local symptom


Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Encyclopedia.

lo·cal symp·tom

a symptom of limited extent, caused by disease of a particular organ or part.

symptom

(sim(p)'tom) [Gr. symptoma, occurrence]
Any change in the body or its functions as perceived by the patient. A symptom represents the subjective experience of disease. Symptoms are described by patients in their complaint or history of the present illness. By contrast, signs are the objective findings observed by health care providers during the examination of patients.

Aspects of general symptom analysis include the following: onset: date, manner (gradual or sudden), and precipitating factors; characteristics: character, location, radiation, severity, timing, aggravating or relieving factors, and associated symptoms; course since onset: incidence, progress, and effects of therapy.

accessory symptom

A minor symptom, or a nonpathognomonic one.
Synonym: assident symptom

accidental symptom

A symptom occurring incidentally during the course of a disease but having no relationship to the disease.

alarm symptom

A symptom that raises the concern that a patient may have a severe illness and requires careful evaluation. For example, in patients with digestive illnesses, findings such as anemia, anorexia, bleeding, dehydration, fever, or weight loss are considered alarm symptoms.

assident symptom

Accessory symptom.

cardinal symptom

A fundamental symptom of a disease.

concomitant symptom

A symptom occurring along with the essential symptoms of a disease.

constitutional symptom

A symptom (such as fever, malaise, loss of appetite) caused by or indicating systemic disease.
Synonym: general symptom

conversion symptom

Conversion reaction.

dissociation symptom

Anesthesia to heat, cold, and pain without loss of tactile sensibility; seen in syringomyelia.

focal symptom

A symptom caused by a lesion to a specific body part or a particular location in the central or peripheral nervous system.
Synonym: local symptom

general symptom

Constitutional symptom.

girdle symptom

A feeling of constriction, e.g., about the chest, as caused by a tight girdle, a symptom in tabes. It is also found in compression of the cord owing to collapse of the vertebrae, as in Pott disease.

Howship symptom

See: Howship, John

indirect symptom

A symptom occurring secondarily as a result of a disease in another organ system or body part.

irritative voiding symptom

Painful or unusually sensitive urination, e.g., as a result of urinary tract infection, urinary stones, other foreign bodies, or tumors.

labyrinthine symptom

A group of symptoms (such as tinnitus, vertigo, or nausea) indicating a disease or lesion of the inner ear.

local symptom

Focal symptom.

medically unexplained symptom

Abbreviation: MUS
MUS A complaint from a patient that has eluded explanation despite assessment by health care practitioners.

negative pathognomonic symptom

A symptom that never occurs in a certain disease or condition; hence, a symptom whose presence rules out the existence of that disease.

objective symptom

A symptom apparent to the observer.
See: sign (2)

passive symptom

Static symptom.

pathognomonic symptom

A symptom that is unmistakably associated with a particular disease.

presenting symptom

The symptom that led the patient to seek medical care.

prodromal symptom

Prodrome.

rational symptom

Subjective symptom.

Rumpf symptom

See: Rumpf symptom

Séguin signal symptom

See: Séguin signal symptom

signal symptom

A symptom that is premonitory of an impending condition such as the aura that precedes an attack of epilepsy or migraine.

static symptom

A symptom pert. to the condition of a single organ or structure without reference to the remainder of the body. Synonym: passive symptom

subjective symptom

A symptom apparent only to the patient. Synonym: rational symptom

supratentorial symptom

An informal term for a symptom due to psychological rather than organic causes. The term refers to symptoms with causes originating “above the tentorium cerebelli, ” i.e., in the brain rather than in the body.

sympathetic symptom

A symptom for which there is no specific inciting cause and usually occurring at a point more or less remote from the point of disturbance.
See: sympathy (1)

withdrawal symptom

Any of the symptoms that follow the sudden discontinuation of the use of a substance to which a person has become addicted.
See: withdrawal syndrome
Mentioned in ?
References in periodicals archive ?
Systemic manifestations (fever, anorexia, weight loss) often associated with local symptoms (flank pain, leg edema, abdominal discomfort) are related to the entrapment of retroperitoneal structures by the fibrotic plaques.
Retroperitoneal fibrosis and aortitis as the initial findings of systemic lupus erythematosus: sistemik lupus eritematozusun baslangic bulgulari olarak retroperitoneal fibrozis ve aortitis
As the local symptoms disappeared, two small red punctures surrounded by a light erythema persisted for about 3 days.
Descripcion del envenenamiento causado por la oruga "gusano-pollo" (Megalopyge opercularis) en Venezuela
Local symptoms such as painful intercourse, vaginal dryness, itching, burning, and soreness are caused, like other menopausal symptoms, by the gradual decline of oestrogen production in ovaries.
7 in 10 women 'feel uncomfortable' talking about vaginal dryness, pain
The virus was able to transmit mechanically on the plants used in the study very efficiently and produced the systemic and local symptoms characteristic of CMV.
Molecular identification of a virus causing banana chlorosis disease from Marathwada region
According to Van Cleave and Cooley (2004), a minority of patients present with local symptoms related to their primary tumor, but most present with either nonspecific systemic or metastatic symptoms (see Table 1).
An overview of lung cancer symptoms, pathophysiology, and treatment
It is a moral sickness from which the body of society suffers, and it will not be cured by local plasters upon local symptoms. Politics, economics, are phases of human behaviour; but human behaviour is inevitably determined by the values which men hold, by their sense of right and wrong."
The disappearance of Canada
Because the patient reported to the ED at an early stage of rabies infection, with predominantly local symptoms near the bite site, rabies vaccine, rabies immune globulin, ribavirin, and interferon-alpha were administered on the day of admission; a second dose of rabies vaccine was administered 3 days later.
Human death associated with bat rabies--California, 2003
Local symptoms worsened, and on the days 5 and 6, respectively, she noticed new pustules on the fourth and fifth fingers of the same hand (Figure 1E).
Accidental infection of laboratory worker with vaccinia virus. (Dispatches)
Both creams and pessaries are easy to use for local symptoms but the doses are too low to deal with other menopausal symptoms or to act as a preventive medicine.
Health Zone: Dr Miriam Stoppard's; Health Focus: The Menopause - Part 3, Choosing HRT; Which one for you?
Estring is used for treating local symptoms associated with postmenopausal changes in the vagina and/or lower urinary tract.
Delivering estrogen after menopause

Medical browser ?
Full browser ?