Health care terms

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Administrative data
Data transmitted to sickness funds as part of the billing process or to federal agencies like the German Federal Statistics Office due to legal requirements. In Germany, this includes information about coded diagnoses and procedures. 

Adsorber systems
These are treatments for selective blood purification. A housing filled with a specific material (powder/gel) is passed through blood or plasma. The material consists of a solid carrier material with a big surface bound to active groups/molecules which selectively bind/adsorb harmful substances/pathogens from the blood/plasma. 

Albumin
A protein that can be used to monitor a patient’s nutritional condition.

Ambix^® activ
Infusion pump for the application of parenteral nutrition, which is specially designed for the needs in outpatient care. It offers patients and those caring for them maximum independence thanks to its easy and safe handling.

Antibodies
Antibodies are proteins that bind specifically to a particular substance, its antigen. Antibodies are known collectively as immunoglobulins. They are produced by B-lymphocytes and plasma cells in response to infection or immunization, and bind to and neutralize pathogens, thus preparing them for uptake and destruction of phagocytes.

AOK
Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse; The AOK is Germany’s largest public health insurance company.

Apheresis
Process of obtaining blood from a donor or patient to separate or remove certain components (thrombocytes plasma) before re-infuding the remainder.

Ascites
Accumulation of excess fluid in the abdomen due to disturbed balance of influx and efflux as a result of a malignant disease.

Blood volume replacement
Infusion solution to compensate blood loss.

CHMP
The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) is responsible for preparing the EMEA’s opinions on all questions concerning medicinal products for human use. 

Colloids
Blood and plasma substitutes.

Compounding
Mixing of different solutions or components for I.V. or parental nutrition therapy.

CompoDock Data Management
CompoDock is a device for the sterile connection of two PVC blood bag tubes. Sterile means that the closed system of each bag is maintained during the connection process, thus no contamination enters from the outside. The data management feature, a software, allows automatic documentation of this sterile connection process in terms of GMP. 

Dialysis
A type of renal replacement therapy where a semipermeable membrane – in peritoneal dialysis the peritoneum of the patient, and in hemodialysis the membrane of the dialyzer – is used for selective solute removal.

Dialysis machine
The hemodialysis process is controlled by a dialysis machine which pumps blood, adds anticoagulants, regulates the cleansing process, and controls the mixture of dialysate and its flow rate through the system.

Dialysis solution
Fluid used in the process of dialysis

Dialyzer
Special filter used in hemodialysis for removing toxic substances and excess water from the blood.

Enteral nutrition
Application of liquid nutrition as a tube or sip feed via the gastrointestinal tract.

EPO (Erythropoietin)
Hormone that stimulates red blood cell production. Recombinant (i.e. artificially produced) human EPO is commonly prescribed to patients on dialysis who suffer from anemia.

Extracorporeal
Taking place outside the body.

Graft-versus-Host-Disease (aGvHD)
Rejection of a transplanted organ, caused by T-cells in the donor graft that attack the host organism.