AGASTRIC Meaning and
Definition
-
Agastric is a medical term used to describe the absence or lack of a stomach. Derived from the Greek prefix "a-", meaning without or lack of, and the word "gastric," referring to the stomach, agastric refers to the condition of an organism or an anatomical structure not having a stomach.
In the animal kingdom, certain species exhibit agastric characteristics. For instance, a few parasitic worms and insects lack a stomach as they obtain nutrients directly from the host organism. Additionally, some reptiles, such as snakes, have a highly reduced stomach or even lack it entirely. This adaptation allows them to consume large prey and further digest the food outside of a stomach using other organs, such as the intestines.
In the context of human biology, the term agastric is generally not used since a stomach is a vital organ in the digestive system. However, it can be used in rare medical conditions or situations where a person undergoes surgical removal of the stomach due to medical reasons, such as stomach cancer. In these cases, the individual would require alternative methods of receiving and processing nutrients, typically through modifications in their diet and the use of medical interventions like tube feeding or intravenous nutrition.
-
Without stomach or digestive tract.
A practical medical dictionary. By Stedman, Thomas Lathrop. Published 1920.
Common Misspellings for AGASTRIC
- zgastric
- sgastric
- wgastric
- qgastric
- afastric
- avastric
- abastric
- ahastric
- ayastric
- atastric
- agzstric
- agsstric
- agwstric
- agqstric
- agaatric
- agaztric
- agaxtric
- agadtric
- agaetric
- aastric
Etymology of AGASTRIC
The word agastric originates from two Greek roots: a- meaning without or not and gaster meaning stomach.
Infographic
Add the infographic to your website:
