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Diseases and injuries

8,704 articles

Chlamydia (genus)

Chlamydia (genus Chlamydia, family Chlamydiaceae): gram-negative obligate intracellular bacteria with a biphasic cycle of infectious elementary bodies and replicative reticulate bodies; includes human pathogens C. trachomatis, C. pneumoniae, and C. psittaci.

Chlamydia trachomatis

Chlamydia trachomatis, an obligate intracellular bacterium with a biphasic EB/RB developmental cycle, causes trachoma and the world's most common bacterial STI; treated with doxycycline, no vaccine exists.

Chlamydial conjunctivitis

Chlamydial conjunctivitis, or adult inclusion conjunctivitis, is a chronic follicular conjunctivitis caused by sexually transmitted Chlamydia trachomatis serovars D-K; related neonatal and trachoma forms exist, treated with systemic azithromycin or doxycycline.

Chlamydial peritonitis

Chlamydial peritonitis (ICD-11 1C21; ICD-10-CM A74.81) is peritoneal infection by Chlamydia trachomatis, mostly in women via fallopian tube spread, causing pain, ascites, and high CA125 that mimics cancer or tuberculosis.

Chloracne

Chloracne, also called MADISH, is a persistent acneform eruption caused by halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons, especially dioxin (TCDD), producing comedones, cysts, and nodules on cheeks, postauricular skin, axillae, and groin with a spared nose.

Chlorine gas poisoning

Chlorine gas poisoning: lung injury from inhaling Cl2, a heavier-than-air, water-soluble irritant gas that forms hydrochloric and hypochlorous acid in tissue. No antidote; supportive care. Civilian mortality about 0.6%; first used as a weapon at Ypres, 1915.

Chlorpropamide

Chlorpropamide, formerly marketed as Diabinese, is a first-generation sulfonylurea introduced in 1960 for type 2 diabetes, distinguished by a roughly 36-hour half-life and also used for its antidiuretic effect in diabetes insipidus.

Choanal atresia

Choanal atresia: congenital bony or membranous obstruction of the posterior nasal openings (choanae), incidence 1:5000–8000, female-predominant, linked to CHARGE syndrome; bilateral form is a neonatal airway emergency treated by endoscopic transnasal repair, with stenting increasingly questioned.

Choking

Choking is airway obstruction by a foreign body. Covers partial versus complete obstruction, 2025 AHA and Red Cross first-aid sequences, hypoxia timelines, mortality statistics, complications, and the anti-choking device evidence.

Cholangiocarcinoma

Cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer; iCCA, pCCA/Klatskin, dCCA): adenocarcinoma of biliary epithelium, second most common primary liver cancer. Risk: PSC, liver flukes, cirrhosis; drivers FGFR2 fusions, IDH1/2, KRAS; treated by resection, transplant protocols, chemoimmunotherapy.

Cholangitis

Cholangitis: inflammation of the bile ducts, intrahepatic or extrahepatic. Covers acute ascending cholangitis (obstruction plus infection, treated with antibiotics and ERCP drainage) and chronic sclerosing forms including PSC and IgG4-related disease.

Cholecystitis

Cholecystitis is gallbladder inflammation, usually from a gallstone blocking the cystic duct; acute or chronic, calculous or acalculous. Diagnosed by ultrasound and HIDA; treated with antibiotics and early laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Cholera

Cholera, also called Asiatic cholera, is an acute diarrheal infection from Vibrio cholerae spread via contaminated water and food; seventh pandemic since 1961, treatable with oral rehydration solution and preventable with WASH and oral cholera vaccines.

Cholestasis

Cholestasis, also known as biliary stasis, is the reduction or stoppage of bile flow, occurring within or outside the liver and causing jaundice, dark urine, pale stools, and itching.

Cholestatic pruritus

Cholestatic pruritus, also called cholestatic itch, is severe non-histaminergic itching in cholestatic liver disease such as PBC, PSC, and intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy; treated stepwise with cholestyramine, rifampicin, opioid antagonists, sertraline, and IBAT inhibitors.

