne scars.

Plastic and reconstructive surgery

Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (PRS) is the monthly peer-reviewed official journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins since 1946, with open-access companion PRS Global Open (2013).

Plastic surgery

Plastic surgery: surgical specialty restoring or altering body form and function, spanning reconstructive and cosmetic work. Founded as a specialty by Harold Gillies in WWI at Sidcup; tubed pedicle flaps; now millions of procedures yearly.

Plastination

Plastination, invented by Gunther von Hagens in 1977 at Heidelberg, preserves anatomical specimens by replacing water and fat with curable polymers via vacuum impregnation, yielding dry, odorless, durable teaching and exhibition specimens (Body Worlds).

Plate fixation

Plate fixation is a surgical technique for treating fractures that uses a metal plate and screws to provide absolute or relative stability for bone healing.

Platelet aggregometry

Platelet aggregometry is a family of laboratory tests that measures platelet clumping in blood samples, usually after adding an agonist such as ADP or collagen, to diagnose platelet function disorders.

Platelet function testing

Platelet function testing, also called platelet function tests, is a group of laboratory assays measuring platelet aggregation and activation to diagnose bleeding disorders and monitor antiplatelet drug effects.

Platelet transfusion

A platelet transfusion infuses donated platelets to prevent or treat bleeding caused by thrombocytopenia or platelet dysfunction, with about 2.2 million doses given yearly in the United States.

PLATIDE-PCI trial

PLATIDE-PCI (NCT02748330) is a completed phase 4, single-center randomized trial at Peking Union Medical College Hospital comparing ticagrelor versus clopidogrel platelet inhibition (VerifyNow PRU) in about 40 type 2 diabetic patients after elective PCI.

PLATO trial

PLATO (PLATelet inhibition and patient Outcomes) trial: 18,624-patient AstraZeneca randomized trial of ticagrelor versus clopidogrel in acute coronary syndrome; positive 2009 result, later disputed US subgroup and adjudication controversy.

Plethysmography

Plethysmography is the measurement and recording of volume changes in a body part, organ, or whole body, applied to lung volumes, body composition, and limb blood flow.

Pleural biopsy

Pleural biopsy is a diagnostic procedure that samples the pleura lining the chest wall to find the cause of a pleural effusion, most often tuberculosis or pleural cancer.

Pleurectomy

Pleurectomy is a surgical operation that removes part of the pleura, the membrane lining the chest wall and covering the lung, used for pneumothorax, empyema, and mesothelioma.

PLHPN trial

PLHPN (NCT03877107) was a French bicentric single-group trial testing whether depletive lumbar puncture improves overactive bladder symptoms in idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus, with shunt surgery urinary outcomes as a secondary endpoint.

PMTforDR-TB study

PMTforDR-TB (Probe Melting Technology for Rapid Detection of Drug Resistant Tuberculosis) is a multicenter observational study in China, sponsored by Beijing Hospital, evaluating rapid molecular detection of drug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis.

Pneumatic otoscopy

Pneumatic otoscopy is a diagnostic examination in which a pneumatic otoscope puffs air against the eardrum to judge its movement, directly testing for middle ear effusion.

Pneumatic retinopexy

Pneumatic retinopexy is an office-based procedure that repairs selected retinal detachments by injecting an expandable gas bubble to seal the retinal break while the retina reattaches.

Pneumoencephalography

Pneumoencephalography (PEG), a historical brain-imaging technique introduced by Walter Dandy in 1919 and independently by Adolf Bingel, replaced cerebrospinal fluid with air via lumbar puncture to X-ray the ventricles; CT made it obsolete in the 1970s.

Pneumonectomy

Pneumonectomy is the surgical removal of an entire lung, performed mainly for advanced lung cancer and mesothelioma; the first successful one was reported by Evarts Graham in 1933.

Pneumonia severity index

The pneumonia severity index (PSI) is a clinical prediction rule, reported in 1997, that sorts adults with community-acquired pneumonia into five classes of 30-day mortality risk to guide site-of-care decisions.

Pneumoradiography

Pneumoradiography, also called insufflation or negative contrast radiography, is X-ray imaging using air, oxygen, or another gas as contrast medium; a MeSH descriptor (D011029, 1974) covering historical techniques like pneumoencephalography.