Human health and medicine

Diverticulum

A diverticulum (plural: diverticula) is a saclike pouch of mucosa protruding from the wall of a tubular organ, most often the colon, where they are very common in older adults.

Diverticulum of bladder (bladder diverticulum, vesical diverticulum): a mucosal herniation through the bladder's muscular wall, congenital or acquired (usually from outlet obstruction). Stasis causes infection, stones, and cancer; diverticulectomy, increasingly robotic, treats symptomatic cases.

Diverticulum of small intestine

Diverticulum of small intestine (small bowel diverticulum, SBD): an outpouching of the small intestinal wall; Meckel's is the only true congenital form, acquired false diverticula affect duodenum, jejunum, ileum, causing bleeding, diverticulitis, perforation, obstruction.

Diverting ileostomy

A diverting ileostomy is a temporary surgical stoma that diverts stool away from a distal bowel anastomosis, usually after rectal resection, reducing leaks but often never being closed.

Diving medicine

Diving medicine is the medical field dealing with the effects of pressure and immersion on the body, covering decompression sickness, barotrauma, and assessing whether a person is fit to dive.

Diving reflex

Diving reflex (mammalian diving response, diving bradycardia): apnea, bradycardia, and peripheral vasoconstriction triggered by facial water immersion, found in all vertebrates studied; human heart rate falls with a 10.4 s time constant, down to 6 beats/min in extremes.

Dix–Hallpike test

Dix–Hallpike test (also Dix-Hallpike maneuver, Hallpike-Dix test): bedside head-positioning test introduced by Dix and Hallpike in 1952; gold standard for diagnosing posterior canal BPPV via provoked positional nystagmus resolving within 60 seconds.

Dixon MRI

Dixon MRI is a magnetic resonance imaging technique, reported by W. T. Dixon in 1984, that separates water and fat signals to produce fat-suppressed images and quantitative fat-fraction maps.

Dizziness

Dizziness: impaired spatial orientation covering vertigo, light-headedness, and unsteadiness; 11% one-year U.S. prevalence, classified into acute, episodic, and chronic vestibular syndromes, evaluated with the HINTS bedside examination.

Dizziness or giddiness

Dizziness, or giddiness, is an imprecise symptom covering vertigo, disequilibrium, presyncope, and lightheadedness; modern diagnosis relies on timing, triggers, HINTS examination, and targeted testing rather than symptom description.

DK1-CDG

DK1-CDG (dolichol kinase deficiency, CDG type Im) is an autosomal recessive glycosylation disorder from DOLK mutations at 9q34.11, causing dilated cardiomyopathy, hypotonia, and ichthyosis, prevalence under 1 in a million.

DMF index

The DMF index is a dental epidemiology measure counting permanent teeth that are decayed, missing, or filled; mean DMFT at age 12 is the WHO benchmark.

DMMETCOV19 trial

DMMETCOV19 (NCT04626089) was a withdrawn ClinicalTrials.gov trial of metformin glycinate by Laboratorios Silanes in hospitalized COVID-19 patients with metabolic syndrome or type 2 diabetes; its completed sister trial DMMETCOV19-2 (NCT04625985) reported faster viral clearance.

DMSA scan

A DMSA scan is a nuclear medicine imaging test using a technetium-99m tracer to picture functioning kidney cortex, most often in children after urinary tract infection.

DN trial

DN trial (NCT02838394, "Dry Needling and Functional Improvement"): Brigham Young University randomized trial testing whether gluteal trigger point dry needling evokes segmental neuromodulation and reduces disability; terminated, 20-participant target, blunted-needle sham.

DN022150 (KRAS G12D inhibitor)

DN022150 (DN-022150) is an intravenous, noncovalent small-molecule KRAS G12D inhibitor by Jiangxi Kvvit Pharmaceutical; phase I/IIa showed no DLTs and ORR up to 41.9% in pancreatic cancer, with two phase 3 trials ongoing.

DNA Contamination

DNA contamination is the unintentional introduction of exogenous DNA into a sample, PCR reaction, or evidence item, also called adventitious introduction in forensic practice; distinguished from background DNA, controlled through segregation, clean rooms, negative controls, and elimination databases.

Oct 22, 2026

DNA origami drug delivery

DNA origami drug carriers are nanoscale delivery vehicles made by folding a long DNA scaffold with short staple strands, introduced at Caltech in 2006 and loaded with drugs like doxorubicin.

Oct 22, 2026

DNA origami vaccines

DNA origami vaccines are experimental vaccines built on folded DNA nanostructures that co-display viral antigens and adjuvants at precisely controlled nanoscale spacings to boost immune responses.

DNA ploidy analysis

DNA ploidy analysis is a cytometric method measuring the DNA content of individual cells by flow or image cytometry to detect aneuploidy in cancers and estimate the S-phase fraction.

DNA vaccination

DNA vaccination delivers plasmid DNA encoding an antigen into a recipient's cells, so the host produces the antigen and develops antibody and T-cell immunity against infectious disease or cancer.

DNAJB6-related limb-girdle muscular dystrophy D1

DNAJB6-related limb-girdle muscular dystrophy D1, also called LGMD1D, is a rare autosomal dominant muscular dystrophy caused by DNAJB6 gene mutations, typically causing adult-onset pelvic girdle weakness.

DNMT3A-related microcephalic dwarfism

DNMT3A-related microcephalic dwarfism, also called Heyn-Sproul-Jackson syndrome (HESJAS, OMIM 618724), is a rare autosomal dominant disorder from de novo gain-of-function PWWP-domain DNMT3A variants, causing microcephaly, severe growth failure, and developmental delay, the reciprocal phenotype of Tatton-Brown-Rahman overgrowth syndrome.

DNV3

DNV3 is a humanized IgG4 anti-LAG-3 monoclonal antibody from Shima Medicine, tested with toripalimab and chemotherapy in advanced melanoma (44.4% ORR), and in planned NSCLC trials.

Oct 20, 2026

DO-RE-MI C-S trial

The DO-RE-MI C-S trial is a University of Calgary pilot randomized controlled trial testing whether pasteurized donor milk better preserves the gut microbiome of cesarean-born full-term infants than formula.

Dobesilic acid

Dobesilic acid, also known as dobesilate, is an aromatic sulfonic acid derived from hydroquinone; its diethylammonium salt, etamsylate, is a hemostatic drug used against capillary bleeding since the 1960s.

Dobutamine

Dobutamine: synthetic catecholamine inotrope stimulating cardiac beta1 receptors, IV infusion for acute heart failure and cardiogenic shock, also used off-label for stress echocardiography; developed 1968–1974, US approval July 1978; DOREMI trial found no outcome difference versus milrinone.