← Chapter 7
Medical Terminology · Chapter 7

Machine, Procedure or Record

Diagnostic terms name the energy used and the product made, so the ending alone tells you whether a note is describing a machine, a procedure or a result. Pick a root and an ending below, then answer the prompts — if the question asks for the strip of paper in the chart, only a term ending in -gram will do.
Prompt
 
streak 0 · best 0
Root — what is being looked at, and with what energy
Ending — what kind of thing you are naming

The studies these words name

ECGelectrocardiogram — rate, rhythm, conduction, and the ST elevation that separates a STEMI from an NSTEMI
TTEtransthoracic echocardiogram — chamber size, wall motion, valve function, ejection fraction
TEEtransesophageal echocardiogram — trans- + esophag/o + -eal; a closer view of the valves and atria
DuplexDoppler flow plus anatomic imaging — the standard study for a suspected DVT
CTA / MRACT and magnetic resonance angiography — non-invasive alternatives to a coronary angiogram
ABIankle-brachial index — ankle pressure over arm pressure, quantifying peripheral artery disease
electrocardiogram
the machine
-graph · -meter · -scope
the procedure
-graphy · -metry · -scopy
the record
-gram
The rule that never breaks here
Every ending on this page — -gram, -graph, -graphy, -meter, -metry, -scope, -scopy — begins with a consonant. That means the combining vowel always survives the join, which is why you get electrocardiogram and angioscopy and never electrocardigram. The only exceptions on the board are ox/i, whose combining vowel is an i (oximetry), and tele-, which is a prefix and needs no vowel at all (telemetry).