The suffix '-otomy' is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

suffix τόμος, ''-tómos'', "meaning cutting, sharp, or separate".

Medical procedures

Amniotomy Artificial rupture of membranes (AROM), also known as an amniotomy, is performed by a midwife or obstetrician and was once thought to be an effective means to induce or accelerate labor. The membranes can be ruptured using a specialized tool, suc ...

— An incision created to accelerate labor. * Androtomy — Dissection of the human body . *

Bilateral cingulotomy Bilateral cingulotomy is a form of psychosurgery, introduced in 1948 as an alternative to lobotomy. Today, it is mainly used in the treatment of depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. In the early years of the twenty-first century, it was ...

— Psychosurgery, treatment for depression and addiction . * Bronchotomy — A procedure that ensures there is an open airway between a patients lung/s and the outside world. * Clitoridotomy — Plastic surgery of the clitorial hood. * Coeliotomy — A large incision through the abdominal wall to gain access into the abdominal cavity *

Colpotomy Culdocentesis is a medical procedure involving the extraction of fluid from the pouch of Douglas (a rectouterine pouch posterior to the vagina) through a needle. It can be one diagnostic technique used in identifying pelvic inflammatory disease ( ...

— Extraction of fluid from the pouch of Douglas (a rectouterine pouch posterior to the vagina) through a needle * Cordotomy — Procedure that disables selected pain-conducting tracts in the spinal cord, in order to achieve loss of pain and temperature perception *

Craniotomy A craniotomy is a surgical operation in which a bone flap is temporarily removed from the skull to access the brain. Craniotomies are often critical operations, performed on patients who are suffering from brain lesions, such as tumors, blood clot ...

— A bone flap is temporarily removed from the skull to access the brain *

Cricothyrotomy A cricothyrotomy (also called cricothyroidotomy) is an incision made through the skin and cricothyroid membrane to establish a patent airway during certain life-threatening situations, such as airway obstruction by a foreign body, angioedema, o ...

— An incision made through the skin and cricothyroid membrane to establish a patent airway during certain life-threatening situations *

Escharotomy An escharotomy is a surgical procedure used to treat full-thickness (third-degree) circumferential burns. In full-thickness burns, both the epidermis and the dermis are destroyed along with sensory nerves in the dermis. The tough leathery tissue ...

— Procedure used to treat full-thickness (third-degree) circumferential burns *

Episiotomy Episiotomy, also known as perineotomy, is a surgical incision of the perineum and the posterior vaginal wall generally done by a midwife or obstetrician. Episiotomy is usually performed during second stage of labor to quickly enlarge the opening ...

— Surgical incision of the perineum and the posterior vaginal wall *

Fasciotomy Fasciotomy or fasciectomy is a surgical procedure where the fascia is cut to relieve tension or pressure in order to treat the resulting loss of circulation to an area of tissue or muscle. Fasciotomy is a limb-saving procedure when used to tr ...

— Surgical procedure where the fascia is cut to relieve tension or pressure commonly to treat the resulting loss of circulation to an area of tissue or muscle *

Heller myotomy Heller myotomy is a surgical procedure in which the muscles of the cardia ( lower esophageal sphincter or LES) are cut, allowing food and liquids to pass to the stomach. It is used to treat achalasia, a disorder in which the lower esophageal sphi ...

— Muscles of the cardia (lower oesophageal sphincter or LOS) are cut, allowing food and liquids to pass to the stomach * Hymenotomy — Surgical removal or opening of the hymen *

Hysterotomy A hysterotomy is an incision made in the uterus. This surgical incision is used in several medical procedures, including during termination of pregnancy in the second trimester (or abortion) and delivering the fetus during caesarean section. It i ...

— Incision in the uterus, and is performed during a Caesarean section * Laminotomy — The partial removal (or by making a larger opening) of the lamina. *

Laparotomy A laparotomy is a surgical procedure involving a surgical incision through the abdominal wall to gain access into the abdominal cavity. It is also known as a celiotomy. Origins and history The first successful laparotomy was performed without ane ...

— Large incision through the abdominal wall to gain access into the abdominal cavity *

Lithotomy position The lithotomy position is a common position for surgical procedures and medical examinations involving the pelvis and lower abdomen, as well as a common position for childbirth in Western nations. The lithotomy position involves the positioning of ...

