Reintervention

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A second or additional medical or surgical procedure carried out to correct, repeat or follow up an earlier treatment
2. Another surgical or clinical action taken again after a previous procedure, usually because the first did not fully succeed
3. A renewed medical procedure performed on a patient who has already undergone an earlier intervention for the same condition

Etymology: Reintervention is simply the re- prefix attached to intervention, so its history is largely that of its base. Intervention comes from Latin "interventio", a noun built from "intervenire", meaning to come between or to occur in the middle of something, and it entered English through the sense of a coming between two parties or events. The re- prefix, from Latin "re-" meaning again or back, gives the sense of a second intervention, typically a repeat procedure or treatment after an earlier one has been performed or has failed. The compound is used mainly in medical and surgical contexts, where a patient may need a further operation or procedure to correct, complete or revise an earlier one. Because it is a transparent formation, its meaning follows directly from its two parts, and it is not recorded as a word with a notable first user or a dramatic shift in sense.

Synonyms: reoperation