S What you need in your first-aid kit: How to survive abbreviations, symbols, and acronyms in medical translation Sixth Annual ProZ.com Training and C onference – Fr ance Septembe r 27 th and 28 th 2013 – Biarritz, Fran ce Erin M. Lyons biomednouvelle.com
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What you need in your first-aid kit: How to survive abbreviations, symbols, and acronym in medical translation
Sixth Annual ProZ.com Training and Conference - France September 27 and 28, 2013 Biarritz, France
Speaker: Erin M. Lyons (United States), Expert in medical and pharmaceutical translation, terminologist, and trainer
Session: What you need in your first-aid kit: How to survive abbreviations, symbols, and acronyms in medical translation
DESCRIPTION: Abbreviations, acronyms, and quasi-legible doctors’ scribbles are the medical translator's daily bread; however, deciphering and researching these terms and symbols and maintaining terminology databases can lead to black holes in productivity. We will investigate strategies and resources to more effectively and efficiently tackle the translation of these troublesome three- and four-letter words. Related issues, such as handling texts with interwoven English acronyms and faux amis and the appropriate use of Latin- and Greek-derived medical jargon will also be addressed. Emphasis will also be placed on storing and leveraging terminology in a low-maintenance, user-friendly format.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: At the end of this training session, participants will be able: 1. To identify strategies to dissect, expand, and re-contract medical abbreviations and acronyms to produce accurate translations; 2. To build a personalized “first-aid kit” of resources to research unknown medical terms and symbols; 3. To define strategies to create and maintain a medical term and symbol glossary across multiple language combinations.
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S
What you need in your first-aid kit:
How to survive abbreviations, symbols, and acronyms in medical translation
Sixth Annual ProZ.com Training and Conference – France
September 27th and 28th 2013 – Biarritz, France Erin M. Lyonsbiomednouvelle.com
Objectives
1. To identify strategies to dissect, expand, and re-contract medical abbreviations and acronyms to produce accurate translations;
2. To build a personalized “first-aid kit” of resources to research unknown medical terms and symbols;
3. To define strategies to create and maintain a medical term and symbol glossary across multiple language combinations.
QuizDrag picture to placeholder or click icon to add
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1. In which of the following is the capitalization correct?
A. nairobi sheep disease
B. Nairobi sheep disease
C. nairobi Sheep Disease
D.Nairobi Sheep Disease
2. Which of the following is NOT a standard abbreviation of a word appearing in a journal title?
A. “Arch” for “Archives”
B. “Epidem” for “Epidemiology”
C. “Pharm” for “Pharmaceutical”
D. “Soc” for “Society”
***Epidemio
l is correct
***
3. Which of the following is defined correctly?
A. ATP: adenine tetrapyruvate
B. FUO: fatality of unknown origin
C. CPR: cardiopneumatic resuscitation
D. PET: position emission tomography
ATP is adenosine
triphosphate
fever of unknown
origin
cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4. To which common lab values do these numbers refer?
A. Reticulocyte count – Bleeding time – BUN
B. Red blood cells – Hematocrit – White blood cells
C. White blood cells – Haemoglobin - Platelets
D. Sodium – Chloride – BUN
5. R/O HIV & flu means:
A. Rule out human immunodeficiency virus and influenza
B. Rule out human intestinal virus and fluid restriction
C. Reduce output of hepatic intravenous volume and fluid restriction
D. Resume order of hepatic intravenous volume and fluid restriction
Getting
our feet wet
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Alphabet soup
A convenient time and space saver
A way to avoid potentiallymisspelling long, complicated words
Inherent problems
Various meanings of a single abbreviation OD can mean once daily, right eye (oculus dexter),
occupational disease, overdose, etc.
Various expressions of a single abbreviation AP, A.P., ap, and A/P all mean “anteroposterior”
Misinterpretation of handwriting/ambiguities
Wasted time researching
Abbreviations
Abbreviations are the shortened form of a word or phrase
Paediatr. = paediatrics
Infect. = infection
Not so fast!
Which is right Dr or Dr.?
In British English, abbreviations omit the period if the words end in the same letter as the full term. American English always uses the period.
pt = part (UK) vs. pt. = part (US)
clin. (UK) and (US) clinical
Initialisms and Acronyms
Initialisms are abbreviations consisting of the first letter of each word:
CSF = cerebrospinal fluid
Acronyms are initialisms pronounced
as words:
NICU = neonatal intensive care unit
Just to keep things interesting
Sometimes the abbreviation consists of selected letters from one long word or phrase
CMV = cytomegalovirus
JUPITER = justification for the use of statins in prevention: an intervention
trial evaluating rosuvastatinVery common for clinical trial
titles
… and keep you on your toes
Wait, is an electrocardiogram an EKG or an ECG?
