Human health and medicine

PERVI-M trial

PERVI-M (NCT07320183), also called the Pervistop male HPV trial, is a Gemelli IRCCS randomized pilot of EGCG, folic acid, vitamin B12, and hyaluronic acid for HPV-DNA clearance in HPV-positive men seeking pregnancy.

Pes cavus

Pes cavus (high arch feet) is a multiplanar foot deformity with an abnormally raised medial longitudinal arch, usually neuromuscular (often Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease), causing pain and ankle instability; treated with custom foot orthoses or surgery.

PESA study

PESA (Progression of Early Subclinical Atherosclerosis) CNIC-Santander: Spanish prospective cohort of 4,184 Banco Santander employees aged 40-54 in Madrid, imaged since 2010 with ultrasound and CT; found subclinical atherosclerosis in 63%.

Pescetarianism

Pescetarianism, also spelled pescatarianism or pesco-vegetarianism, is a diet excluding land-animal meat while including fish, seafood, dairy, and eggs; noted for omega-3 intake, high Healthy Eating Index scores, and moderate carbon footprint.

Pessary

Pessary: a vaginal device supporting the uterus or vaginal walls, used for pelvic organ prolapse, stress incontinence, and cervical insufficiency; ring type most common, over 200 historical types, fitted in 73-83% of cases.

PET reconstruction

PET reconstruction is the computational step that converts coincidence events recorded by a PET scanner into a 3D image of radiotracer concentration, typically using statistical methods like MLEM and OSEM.

PET-MR imaging

PET-MR imaging is a hybrid modality acquiring PET and MRI data in one examination, useful for brain, prostate, cardiac, and pediatric imaging with lower radiation dose.

PET-MRI

PET-MRI is a hybrid medical imaging method that acquires PET and MRI in a single scanner, improving diagnostic accuracy over PET/CT while greatly lowering radiation dose.

PET/CT imaging

PET/CT imaging, also called FDG PET/CT, is a hybrid nuclear medicine examination that fuses PET metabolic activity with CT anatomy, improving cancer staging accuracy by roughly 10–15%.

PETAL trial (NCT07233512)

PETAL (NCT07233512), Periodontal Treatment in Alzheimer's Disease, is a randomized delayed-start trial at CHU de Liège testing whether periodontal therapy improves PACC cognition, biomarkers, and MRI outcomes in 70 planned patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease and stage 3-4 periodontitis over 24 months.

Petechia

Petechia (plural petechiae): pinpoint non-blanching skin or mucous-membrane hemorrhages under 2 mm from capillary bleeding. Causes include thrombocytopenia, platelet dysfunction, coagulation disorders, vasculitis, infections, straining, and drugs; fever with petechiae raises concern for meningococcal disease.

Petechiae

Petechiae are pinpoint, round spots of bleeding under the skin or mucous membranes, caused by blood escaping broken capillaries, that do not blanch when pressed.

Peter A. McCullough

Peter A. McCullough, American cardiologist (Baylor/Texas A&M), COVID-19 early-treatment promoter and vaccine critic; ABIM certification revoked per lookup tool, multiple paper retractions, Wellness Company chief science officer.

Peter Attia

Peter Attia, Canadian-born American physician, founder of Early Medical, host of The Peter Attia Drive podcast, and author of Outlive (2023); known for Medicine 3.0 longevity framework, the four horsemen diseases, and his 2026 resignation from CBS News over Epstein emails.

Peter C. Farrell

Peter C. Farrell is an Australian-born chemical engineer who founded ResMed in 1989 and led the San Diego sleep apnea device maker as chief executive and chairman.

Oct 10, 2026

Peter Freyer

Sir Peter Johnston Freyer (1851–1921) was an Irish surgeon in the Indian Medical Service who, after retiring to London, performed and publicised the suprapubic prostatectomy from 1900.

Peter O. Kohler

Peter O. Kohler is an American physician and endocrinologist, president of Oregon Health Sciences University from 1988 to 2006 and founder of OurPharma, Arkansas's first generic drug company.

Peter Rosen

Peter Rosen (1935–2019) was an American emergency physician regarded as a founding father of emergency medicine, who founded two residencies and edited Rosen's Emergency Medicine.

Peter Slavin

Peter Slavin is an American physician-executive, president of Massachusetts General Hospital from 2003 to 2021, who became president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in October 2024.

Peter Wayne Marks

Peter Wayne Marks is an American hematologist-oncologist who directed the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research from 2016 to 2025, overseeing COVID-19 vaccine review.

Peters anomaly

Peters anomaly (irido-corneo-trabecular dysgenesis): rare congenital anterior segment dysgenesis causing central corneal opacity with posterior stromal and Descemet defect; types I and II, FOXC1/PAX6/PITX2/CYP1B1 genes, frequent glaucoma, keratoplasty outcomes.

Peters plus syndrome

Peters plus syndrome (Krause-Kivlin syndrome, PTRPLS, OMIM 261540) is a rare autosomal recessive congenital disorder of glycosylation caused by B3GLCT variants, featuring Peters anomaly with corneal opacity, rhizomelic short stature, cleft lip/palate, and intellectual disability.

Pethidine

Pethidine (meperidine, Demerol, Dolantin) is the first fully synthetic opioid, a 4-phenylpiperidine discovered accidentally in 1930s Germany by Eisleb and Schaumann, long used in obstetrics and postoperative pain but now superseded in many countries.

Petrosectomy

Petrosectomy is an operation in otology and skull base surgery that removes part or all of the petrous temporal bone, usually to eradicate chronic infection or cholesteatoma.

Petrositis

Petrositis, or petrous apicitis, is rare suppuration of the petrous apex of the temporal bone from spreading otitis media, causing Gradenigo's syndrome: otorrhea, trigeminal facial pain, and abducens palsy. Treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics, surgery if unresponsive; ICD-10 H70.2, ICD-11 AB11.2.