Still another reason why Greek continued to serve as a resource for the formation of medical terms, lies in the characteristics of the Greek language itself: it permits combining of word elements to form compound terms with greater ease than other languages of the Western civilization.

Because Greek words can be modified so easily to encompass change or expansion of meaning, Greek word elements have been used since antiquity continuously to coin and compose new medical terms. Even today newly-discovered diseases or innovative procedures are often named by using representative combinations of Greek word elements.

Two examples of recently derived medical terms will illustrate this:
computerized axial "TOMOGRAPHY" (abbr. CAT scan), meaning a radiologic imaging of a selected axial plane:

This procedure is being accomplished, without any actual incision or cutting, but by a special radiologic technique using computer support to construct a total image on x-ray film from the exposed sections of selected body planes in relationship to an imaginary axis. The scan, or visual display on screen or image on film, obtained in this manner looks as if it were a cross section of the human body.

"TELEMETRY" defines a modern procedure of obtaining vital measurements at a distance from the observed patient by transmission of radio-signals:

These terms are expressed in Greek, yet they have been introduced into the medical language in our times by non-Greek physicians, because Greek word elements are easily combined in a logical way.

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