Is there a particular latin phrase that doctors use to indicate a disease/problem with unknown cause?
How about the Greek-derived idiopathic: “arising spontaneously or from an obscure or unknown cause.”
Idiopathy
- A disease of unknown origin or cause.
- A primary disease arising spontaneously with no apparent external cause.
[New Latin idiopathia, primary disease, from Greek idiopatheia : idio-, idio- + -patheia, -pathy.]
Excerpted from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition Copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products N.V., further reproduction and distribution restricted in accordance with the Copyright Law of the United States. All rights reserved.
OK This is what happens when you don’t preview…
Qhat Walloon said is good - just ignore my overcompensation…
Thanks very much.
Well I can tell you the English version:
“The mechanisms behind this disease are poorly understood.”
My brother’s a doc and has a ton of these funnies…
G’day
My father used to diagnose idkwiibtaloia–“I don’t know what it is, but there’s a lot of it about”. And he used to write “obtreosis of the ducteal gland” on medical certificates when he though it was none of anybody else’s business what his patient had.
Regards,
Agback
The full phrase you’re after is “idiopathic etiology”
“Functional”-means something’s not right, but we don’t know what it is- can’t find cause. Some conditions are CAUSED by drs-called iatrogenic.
Mostly what I’ve seen documented is “xx of unknown etiology” and idiopathic used as an adjective such as idiopathic hypertension.
typically you will see that undiagnosed conditions are usually simply listed as *-itis.
Such as Tonsilitis which does not at all describe the cause of tonsil inflammation it simply describes the symptom. Gastroenteritis, arthritis, laryngitis etc. etc. none of these are descriptive of any cause they simply state that the described area is inflammed.