— Medical term referring to a common position for surgical procedures and medical examinations involving the pelvis and lower abdomen *

Lobotomy A lobotomy, or leucotomy, is a form of neurosurgical treatment for psychiatric disorder or neurological disorder (e.g. epilepsy) that involves severing connections in the brain's prefrontal cortex. The surgery causes most of the connections to ...

— Cutting or scraping away most of the connections to and from the prefrontal cortex, the anterior part of the frontal lobes of the brain. *

Meatotomy A meatotomy () is a form of penile modification in which the underside of the glans penis, glans is split, extending the urinary meatus. The procedure may be performed by a doctor to alleviate meatal stenosis or urethral stricture. A meatotomy is ...

— Form of penile modification in which the underside of the glans is split *

Myotomy Myotomy is a surgical procedure in which muscle is cut. A common example of a myotomy is the Heller myotomy. See also * List of surgeries by type Many surgical procedure names can be broken into parts to indicate the meaning. For example, in ...

— Procedure in which muscle is cut. *

Osteotomy An osteotomy is a surgical operation whereby a bone is cut to shorten or lengthen it or to change its alignment. It is sometimes performed to correct a hallux valgus, or to straighten a bone that has healed crookedly following a fracture. It is ...

— A bone is cut to shorten or lengthen it or to change its alignment *

Phlebotomy Phlebotomy is the process of making a puncture in a vein, usually in the arm, with a cannula for the purpose of drawing blood. The procedure itself is known as a venipuncture, which is also used for intravenous therapy. A person who performs a p ...

— An incision in a vein with a needle *

Pulpotomy Pulpotomy is a minimally invasive procedure performed in children on a primary tooth with extensive caries but without evidence of root pathology. The minimally invasive endodontic techniques of vital pulp therapy (VPT) are based on improved unders ...

— Removal of a portion of the pulp, including the diseased aspect * Radial keratotomy — a refractive surgical procedure to correct myopia *

Sphincterotomy Anal sphincterotomy is a surgical procedure that involves treating mucosal fissures from the anal canal/sphincter. The word is formed from sphincter + otomy (to cut, to separate). Procedure # The surgery can be performed under any kind of anesthes ...

— Treating mucosal fissures from the anal canal/sphincter *

Thoracotomy A thoracotomy is a surgical procedure to gain access into the pleural space of the chest. It is performed by surgeons (emergency physicians or paramedics under certain circumstances) to gain access to the thoracic organs, most commonly the hea ...

— Incision into the pleural space of the chest *

Thyrotomy :''Thyrotomy may also refer to the cutting or biopsy the thyroid gland.'' Thyrotomy (also called thyroidotomy, median laryngotomy, laryngofissure or thyrofissure) is an incision of the larynx through the thyroid cartilage. See also * Laryngotomy ...

— Incision of the larynx through the thyroid cartilage *

Tracheotomy Tracheotomy (, ), or tracheostomy, is a surgical airway management procedure which consists of making an incision (cut) on the anterior aspect (front) of the neck and opening a direct airway through an incision in the trachea (windpipe). The ...

— An incision on the anterior aspect of the neck and opening a direct airway through an incision in the trachea (windpipe) * Trans-orbital lobotomy — Cutting or scraping away most of the connections to and from the prefrontal cortex, the anterior part of the frontal lobes of the brain

Other -otomies

Dichotomy A dichotomy is a partition of a whole (or a set) into two parts (subsets). In other words, this couple of parts must be * jointly exhaustive: everything must belong to one part or the other, and * mutually exclusive: nothing can belong simulta ...

False dichotomy A false dilemma, also referred to as false dichotomy or false binary, is an informal fallacy based on a premise that erroneously limits what options are available. The source of the fallacy lies not in an invalid form of inference but in a false ...

Ousterhout's dichotomy Ousterhout's dichotomy is computer scientist John Ousterhout's categorization that high-level programming languages tend to fall into two groups, each with distinct properties and uses: ''system programming languages'' and ''scripting languages' ...

* Trichotomy * Trichotomy property

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Otomies Science-related lists Surgical procedures and techniques