Video: Anatomical terminology for healthcare professionals | Episode 9 | Urogenital system

Passing a kidney stone is easy – said no one ever. Trust me, it's not pretty. I mean, there is pain, and then there is PAIN. Who knew a little five-millimeter stone could do that. Although not near as being full, urogenital anatomical terminology may also leave many feeling a little worse for wear. Not as though, because here at Kenhub, we believe that learning anatomical terminology doesn't have to be powered by sweat and tears. There is an easier way.

Welcome to episode nine of the Kenhub series, Anatomical Terminology for Healthcare Professionals – whizzing through urogenital terminology.

If you've seen any of our previous videos in this series, you'll know that when faced with a long list of alien-looking terms, we don't go down the route of memorizing them one after another. Instead, we teach you how to dissect complex terms into simpler word parts – prefixes, roots, and suffixes. So that the next time you encounter an unfamiliar term, you'll know how to tackle it.

You're actually getting a little three-in-one today because we are looking at the urinary system, the male reproductive system, and the female reproductive system. We'll be moving quickly so hold on to your hats and let's get started. Why don't we start with something nice and easy – the terminology of the urinary system.

As we've seen with other systems of the body, many urinary and reproductive terms are derived from the names of the organs associated with them. For example, terms related to the urethra often contain the root 'urethro-' or those related to the prostate have the root 'prostat-' or 'prostat/o-' with the O at the end. They're all quite obvious, right? And today we're going to be focusing on the less obvious terms which are common for these systems and necessary to becoming a terminology pro. So let's waste no time and head straight to the star of the whole system – the kidneys.

And when it comes to this organ, we have two major root words which you need to be aware of. The first is the root 'ren-' or 'ren/o-' with the O at the end, which comes from the Latin 'ren'. You’ll find it in terms like renopathy which refers to any disease of the kidneys or renoprival which means a condition which is related to or caused by lack of kidney function. 'Reno-' can also be used as a prefix; for example, in renovascular which means pertaining to the blood vessels of the kidneys.

The second root word related to the kidney comes from the Greek word for the same structure and this is where 'nephr-' or 'nephr/o-' with the O at the end comes into play, originating from the word 'nephros'. It is used in terms like nephrocele, which is a hernial displacement of a kidney, or nephrocalcinosis, which refers to calcium deposits in renal tubules.

Still related to the kidneys, we have the root 'pyel-' or 'pyel/o-' with the O at the end referring to the renal pelvis. An example of it in use would be pyelocystitis which leads us nicely to our next word part, the root 'cyst-' or 'cyst/o-' with the O at the end, originating from Greek 'kystis' meaning urinary bladder. You'll see it in terms like cystotomy which is a surgically-made opening into the bladder. And once again, we have a Latin counterpart for this term which is the root 'vesic-' or 'vesic/o-' with the O at the end. You'll find it used in words like vesicoclysis which is washing out of the urinary bladder.

We all know that the main function of the urinary system is urine production so, of course, we have some word parts associated with that, too. We have 'ur-' or 'ur/o-' with the O at the end and 'urin-' or 'urin/o-' with the O at the end which mean urine, but also used to refer to the whole urinary system. For example, urology is the medical specialty concerned with the urinary system in both males and females and genital organs in males, but more on that in a bit.

Originating from the same root, we also have the term urination for discharge of urine from the body. But wait, there is another word that means the exact same thing. Micturition comes from the Latin 'micturio' as in to make water. '-Uria' is a suffix which refers to conditions involving urine. For example, ammoniuria is excessive ammonia in the urine and calciuria is excessive calcium in urine. I think you get the idea here. It can also be used in things like nocturia which is excessive urination at night.

As this tutorial is for healthcare professionals, let's talk about some more medical conditions. Urinary incontinence is a term describing the involuntary weakness of urine, sometimes due to weakness of the urinary sphincter muscles. A specific type of incontinence is nocturnal enuresis. It refers to urinary incontinence at night, or more simply, bedwetting. We, of course, have to mention UTI which stands for urinary tract infection. And, also, we can't leave out kidney stones. The clinical term for these are nephroliths with a suffix '-lith' coming from Greek word for stone. Quite an interesting term is extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy which is a medical procedure of breaking up kidney or ureter stones using concentrated ultrasound. Sounds like something out of science fiction, doesn't it?

We're going to move on now to something a little more controversial or slightly more taboo – the reproductive system terminology. I mean, I'm just kidding. It's all just anatomy to us healthcare professionals, right. First, let's get some terminology common for the two systems out of the way. The word gonads comes from the Greek word 'gone' or seed which refers to gamete-producing organs namely the testis and ovary.

Gonadogenesis is the embryological process for development of these organs. Gametes, of course, refer to the reproductive cells produced by gonads. We're talking about spermatozoa in males and oocytes in females. A gametocide is an agent which destroys gametes.

