Human health and medicine

Exchange arthroplasty

Exchange arthroplasty is a surgical procedure that removes an infected or failed joint prosthesis and implants a new one, in one stage or two with an antibiotic spacer.

Exchange transfusion

Exchange transfusion is a procedure in which a patient's blood is gradually withdrawn and replaced with donor blood, used for severe neonatal jaundice and sickle cell disease.

Exchange Transfusion, Whole Blood

Exchange transfusion, whole blood: replacing a patient's blood aliquot by aliquot with donor whole blood or reconstituted red cells plus plasma. Used for neonatal hyperbilirubinemia, hemolytic disease, and sickle cell disease; double-volume exchange is 160 mL/kg.

Excipient

Excipient: inactive ingredient added to drug products alongside the active pharmaceutical ingredient; from Latin excipere; aids manufacture, stability, bioavailability; 80-90% of product; regulated via FDA IID and EMA guidelines.

Excitatory postsynaptic potential

Excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP), a depolarizing postsynaptic potential that increases action potential likelihood; distinguished from IPSP by a reversal potential above spike threshold; mediated by glutamate receptors such as AMPA.

Excited delirium

Excited delirium (ExD/ExDS) is a disputed agitation syndrome coined in 1980s Miami by Wetli and Fishbain, long used to explain restraint deaths; unrecognized in DSM-5/ICD and abandoned by major medical bodies since 2023.

Excoriation disorder

Excoriation disorder, also called skin-picking disorder or dermatillomania, is a DSM-5 obsessive-compulsive and related disorder involving recurrent skin picking causing lesions; prevalence about 3.45%, treated with habit reversal therapy, SSRIs, and N-acetyl cysteine.

Oct 20, 2026

Exebacase

Exebacase (CF-301, PlySs2) is ContraFect's first-in-class antistaphylococcal phage lysin for S. aureus bacteremia; phase 2 showed MRSA benefit, but the phase 3 DISRUPT trial stopped for futility in 2022.

Executive dysfunction

Executive dysfunction is impaired ability to manage thoughts, emotions, and actions, seen in ADHD, addictions, depression, brain injury, and dementia. Core deficits involve inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility; treated via the underlying condition.

Executive functions

Executive functions: top-down cognitive processes (inhibition, working memory updating, set shifting) controlling goal-directed behavior, prefrontal-network based, impaired in ADHD and dementia, assessed by tests, rating scales, and VR.

Exenatide

Exenatide (Byetta, Bydureon) is a 39-amino-acid GLP-1 receptor agonist derived from exendin-4, first FDA-approved April 2005 for type 2 diabetes; renally eliminated, twice-daily or weekly formulations, now discontinued with no US generic.

Exenteration (surgery)

Exenteration is an ultraradical surgical procedure removing the organs of a body cavity en bloc, most often the pelvic organs, to treat advanced or recurrent cancer.

Exercise

Exercise: planned physical activity for fitness and health. Aerobic and resistance types; WHO advises 150-300 min moderate aerobic plus 2 days muscle-strengthening weekly; 31% of adults fall short.

Exercise echocardiography

Exercise echocardiography is a cardiac ultrasound test imaging the heart during or after exercise to detect ischemia, used to diagnose and risk-stratify coronary artery disease.

Exercise intolerance

Exercise intolerance is a reduced ability to perform physical activity, limited by dyspnea, fatigue, or leg discomfort. Causes include heart failure (about 50% of the 6 million U.S. patients), COPD, anemia, and Long COVID; CPET is the gold-standard assessment.

Exercise Movement Techniques

Exercise Movement Techniques: MeSH heading (D026241, introduced 2002) for structured physical activity methods promoting well-being, covering breathing exercises, Qigong, Dance Therapy, Tai Ji, Yoga, and Pilates-based exercises.

Exercise physiology

Exercise physiology: study of acute bodily responses and chronic adaptations to exercise, from Lavoisier's calorimetry and Hill's VO2max to modern FITT prescription, cardiac rehabilitation, wearables, and molecular transducers research.

Exercise stress testing

Exercise stress testing is a diagnostic procedure that monitors the ECG, blood pressure, and symptoms during treadmill exercise to detect myocardial ischemia and assess prognosis.

Exercise Therapy

Exercise therapy: prescribed physical activity regimens (exercise prescription, remedial exercise) to restore musculoskeletal function or reduce pain. Moderate-certainty evidence supports it for chronic low back pain, knee osteoarthritis, depression, and stroke rehabilitation.

Exercise Tolerance

Exercise tolerance: an individual's exercise capacity measured as maximal exercise duration or work load during an exercise test; assessed by CPET (gold standard), graded stress tests, or six-minute walk, and a strong prognostic marker.

Exercise tolerance test

The exercise tolerance test, also called the exercise stress test or exercise ECG, is a cardiology procedure that detects exercise-induced ischemia while the patient walks on a treadmill or cycles.

Oct 20, 2026

Exercise-induced anaphylaxis

Exercise-induced anaphylaxis (EIA) is a rare, potentially fatal hypersensitivity syndrome in which anaphylaxis occurs with exercise; in its food-dependent form, symptoms arise only when exercise follows eating a trigger food, most often wheat.

Oct 20, 2026

Exercise-induced bronchospasm

Exercise-induced bronchospasm, now called exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB), formerly exercise-induced asthma, is acute airway narrowing triggered by exercise, affecting up to 90% of asthma patients and 30–70% of elite athletes, diagnosed by a ≥10% FEV1 fall and treated with pre-exercise SABA.

Exercise-induced hyperinsulinism

Exercise-induced hyperinsulinism (EIHI, MCT1-HI, HHF7) is a rare autosomal dominant congenital hyperinsulinism caused by SLC16A1 promoter mutations, causing hypoglycemia 30–45 minutes after anaerobic exercise.

Exercise-induced malignant hyperthermia

Exercise-induced malignant hyperthermia, also called awake MH or exertional heat stroke, is a rare RYR1-related disorder in which exercise and heat trigger hyperthermia above 40°C, encephalopathy, and rhabdomyolysis, treated with dantrolene rather than cooling alone.

Exertional dizziness

Exertional dizziness (ICD-11 MB48.2), dizziness triggered by physical exertion; also called exertional vertigo. Causes include autonomic dysregulation, cardiac disease during exercise, and benign post-exercise postural hypotension.

Exertional rhabdomyolysis

Exertional rhabdomyolysis: exercise-induced skeletal muscle breakdown causing severe pain, swelling, dark urine and CK over 10,000 IU/L; main complication acute kidney injury, usually under 10% of cases.

Exfoliation (cosmetology)

Exfoliation (cosmetology), also called chemexfoliation when chemical, removes dead skin cells via mechanical scrubs, microdermabrasion, or hydroxy acid peels; distinguished from medical desquamation by its cosmetic purpose and FDA-supervised professional peels.

Exfoliative cytology

Exfoliative cytology is the microscopic examination of cells shed or scraped from body surfaces to detect infections, hormonal changes, and precancerous or cancerous lesions, best known through the Pap test.