Webster's New World Medical Dictionary

Clostridium welchii
See 
Clostridium perfrin-
gens.
clot-dissolving medication
An agent such as
plasminogen-activator (t-PA) or streptokinase that is
effective in dissolving clots and reopening arteries.
clinical cytogenetics
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For example, clot-dissolving medications may be
used in the treatment of heart attacks, to reestablish
blood flow to the heart muscle (myocardium). Also
known as thrombolytic agents.
clubfoot
A common malformation of the foot that
is evident at birth. The foot is turned in sharply so
that the person seems to be walking on his or her
ankle. Clubfoot can sometimes be corrected with a
combination of surgery, bracing, and physical ther-
apy. Also known as talipes equinovarus.
cluster
An aggregation of cases of a disease or
another health-related condition, such as a cancer,
birth defect, or headaches, closely grouped in time
and place. See also 
cluster headache.
cluster headache
A distinctive episodic syn-
drome of headaches. The most common cluster
headache pattern, acute cluster headache, is char-
acterized by one to three short attacks of pain each
day around the eyes, clustered over a stretch of 1 to
2 months, and followed by a pain-free period that
averages 1 year. The other main pattern of cluster
headache, chronic or episodic cluster headache, is
characterized by the absence of sustained periods of
remission, with pain occurring out of the blue or
emerging several years after an episodic pattern.
Cluster headache is different and distinct from
migraine, although the underlying mechanisms are
similar. For example, propranolol is effective in
treating migraine but not in treating cluster
headache, whereas lithium is beneficial for cluster
headache but not migraine. Also known as ciliary
neuralgia, erythroprosopalgia, histamine cephalgia,
migrainous neuralgia, Raeder syndrome,
sphenopalatine neuralgia, and vidian neuralgia.
cluttering
A speech disorder characterized by
the unwanted repetition of entire words. It resem-
bles stuttering, in which only sounds or parts of
words are repeated. See also 
speech disorder.