Definition

1. Noun:
   • A pathological hardening or thickening of tissue: A medical condition where body tissue becomes abnormally hard and thickened, often due to inflammation, disease, or scarring.

Usage

• The term "induration" is primarily used in medical and clinical contexts to describe a physical change in tissue texture.
• It is often used to describe a specific finding during a physical examination, such as a hardened area under the skin.
• Example:

Examples

• Noun:
  • The biopsy revealed induration of the liver tissue, indicative of chronic disease.
  • Palpable induration at the base of the ulcer is a common sign.
  • The tuberculin skin test is read by measuring the area of induration.

Advanced Usage

• "Area of induration": A specific, measurable zone of hardened tissue, often assessed in diagnostic tests like the Mantoux test for tuberculosis.
  • A positive test result is indicated by an area of induration greater than 10 mm in diameter.

Variants and Related Words

• Indurate (verb): To make hard; to harden.
  • The inflammatory process can indurate the surrounding tissue.
• Indurated (adjective): Hardened.
  • The indurated plaque on the skin was biopsied.

Synonyms

• Sclerosis: Abnormal hardening of body tissue (often used interchangeably in some contexts, though "sclerosis" can imply specific diseases).
• Hardening: The general process of becoming hard (less specific than "induration").

Notes on Meaning

• While the core meaning is pathological hardening, in older or more general texts, "induration" could sometimes refer to the process of becoming hard or callous in a non-medical sense (e.g., emotional induration). However, its primary and most common contemporary use is medical.

Noun

1. any pathological hardening or thickening of tissue