Resecting

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The surgical technique of excising a portion of an organ or tissue addresses medical conditions through the removal of anatomical structures involved in disease
2. This medical procedure entails removing a specific segment of tissue or an organ to provide treatment or diagnostic information
3. The process involves the surgical removal of a selected part of an organ or tissue to alleviate disease or for further examination purposes

Etymology: "Resecting" is the present participle of "resect," which English borrowed from the past participle of Latin "resecare," meaning "to cut off." The Latin verb is built from "re-," meaning "back" or "again," and "secare," meaning "to cut," the same root that gives English "section," "dissect," and "scissors" by way of other routes. Surgeons thus took a plain Roman verb about cutting something away and turned it into a precise medical term for removing part of an organ. Within the word itself, the sense of "back" in "re-" is largely lost; the verb simply means to cut out a portion while leaving the rest in place. That distinction is what gives the medical use its meaning: the surgeon removes a selected segment and keeps the remaining tissue functioning.

Synonyms: removing, excising