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Leuko-Araiosis: An Ancient Term for a New Problem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

V.C. Hachinski ,
P. Potter  and
H. Merskey
V.C. Hachinski*
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences, University Hospital, London, Ontario
P. Potter
Affiliation:
Department of History of Medicine and Science, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario
H. Merskey
Affiliation:
Department of Education and Research, London Psychiatric Hospital, London, Ontario
*
Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences, University Hospital, 339 Windermere Road, London, Ontario, Canada N6G 2K3
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Abstract:

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Recent research with computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MR) of the brain has revealed a type of tissue change for which no fitting term exists. The change appears as areas of decreased density on CT and changed signals of the white matter in MR images. Because neither a definite pathological change nor a specific clinical deficit has been linked with the CT and MR changes, a designation is required that limits itself to describing the changes themselves.

We propose “leuko-araiosis”. The Greek root leuko-, signifying “white”, has found wide usage in modern medical terminology: e.g. leucine, leukocyte, leukorrhoea. Also several precedents exist for its application to the white matter of the central nervous system: e.g. leukoencephalitis, leukomyelitis, leukotomy. Araios is an adjective meaning “rarefied”, and the suffix -osis converts the adjective to a noun meaning “rarefaction, diminution of density”, a word used in the Hippocratic Collection to describe a state of excessive porosity of the lung.

A descriptive term precludes premature presuppositions and encourages the search for causes.

Type
Imaging of Demented Subjects
Information
Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences , Volume 13 , Issue S4 , November 1986 , pp. 533 - 534
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation 1986

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