fistula
Americannoun
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fistulas,
plural
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fistulae
plural
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Pathology. a narrow passage or duct formed by disease or injury, as one leading from an abscess to a free surface, or from one cavity to another.
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Surgery. an opening made into a hollow organ, as the bladder or eyeball, for drainage.
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Veterinary Pathology. any of various suppurative inflammations, as in the withers of a horse fistulous withers, characterized by the formation of passages or sinuses through the tissues and to the surface of the skin.
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Obsolete. a pipe, as a flute.
noun
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pathol an abnormal opening between one hollow organ and another or between a hollow organ and the surface of the skin, caused by ulceration, congenital malformation, etc
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obsolete any musical wind instrument; a pipe
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of fistula
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin: “pipe, tube,” of uncertain origin
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A range of anti-inflammatory medications can treat Crohn's disease, but they show limited efficacy for closure of perianal fistula tracts.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 24, 2024
Grace suffered a fistula in childbirth more than four years ago.
From BBC ● Dec. 19, 2023
While rare today in developed countries, an obstetric vesicovaginal fistula was a major complication of childbirth among 19th century women in America.
From Salon ● Mar. 18, 2023
Though McEachin overcame cancer and rose to Congress, he developed a fistula as a complication of treatment in 2018, requiring two surgeries.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 7, 2022
The parotid duct may be divided and a salivary fistula result.
From Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. by Alexander Miles
The team identified several key pathways underlying fistulizing Crohn's disease, including cellular aging and loss of proliferation, reaction to microenvironmental stimuli, and a destructive gene signature in connective tissues that is unique to perianal fistulae.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 24, 2024
Mount Sinai researchers have published the first study to use single-cell analysis in identifying several pathophysiological mechanisms of abnormal passageways in the digestive system known as perianal fistulae, a common complication of Crohn's disease.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 24, 2024
Over the last four decades, the ships’ surgeons have performed surgeries in 56 developing countries, operating on patients with such conditions as tumors, cataracts, burns, obstetric fistulae or bone deformities, among others.
From Fox News ● May 21, 2019
On a shelf is a lurid, plastic, life-size model of a rectum afflicted by every imaginable malady – haemorrhoids, fistulae, ulcerative colitis, faecaliths.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 31, 2013
In other cases this extreme result is not caused and fistulae are formed from which the ichor constantly flows.
From Prof. Koch's Method to Cure Tuberculosis Popularly Treated by Fr. (Friedrich) Brendecke
She says there is a huge stigma around fistulas and stomas in the Kenyan culture.
From BBC ● Dec. 19, 2023
It causes inflammation and damage to the digestive system, leading to symptoms such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, weight loss and fatigue and complications such as strictures and fistulas.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 17, 2023
He is most famous for improving the technique to repair obstetric fistulas, which are abnormal openings between a woman's genital tract, urinary tract or rectum that cause urinary incontinence.
From Salon ● Mar. 18, 2023
Some develop fistulas, or tears that allow urine or feces to leak.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 28, 2022
Guy de Chauliac's Instruments:--15, 16, cautery apparatus with canula for cauterizing the uvula and tonsils; 17, bistoury; 18, amputation knife; 19, small sickle knife for opening abscesses and fistulas.
From The Popes and Science The History of the Papal Relations to Science During the Middle Ages and Down to Our Own Time by James J. Walsh
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