Cholesterol atheroembolism

Cholesterol atheroembolism, or cholesterol embolization syndrome, is a systemic disease in which cholesterol crystals from ruptured aortic plaques lodge in small arteries, causing ischemic and inflammatory multiorgan damage, classically blue toes, renal failure, and eosinophilia after vascular procedures or anticoagulation.

Cholesterol embolism

Cholesterol embolism (atheroembolism, cholesterol crystal embolization, blue toe syndrome): cholesterol crystals from ruptured atherosclerotic plaques occlude small arteries, damaging kidneys, skin, gut, brain, and eyes; mostly iatrogenic, biopsy-diagnosed, poor prognosis.

Cholesterolosis of gallbladder

Cholesterolosis of gallbladder, also called strawberry gallbladder, is a benign accumulation of cholesterol esters in mucosal macrophages, found in 9-26% of surgical series, usually symptomless, not linked to gallbladder cancer.

Choline deficiency

Choline deficiency: inadequate intake of the essential nutrient choline, causing fatty liver, liver damage, and muscle damage; susceptibility varies by sex, PEMT genetics, pregnancy, and parenteral nutrition.

Cholinergic urticaria

Cholinergic urticaria (CholU, heat bumps) is a chronic inducible urticaria causing small itchy wheals when body temperature rises and sweating begins. Exercise triggers nearly 9 in 10 cases; antihistamines are first-line, omalizumab for refractory disease.

Chondrodermatitis nodularis

Chondrodermatitis nodularis (CNH, Winkler disease, chondrodermatitis nodularis chronica helicis) is a benign, painful inflammatory nodule of the ear's helix or antihelix, 4-6 mm, caused by pressure and poor blood supply, often mistaken for skin cancer.

Chondrodysplasia with joint dislocations, gPAPP type

Chondrodysplasia with joint dislocations, gPAPP type (gPAPP deficiency, OMIM 614078) is an extremely rare autosomal recessive skeletal dysplasia caused by BPNT2/IMPAD1 mutations on 8q12, marked by prenatal short stature, congenital joint dislocations, cleft palate, and brachydactyly.

Chondrodysplasia-difference of sex development syndrome

Chondrodysplasia-difference of sex development syndrome, or Nivelon-Nivelon-Mabille syndrome (OMIM 600092), is an extremely rare autosomal recessive HHAT-related disorder combining 46,XY complete gonadal dysgenesis with severe chondrodysplastic dwarfism, first described in 1992 in two siblings.

Chondroitin sulfate

Chondroitin sulfate, a glycosaminoglycan and major cartilage component, is sold with glucosamine for osteoarthritis; trials show small, inconsistent pain benefit, possible slowing of joint space narrowing, good safety, and conflicting guidelines.

Chondromalacia

Chondromalacia, or chondromalacia patellae, is softening of articular cartilage, especially under the kneecap, causing anterior knee pain; graded by the Outerbridge scale and distinct from patellofemoral pain syndrome.

Chondromalacia patellae

Chondromalacia patellae, softening and fraying of kneecap cartilage, synonym of patellofemoral pain and runner's knee; MRI sensitivity 66%, grade not tied to symptoms, treated with hip and knee strengthening.

Chondromyxoid fibroma

Chondromyxoid fibroma (CMF) is a rare benign cartilaginous bone tumor first described by Jaffe and Lichtenstein in 1948, arising mainly in the long-bone metaphyses of young adults, marked by GRM1 rearrangements and treated by curettage or resection.

Chondropathies

Chondropathies are diseases of cartilage; ICD-11 category FB82 covering chondromalacia, osteochondritis dissecans, slipped upper femoral epiphysis, and relapsing polychondritis, graded by the Outerbridge system.

Chondrosarcoma

Chondrosarcoma, a malignant cartilage-forming bone tumor group (about 1 per 200,000 yearly in the US), includes conventional, dedifferentiated, mesenchymal, and clear cell subtypes; surgery is the mainstay, with survival from 88% to 7% at 5 years depending on grade and subtype.

Chordoid glioma

Chordoid glioma, also called chordoid glioma of the third ventricle, is a rare WHO grade 2 astrocytic brain tumor of the anterior third ventricle, defined by the PRKCA D463H mutation and GFAP/TTF-1 co-expression, treated mainly by resection.