Medical abbreviations and acronyms (B)

This article contains a list of commonly used medical abbreviations and acronyms that start with the letter B and may be encountered in medicine and radiology (please keep in alphabetic order).

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L -M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z - misc

• B
  • boron
  • class of vitamins
  • blood type (ABO system)
• Ba: barium
• BAC: bronchioloalveolar carcinoma
• BAHA: bone-anchored hearing aid
• BAL: bronchoalveolar lavage
• B-ALL: B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
• BAV: bicuspid aortic valve
• BBB
  • blood brain barrier
  • bundle branch block
  • balloon breast brachytherapy
• BBT: basal body temperature
• BC
  • blood culture
  • bone conduction
• BCC
  • basal cell carcinoma
  • branchial cleft cyst
• BCG: bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine
• BCV: brachiocephalic vein
• BCVI: blunt cerebrovascular injury
• BD: twice a day (drug prescriptions, L: bis in die)
• BDFL: benevolent dictator for life
• BD-IPMN: branch duct type - intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm
• BE
  • barium enema
  • base excess
• Be: beryllium
• Benzo: benzodiazepine
• BeS: beryllium sensitisation 
• BG
  • basal ganglia
  • blood glucose
• bHCG: beta human chorionic gonadotropin
• BHD: Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome
• Bi: bismuth
• BIAD: blind insertion airway device
• BIBA: brought in by ambulance
• bicarb: sodium bicarbonate
• BID
  • brought in dead
  • twice a day (drug prescriptions, from L: bis in die)
• bil dil: biliary dilatation
• BiPAP: bilevel positive airway pressure
• BIR: British institute of radiology
• BI-RADS: breast imaging - reporting and data system
• BiVAD: biventricular assist device
• BJP: Bence Jones proteins
• BJR: British journal of radiology
• BK: bradykinin
• Bk: berkelium
• BKA: below-the-knee amputation
• BL: Burkitt lymphoma
• B/L: bilateral
• Bld: blood
• BLS: basic life support
• BM
  • blood sugar (named after Boehringer Mannheim, company who developed the BM test strip)
  • bone marrow
  • bachelor of medicine
  • bowel movement/motion
• BMD
  • Becker muscular dystrophy
  • bone mineral density
• BMI: body mass index
• B-mode: brightness mode (ultrasound)
• BMP
  • basic metabolic panel
  • bitmap (image/file)
• BMR: basic metabolic rate
• BMS
  • bare metal stent
  • bowel management system
• BMT: bone marrow transplant
• BNF: British national formulary
• BNO: bowel not opening
• BNP: brain natriuretic peptide
• BO: bowel opening
• B/O: because of
• BOFS: branchio-oculo-facial syndrome
• BOLD: blood oxygenation level dependent contrast
• BOM: bilateral otitis media
• BOO: bladder outlet obstruction
• BOOP: bronchiolitis obliterans organising pneumonia
• BOR: branchio-oto-renal syndrome
• BOS: bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome
• BP
  • blood pressure
  • British pharmacopoeia
  • base pair
  • bipolar disorder
  • Bell palsy
• BPA: balloon pulmonary angioplasty
• BPD
  • bipolar disorder
  • biparietal diameter
  • borderline personality disorder
  • bronchopulmonary dysplasia
• BPE: benign prostatic enlargement
• BPG: bypass graft
• BPH
  • benign prostatic hypertrophy
  • benign prostatic hyperplasia
• BPM: beats per minute
• BPOP: bizarre parosteal osteochondromatous proliferation
• BPPV: benign paroxysmal positional vertigo
• BPV: benign positional vertigo
• Bq: becquerel
• Br: bromine
• BRBPR: bright red blood per rectum
• BRCA: breast cancer
• BRCA1: breast cancer 1 (gene or protein)
• BRCA2: breast cancer 2 (gene or protein)
• Bronch: bronchoscopy
• BRONJ: bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw
• BS: bachelor of surgery
• BSA: body surface area
• BSc: bachelor of science
• BSL
  • blood sugar level
  • British sign language
• BSO: bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy
• bSSFP: balanced steady state free precession
• BSSO: bilateral sagittal split osteotomy
• BST: basic surgical training
• BT: bleeding time
• BTS: British thoracic society
• BUN: blood urea nitrogen
• BV: bacterial vaginosis
• BW
  • bandwidth
  • birth weight
• Bx: biopsy