Webster's New World Medical Dictionary

somatropin
See 
somatotropin.
somnambulism
See 
sleepwalking.
somnolent
Sleepy or tending to cause sleep.
From the Latin work somnus, meaning “sleep.”
somnoplasty
A surgical treatment for snoring in
which heat energy is used to remove tissues of the
uvula and soft palate. Somnoplasty is usually done
as an office procedure with local anesthesia. See
also 
snoring.
S1–S5
Symbols that represent the five sacral
vertebrae.
space, pleural
See 
pleural space.
span, memory
See 
memory span.
spasm
A brief, automatic jerking movement. A
muscle spasm can be quite painful, with the muscle
clenching tightly. A spasm of the coronary artery can
cause the pain of angina. Spasms in various types of
tissue may be caused by stress, medication, and
overexercise.
spasm, coronary artery
See 
coronary artery
spasm.
spasmodic dysphonia
See 
dysphonia, spasmodic.
spastic colitis
See 
irritable bowel syndrome.
spastic dysphonia
See 
dystonia, laryngeal.
spasticity
See 
hypertonia.
specific developmental disorder
See 
develop-
mental disorder, specific.
specific-pathogen free
A term that is applied to
animals reared for use in laboratory experiments
which indicates that the animals are known to be
free of germs that can cause disease. Abbreviated
SPF.
speckled iris
See 
Brushfield spot.
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speckled iris
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SPECT scan
Single photon emission computed
tomography scan, a nuclear medicine procedure in
which a gamma camera rotates around the patient
to produce images from many angles, which a com-
puter then uses to form a tomographic (cross-
sectional) image.