Atresia
Atresia (plural: atresias) refers to a situation where there is absence, underdevelopment or abnormal closure, of a normal anatomical tubular structure or opening.
Contrast this with agenesis which refers to the complete absence of any anatomical structure including its primordial precursors.
For example:
- respiratory tract
- alimentary tract
- bile ducts
- genitourinary tract
- skeleton
Some authors occasionally overlap the two terms (i.e. atresia and agenesis), which in general is an erroneous practice.
Related Radiopaedia articles
Terms used in radiology
- general
- ancillary
- artifact
- corner of the film
- diagnosis of exclusion
- epiphenomenon
- filling defect
- forme fruste
- gamut
- geographic
- gold standard
- heterogeneous vs heterogenous
- iatrogenic
- idiopathic
- incidentaloma
- in extremis
- natural history
- non-specific
- prodrome
- protean
- self-limiting
- sequela
- serpiginous
- sine qua non
- subclinical disease
- syndrome
- pathology
- CNS
- chest
- epidemiology
- gastrointestinal
- genetics
- musculoskeletal
- oncology