Medical abbreviations and acronyms (miscellaneous)

This article contains a list of commonly used medical abbreviations that start with any symbol, which is not a letter in English, and may be encountered in medicine and radiology.

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

• μg: microgram (mcg preferred)

• ': feet (US/Imperial measure for height/length)

• ": inches (US/Imperial measure for height/length)

• #: fracture (symbol is called a hash/hashtag/number/pound/octothorp)

• ?: query or question

• ~: approximately (symbol is called a tilde)

• ≈: more precise form of approximately than '~' (symbol is called a double tilde)

• +ve: positive

• -ve: negative

• ℞: prescription (often erroneously written as Rx or R_x) ('thou take' from L: recipe)

• x^o: number of hours (e.g. 4^o chest pain = 4 hr of chest pain)

• x/7: medical shorthand for 'x' number of days

• x/12: medical shorthand for 'x' number of months

• x/24: medical shorthand for 'x' number of hours

• x/40: medical shorthand for 'x' number of gestational weeks

• x/52: medical shorthand for 'x' number of weeks

• ^ox: medical shorthand for "x is not present", e.g. ' ^ocough ', means 'no cough'

• 1^o: primary

• 2^o: secondary

• 2D: 2-dimensional (or 2-D)

• 3^o: tertiary

• 3C syndrome: craniocerebellocardiac syndrome

• 3D: 3-dimensional (or 3-D)

• 3D MVOX: multivoxel (Toshiba)

• 3VV: 3 vessel view

• 4^o: quaternary

• 4D: 4-dimensional (or 4-D)

• 4D-TRAK: 4D timer resolved angiography using keyhole (Philips)

• 4WF: 4-wheel frame (ambulatory device)

• 5D: 5-dimensional (or 5-D)

• 5-F rule: fertile, fat, female, fair, forty/family history

• 5-FU: 5-fluorouracil

• 6-MP: 6-mercaptopurine

• 6MWT: 6 minute walk test