Doctors have infamously bad handwriting:
ECG could be confused with EEGelectroencephalogram
electrocardiogram
Chicken scratches
Potential for disaster
A poorly written order for the diabetic medication, AVANDIA, bears a strong resemblance to the oral anticoagulant, COUMADIN.
The potential for this potentially disastrous medication substitution is accentuated by the fact that both drugs are available as 4 mg oral tablets.
Avandia 4 mg PO [per os = by mouth/orally]
qid [quater in die = four times per day]
Oy vey!
Handwritten abbreviations are easily misinterpreted:
Three drops in ® ear“right ear” misinterpreted as “rear”
HCT 250 mg (hydrocortisone 250 mg)
OR“HCTZ 50 mg” (hydrochlorothiazide 50
mg)
Essential translation strategy
Methodology:
source expanded source
expanded target target acronym
Inversions
Grammar dictates the order of nouns and adjectives, meaning acronyms in different languages often contain the same letters in a different order
AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome)
SIDA
(syndrome de l'immunodéficience acquise)
More inversion examples
English Acronym
English Expansion
French Acronym
French Expansion
MRI Magnetic Resonance
Imaging
IRM Imagerie par résonance
magnétique
TIA Transient Ischemic Attack
AIT Accident ischémique transitoire
CPR Cardiopulmonary resuscitation
RCP Réanimation cardio-pulmonaire
HJR Hepatojugular Reflux
RHJ Reflux hépato-jugulaire
Abandon ship
Some languages favor Latin-derived terms over the equivalents of English acronyms
CBC (complete blood count) Hémogramme (rather than NFS = numération et formule sanguine)
SOB (shortness of breath) Dyspnée
Sound-based acronyms
Some abbreviations are pronounced – allowing faster communication, but are the origin of potential errors: RALES (Randomized Aldactone Evaluation Study)
Easily misunderstood as “rales” = crackles or crepitant rales during pulmonary auscultation
CABG (coronary artery bypass graft), pronounced “cabbage” and commonly known as “bypass surgery”
le pontage aorto-coronarien (PAC) or CABG
il bypass aorto-coronarico (BAC) or CABG or cabbage
Medical argot
Less common in written communications, but still a reality of the medical profession—ranging from the painfully derogatory to more humorous and colloquial usages
VIP = very intoxicated person VCV = Very Close Veins = varicose veins TEETH = tried everything else, try homeopathy DCD (décédé) = dead PPH (ne passera pas l’hiver) = won’t make it through winter
A matter of numbers
Sometimes the number of units making up an acronym vary from one language to the next:English French Italian
Esophagogastro-duodenoscopy
(EGD)
Fibroscopie œsogastro-
duodénale (FOGD)
Esofago-Gastro-Duodeno-Scopia
(EGDS)
Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
Sclérose En Plaques (SEP)
Sclerosi Multipla (MS)
Right Bundle Branch Block
(RBBB)
Bloc de Branche Droit (BBD)
Blocco di Branca Sinistra (BBS)
Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)
Infection Urinaire (IU)
Infezione delle Vie Urinarie (IVU)
English retained in foreign text
Many common medical abbreviations and acronyms are normally left in English
when translating: BUN (Blood Urea Nitrogen)
EGF (Epidermal Growth Factor)
OKT4/OKT8 (euphemism for HIV+)
PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen)
TNF (Tumoral Necrosis Factor)
It’s all Greek to me! (Or, Latin)
In particular, prescriptions are known to be full of Latin-derived abbreviations
BID = bis en die (Latin) = twice a day h.s. = hora somni = at bedtime Q = quaque = every s.a. = secundum artum = use your
judgment ung. = unguentum = ointment
** These may be left in Latin and/or translated **
British vs. American Spelling
British and American spelling differences atthe beginning of words add to complexity Gastro-oesophageal Reflux Disease (GORD) (UK)
MediLexicon Medical abbreviations dictionary (English with some French, German, and Spanish translations)
http://www.medilexicon.com
The Free Medical Dictionary
Authoritative descriptions of medical conditions, medications, anatomical terms, etc.
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com
Medicalese
Terms that are not found in the standard medical references, such as clinical trial acronyms, herbal remedies, products available outside the US, discontinued drugs, and unapproved cancer therapies
http://www.medicalese.org
Lab Tests Online Resources on non-commercial clinical lab tests. http://www.labtestsonline.org
MeSH Medical Subject Headings http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh
Medical Glossary General medical glossary http://www.medicalglossary.org
MedlinePlus Dictionary
National Library of Medicine Dictionary http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mplusdictionary.html
Davis, Neil M. Medical Abbreviations: 15,000 Conveniences at the Expense of Communications and Safety, 10th ed. Huntington Valley, PA: Davis Associates, 2001.
Donaldson, Ross. Tarascon Medical Translation Pocketbook, 1 Mul. ed. Boston: Jones and Bartlett: 2009.