Glossary

Low back pain

Low birth weight – defined in the WHO’s IDC-10 as a birth weight of a liveborn infant of less than 2,500 g. regardless of gestational age.

low grade glioma

Late-onset Idiopathic Aqueductal Stenosis- aqueductal stenosis diagnosed later in life after infancy.

A patient position on the operating room table characterized by the patient being supine on a regular OR table with legs abducted and slightly bent, and feet placed in stirrups. The arms are placed on armrests and abducted to 90 degrees.

Lentil lectin-purified glycoprotein antigens.  These antigens are obtained from the organism (eg. cysticerci of Taenia solium parasite) and used in immunodianostic blood serum and CSF testing to confirm the infestation of such an organism.

Lipomyelomeningocele. See chapter in The Guide on this entity.

Level of consciousness. An abbreviation commonly used in describing a person’s degree of awareness or consciousness. Accepted terms in describing are lethargic (a person with mildly depressed level of consciousness who is easily aroused), obtunded (a person with a more depressed level of consciousness who cannot be filly aroused), stuporous (a person in a sleep like state who cannot be aroused but responds to stimulation) and comatose (a person who does not respond in a purposeful manner to any stimulus).

lordosis is the inward curvature of the spine in the lumbar and cervical regions. When excessive, it is referred to as hyperlordosis. In common parlance this condition is also known as sway back, hollow back or saddle back (as in a saddle back horse). The condition is usually due to an excessive forward tilt of the pelvis. Curvature in the opposite direction is referred to as kyphosis.

Lumbar puncture – refers to the percutaneous introduction of a needle into the cerebrospinal fluid space of the lumbar spine. This is typically done either for obtaining a specimen of cerebrospinal fluid for analysis or for the delivery of a therapeutic or diagnostic agent.