Plain-language explanations of common medical terms
Medical reports and conversations with healthcare providers are often full of terminology that is not immediately clear. This tool searches a curated glossary of commonly used medical terms and explains each one in plain language. It is meant to help you understand general terminology you might encounter - not to interpret your personal results or replace a conversation with your doctor.
Why this uses a fixed, curated glossary instead of generating definitions
A generated medical definition carries real risk of being subtly wrong - and in a medical context, a subtly wrong definition is far more consequential than in most other subjects. Drawing every definition from a fixed, curated glossary means every explanation shown has been reviewed in advance, with no possibility of an incorrect generated answer appearing for a term it happens to cover.
Why general terminology and personal results are treated completely differently
Knowing that "hypertension" means high blood pressure is general, stable knowledge true for everyone the term applies to - but what a specific blood pressure reading means for your own health depends on your full medical history, other conditions, and clinical context that only a healthcare provider reviewing your actual case can properly weigh. This tool only ever does the first kind of explaining.
What to do when a term isn't in the glossary
Medical terminology is vast, and a curated glossary necessarily covers a limited, commonly-encountered subset of it - for anything not found here, asking your doctor or pharmacist directly is the right next step, since they can also explain the term in the specific context of your own situation rather than only in general.