Valvotomy

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A medical operation performed to create an opening in a valve, which helps to circumvent blockages and improve blood circulation
2. The process involves surgically incising a valve to reduce restrictions and facilitate proper blood flow
3. A surgical procedure is undertaken to cut into a valve in order to eliminate obstructions and enhance the flow of blood within the circulatory system

Etymology: Surgeons carve into the heart's valves in this procedure, and the word is a plain modern construction: it combines "valvo-", the combining form of the Latin "valva" (a leaf of a folding door, which gave English "valve"), with "-tomy", from Greek "tomē", meaning "a cutting." The literal sense is therefore "cutting of a valve," and the word follows the same pattern as older surgical terms such as "appendectomy" and "lobotomy." The first element matters for the meaning. Latin "valva" described one leaf of a double door, and the idea of a hinged leaf that opens and shuts carried over into anatomy, where the heart's valves are flaps that let blood pass in one direction. Making a valve in the heart less obstructed is what the procedure aims at, which is why the cutting is done on the valve itself rather than on the surrounding tissue.