Human health and medicine

Walter Jackson Freeman II

Walter Jackson Freeman II (1895–1972), American neurologist at George Washington University who with James Watts introduced lobotomy to the US in 1936 and invented the 1946 transorbital ice-pick lobotomy, performing over 2,900 operations in 23 states.

Walter Reed

Walter Reed (1851-1902), U.S. Army physician and epidemiologist, led the 1900 Yellow Fever Commission proving mosquitoes transmit yellow fever; namesake of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC), Bethesda, Maryland; also called Walter Reed Bethesda, formed 2011 from Walter Reed Army Medical Center and National Naval Medical Center; Level II trauma center, presidential hospital, flagship of US military medicine serving over 1 million beneficiaries.

Walvax/Abogen XBB.1.5 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine

The Walvax/Abogen XBB.1.5 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, code RQ3033, is a Chinese monovalent mRNA vaccine against Omicron XBB.1.5, approved for emergency use in China in December 2023.

Wandering in dementia

Wandering in dementia (ICD-11 6D86.6) is a behavioral symptom of Alzheimer's and related dementias in which disoriented movement can lead to going missing; affects 15-60% of people, with weak intervention evidence.

Oct 10, 2026

Wang Xian (Northern Wei)

Wang Xian (王显) was a Northern Wei imperial physician and court favorite of Emperor Xuanwu, who compiled a 35-juan pharmacopoeia and was killed in 515.

Wankeolucel (Huadao CD19 CAR-T)

Wankeolucel (万基奥仑赛注射液, HD CD19 CAR-T) is HuaDao Biopharmaceutical's autologous CD19 CAR-T therapy; its NDA for refractory/relapsed non-Hodgkin lymphoma was accepted by China's CDE on April 30, 2026, at an expected price of 230,000-250,000 yuan.

War on drugs

War on drugs: global prohibitionist drug policy campaign named after Nixon's June 17, 1971 'public enemy number one' declaration; built on UN drug conventions, criticized for health and rights costs, contrasted with Portugal's 2001 decriminalization model.

Warfarin

Warfarin: vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant, originally a rodenticide developed from Karl Link's sweet clover research. Still first-line for mechanical heart valves and mitral stenosis; INR-monitored, target 2 to 3.

Warm Ischemia

Warm ischemia: tissue oxygen deprivation at or near body temperature when blood flow stops. In transplantation it spans donor (retrieval) and recipient (implantation) periods; 30 minutes of warm ischemia damages an organ more than over 24 hours of cold ischemia.

Warm-Up Exercise

A warm-up exercise is physical activity done before exercise or competition to prepare the body, through temperature-related, metabolic, and nervous-system effects, improving performance in most studies.

Oct 20, 2026

Warsaw breakage syndrome

Warsaw breakage syndrome (WABS), also called DDX11-related cohesinopathy, a rare autosomal recessive disorder from biallelic DDX11 mutations, causing growth restriction, microcephaly, and sensorineural hearing loss with variable chromosomal breakage.

Wart

Wart, benign skin growth caused by human papillomavirus (verruca, plantar wart). HPV has over 200 types; warts often resolve spontaneously; salicylic acid modestly effective, cryotherapy no better than placebo.

Warts-immunodeficiency-lymphedema-anogenital dysplasia syndrome

Warts-immunodeficiency-lymphedema-anogenital dysplasia syndrome, commonly called WILD syndrome, is a rare primary lymphedema disorder, named in 2008, marked by congenital multisegmental swelling, persistent HPV warts, CD4 lymphopenia, and sometimes anogenital dysplasia.

Warty dyskeratoma

Warty dyskeratoma (follicular dyskeratoma) is a rare benign follicular epidermal tumor, a solitary umbilicated keratotic papule on the head and neck of adults aged 40 to 60, unrelated to HPV, cured by excision.

Washed microbiota transplantation

Washed microbiota transplantation (WMT) is a refined form of fecal microbiota transplantation in which donor stool is processed by microfiltration and repeated centrifugation, used in China since 2014.

Wastewater monitoring

Wastewater monitoring, also called wastewater-based epidemiology, is a public health surveillance method measuring pathogens in sewage to track infection trends, used for polio since the 1930s and scaled nationally for COVID-19.

Wastewater-based epidemiology

Wastewater-based epidemiology measures pathogens, biomarkers, or drug residues in community sewage to infer population-level disease and drug-use trends, used for polio since 1939 and widely deployed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

WATCH-HD study

WATCH-HD (EPIC06, NCT03446794) is a Spanish registry of WATCHMAN left atrial appendage occlusion in hemodialysis patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation; 237 patients, 99.2% implant success, 4% thromboembolic rate versus 11.1–16.5% predicted.

Watchful waiting

Watchful waiting is a medical management strategy in which a diagnosed condition, most often prostate cancer, is left untreated while the patient is monitored, with palliative treatment started only on progression.

Water deprivation test

The water deprivation test is a supervised endocrinology procedure that withholds all fluid intake to distinguish central diabetes insipidus, nephrogenic diabetes insipidus, and primary polydipsia, often followed by desmopressin.

Water fluoridation

Water fluoridation: controlled addition of fluoride to public water supplies to prevent tooth decay, begun in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1945; U.S. target 0.7 mg/L, covering 72.3% of public-water users in 2022.

Water intoxication

Water intoxication, clinically exercise-associated hyponatremia (EAH), is dilutional low blood sodium (below 135 mmol/L) from overdrinking hypotonic fluids plus non-osmotic vasopressin secretion; treated with fluid restriction or 3% hypertonic saline, prevented by drinking to thirst.