Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Idiopathic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Idiopathic is an adjective used primarily in medicine meaning arising spontaneously or from an obscure or unknown cause. The combination of Greek roots means approximately "a disease of its own kind."
It is technically a term from nosology, the classification of disease. For most medical conditions, one or more causes are somewhat understood, but in a certain percentage of people with the condition, the cause may not be readily apparent or characterized. In these cases, the origin of the condition is said to be "idiopathic."
With some medical conditions, the medical community cannot establish a root cause for a large percentage of all cases (e.g. Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, the majority of which are idiopathic);[1] with other conditions, however, idiopathic cases account for a small percentage (e.g., pulmonary fibrosis).[2] As medical and scientific advances are made with relation to a particular condition or disease, more root causes are discovered, and the percentage of cases designated as idiopathic shrinks.
- ^ Daskalakis N, Winn M (2006). "Focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis". Cell Mol Life Sci 63 (21): 2506-11. PMID 16952054.
- ^ Medical Encyclopedia: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. MedlinePlus. Retrieved on February 13, 2007.
 |
This medical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |