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Medicine vocabulary · Symptoms and Signs

Radiate

Meaning in medicine, with examples

/ˈreɪdieɪt/verbCommon term

In medicine, radiate means: Of pain, to spread from the place where it starts to another part of the body, for example from the chest to the left arm.

In Turkish: yayılmak, vurmak

How it is used

A standard question in pain histories ('Does the pain go anywhere else?'). In notes doctors write 'radiating to the back' or 'non-radiating'. Patients may say the pain 'goes down' or 'shoots into' an arm or leg.

Example sentences

  1. The pain radiates to his left arm and jaw.

  2. Central abdominal pain radiating to the back makes me think of pancreatitis.

Common collocations

  • radiate to the back
  • radiating pain
  • non-radiating
  • radiate down the arm
  • onsetThe moment or the way in which a symptom or illness begins, for example suddenly or slowly over several weeks.
  • take a historyTo ask a patient structured questions about their current problem, past illnesses, medicines, family and lifestyle in order to understand what is wrong.
  • myocardial infarctionDeath of part of the heart muscle because its blood supply is suddenly blocked, usually by a clot in a coronary artery; the medical name for a heart attack.
  • symptomSomething a patient feels and reports, such as pain, tiredness or nausea, that may show they have an illness. Doctors learn about it by asking, not by measuring.

More terms: Symptoms and Signs

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.