Meaning & use
postoperative diagnosis
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountablemedical
The medical condition identified by a doctor after a surgical operation has been performed.
Grammar: Countable; often used with 'a' or 'the' in medical notes: 'The postoperative diagnosis was appendicitis.'
Patterns
- the postoperative diagnosis
- a postoperative diagnosis of something
- confirm the postoperative diagnosis
The surgeon wrote the postoperative diagnosis in the patient's chart after the operation.
A postoperative diagnosis of infection was made once the lab results came back.
The postoperative diagnosis differed from what the doctors had expected before surgery.
Word forms
| plural | postoperative diagnoses |
|---|
Common combinations
- postoperative diagnosis of
- The postoperative diagnosis of a hernia was confirmed by imaging.
- confirm the postoperative diagnosis
- The pathologist helped confirm the postoperative diagnosis.
- record the postoperative diagnosis
- Nurses must record the postoperative diagnosis accurately.
Synonyms and how they differ
- postsurgical diagnosis
- A near-synonym used in some medical contexts; 'postoperative' is more common in hospital records.
- surgical diagnosis
- Broader; it can refer to a diagnosis made during or after surgery, not only after.
Opposites
Word family
- postoperative adjective
- Relating to the period after surgery.
- diagnosis noun
- The identification of a disease or condition.
- diagnose verb
- To identify a disease or condition.
Commonly confused: postoperative diagnosis or prognosis?
postoperative diagnosis vs prognosis
A prognosis is a prediction of how a condition will develop, while a diagnosis is the identification of the condition itself.
Practice
The doctor wrote the _____ diagnosis after the surgery was completed.
Choose one answer.
'Postoperative' means after surgery, which fits the context. 'Preoperative' means before surgery, so it is the opposite. 'Postponed' and 'postal' are unrelated words.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “postoperative diagnosis”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.