Thoracotomy

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A specific surgical intervention that entails the creation of an opening in the chest wall to gain access to the thoracic cavity
2. This procedure is performed to allow for examination and treatment of organs within the thorax, including the lungs, heart, and surrounding structures
3. An operation involving cutting into the chest wall to expose the organs inside the thoracic cavity

Etymology: Thoracotomy is a surgical term built from two Greek elements, and its parts reveal exactly what it describes. "Thorax" is the Greek word for the chest, and the suffix "-tomy" comes from "temnein," meaning "to cut." Put together, the word names the act of cutting into the chest wall, a procedure that gives a surgeon access to the organs inside the ribcage. The root "tom-" is also the source of familiar words such as "atom," which in Greek meant something that cannot be cut, and "appendectomy," the removal of the appendix. The same "-tomy" ending appears in many medical terms, so once you recognise it, a whole family of procedures becomes readable at a glance.