Now we're moving into specific systems and let's start with the male reproductive system terminology. Similar to the urinary system, we have many organs here which are represented by roots, very similar to their names. So to save time, we'll jump straight into those slightly more obscure terms which may catch you off guard.

First up is the root 'balan-' or 'balan/o-' with the O at the end. Any guess what that could mean? Would it help if I told you it originates from the Greek word 'balanos' which means acorn? Now prepare to never look at acorns the same way again because this root refers to the glans penis. An example of it in action is balanoplasty which is reconstruction of the glans penis. Interestingly enough, the term glans also means acorn but coming from Latin in this case.

The next word root is 'osche-' or 'osche/o-' with the O at the end which is a derivative of the Greek word 'osche' for scrotum like in oscheocele which is a scrotal swelling or tumor. Now moving on to one of the most unusual root words of the male reproductive system, any ideas what 'orchi-' or 'orchi/o-' with the O at the end or 'orchid-' or 'orchid/o-' with the O at the end could stand for? You might be surprised that it does not refer to a beautiful flower, but rather to the testes or testicles. For example, orchidalgia is pain in the testes.

So that pretty much covers the not-so-obvious anatomy, let's move on to some more medical terminology, shall we?

The root we just learned brings us nicely to our first medical term – cryptorchidism. It refers to failure of one or both testes to descend to the scrotum. When talking about male reproductive anatomy, a common disorder which we often hear about is erectile dysfunction – the inability to maintain an erection long enough to perform sexual intercourse.

On the opposite end of the scale, we have a priapism. It refers to continuous, often painful erection. It can be caused by a variety of factors; for example, injury, disease, or drugs, but not sexual desire. Phimosis refers to the tightening of the foreskin resulting in inability to pull back on the glans penis.

And with that thought, it's time to move on to the female reproductive system terminology. So the thing with the female reproductive or gynecological terminology is that most parts tend to have an obvious root and a not-so-obvious root associated with it. We'll quickly run through some of them starting with the ovaries. The first root 'ovari-' or 'ovari/o-' with the O at the end which is obvious, right? But we also have 'oophor-' or 'oophor/o-' with the O at the end. Examples of these roots in use would be ovariodysneuria for ovarian pain or neuralgia, and oophoropexy, which is surgical fixation or suspension of an ovary.

The next logical stop is the oviduct or fallopian tube and its associated root 'salping-' or 'salping/o-' from the Greek word 'salpinx' for trumpet. I guess you can kind of see the resemblance. It pops up in terms like salpingitis which is inflammation of the oviduct.

Moving on, we have the uterus and three roots associated with it – as if two different word parts for the same structure didn't seem excessive. First, of course, we have 'uter-' or 'uter/o-' with the O at the end as in uterometer, a device for measuring the uterus. There is also the root 'metr-' or 'metr/o-' with the O at the end which is used in naming the different layers of the uterus. And, finally, we have 'hyster-' or 'hyster/o-'; an example of which would be hysterectomy – a surgical removal of the uterus.

Continuing on from the uterus, we next reach the vagina. There's a couple of roots here, too. 'Vagin-' or 'vagin/o-' with the O at the end, found in terms like vaginotome, an instrument for making incisions into the vaginal wall, and 'colp-' or 'colp/o-' with the O at the end such as in colpocleisis which is a surgical closure of the vaginal canal.

Lastly, we have a couple of word parts for the vulva – the outermost part of the female genitalia. The obvious one is, of course, 'vulv-' or 'vulv/o-' with the O at the end, but we also have 'episi-' or 'episi/o-' with the O at the end such as in episioplasty which refers to plastic surgery of the vulva.

We also have two roots for breasts which are actually considered to be secondary organs of the reproductive system. The first one is 'mamm-' or 'mamm/o-' with the O at the end; will probably come as no surprise for a lot of the ladies watching this video as mammography and it's such a common procedure of using x-ray to check for breast tumors. The other root 'mast-' or 'mast/o-' is also commonly used in the healthcare context; for example, in mastitis, which is the inflammation of breast tissue related to breastfeeding.

Now let's move on to some medical terminology. There is obviously a whole range of things that could go wrong, so we're only looking at a small handful of them. First up is a term endometriosis which is the condition of endometrial tissue growing outside the uterus. The root 'meno-' comes from the Greek word for month and refers to menstruation; for instance, menorrhagia or hypermenorrhea – both refer to excessive menstruation usually caused by a medical condition or abnormalities of pregnancy. Let's finish up with metroptosis, also known as prolapse of the uterus. It refers to downward displacement of the uterus.

And that wraps up our tutorial for today. Using what we've learned today, try to figure out what these terms mean.