WORDS - 10 YEARS LATER

Certain phrases in the medical language have lost their meaning and in some cases now suggest the exact opposite of the facts. These are ''anemia of chronic disease,'' ''liver function tests,'' ''the prevalence,'' ''S1 was present,'' ''S1 is normal,'' ''neurologic syncope,'' ''orthostatic hypotension,'' ''the neck veins were distended,'' ''hospital-acquired pneumonia,'' and ''right-sided backward failure.'' I suggest a different and more clinically useful way of looking at these phrases.