{"id":8437,"date":"2025-08-24T09:48:38","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T06:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jordan-cardiac.org\/?p=8437"},"modified":"2025-08-24T09:48:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T06:48:38","slug":"you-say-noac-i-say-doac-medicines-love-of-confusing-jargon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jordan-cardiac.org\/en\/you-say-noac-i-say-doac-medicines-love-of-confusing-jargon\/","title":{"rendered":"You Say NOAC, I Say DOAC: Medicine\u2019s Love of Confusing Jargon"},"content":{"rendered":"
You Say NOAC, I Say DOAC: Medicine\u2019s Love of Confusing Jargon<\/div>\n
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Source: Medscape Commentary\u2013 August 20, 2025<\/div>\n
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Key Themes in Medical Nomenclature<\/div>\n
1. Names Shape Perception<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 Medical terminology lacks consistency.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 Example: \u201cHeart attack\u201d vs. \u201cmyocardial infarction\u201d vs. \u201cacute coronary syndrome.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 Same condition, different names \u2192 confusing for patients and trainees.<\/span><\/div>\n
2. TAVI vs. TAVR<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 Europe\/Asia: TAVI (implantation).<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 U.S.: TAVR (replacement).<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 \u201cImplantation\u201d is technically more accurate, since the valve is pushed aside, not removed.<\/span><\/div>\n
3. \u2018Brain Attack\u2019 vs. Stroke<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 \u201cBrain attack\u201d never caught on as a term for stroke.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 CVA (cerebrovascular accident) is misleading; stroke is not an \u201caccident.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 Endpoints often use MACE, or MACCE to include cerebrovascular events.<\/span><\/div>\n
4. Renal Terminology Changes<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 \u201cRenal failure\u201d \u2192 renamed to \u201crenal insufficiency.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 Suggestion: apply similar shift from \u201cheart failure\u201d \u2192 \u201cheart insufficiency.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 This may better reflect HFpEF patients whose hearts haven\u2019t fully \u201cfailed.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
The NOAC vs. DOAC Debate<\/div>\n
5. Terminology Confusion<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 NOAC (novel oral anticoagulant) \u2192 rebranded as DOAC (direct oral anticoagulant).<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 CHEST still uses NOAC; ISTH favors drug-specific names.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 No universal agreement.<\/span><\/div>\n
6. Rejected Alternatives<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 TSOAC, ODI, SODA \u2192 add confusion, not clarity.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 Some argue \u201cN\u201d in NOAC meant \u201cnon-vitamin K,\u201d but that\u2019s revisionist.<\/span><\/div>\n
Other Renaming Trends<\/div>\n
7. Liver Disease<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 NAFLD renamed to MASLD (metabolic dysfunction\u2013associated steatotic liver disease).<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 More accurate cause-based naming, though \u201cfatty liver\u201d still used.<\/span><\/div>\n
Language, Culture & Medicine<\/div>\n
8. Inconsistency is Normal<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 Language evolves chaotically, often shaped by history.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 Example: after the Norman conquest of England (1066):<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 Animals alive \u2192 cow, pig, sheep (Anglo-Saxon).<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 As food \u2192 beef, pork, mutton (French).<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 Shows that inconsistency is a natural part of language \u2014 and medical terms (e.g., NOAC vs. DOAC, TAVI vs. TAVR) are no exception.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Takeaway<\/div>\n
\u2022 Medicine struggles with inconsistent jargon, just like language in general.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 Some renaming efforts succeed (MASLD), others fail (\u201cbrain attack,\u201d PASC).<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022 Patients care more about outcomes than what we call their disease \u2014 clarity matters more than perfect consistency.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
https:\/\/click.mail.medscape.com\/?qs=9932af753d52ee10d1b1518265fa8a9f949a04746e88b613af835cf88185ecbc27b04e44f7874bdc228b57f69fde17849a331d79e4dba33b297acbf69498c2ef<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You Say NOAC, I Say DOAC: Medicine\u2019s Love of Confusing Jargon Source: Medscape Commentary\u2013 August 20, 2025 Key Themes in Medical Nomenclature 1. Names Shape Perception \u2022 Medical terminology lacks consistency. \u2022 Example: \u201cHeart attack\u201d vs. \u201cmyocardial infarction\u201d vs. \u201cacute coronary syndrome.\u201d \u2022 Same condition, different names \u2192 confusing for patients and trainees. 2. TAVI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jordan-cardiac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jordan-cardiac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jordan-cardiac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jordan-cardiac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/145"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jordan-cardiac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8437"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jordan-cardiac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8438,"href":"https:\/\/jordan-cardiac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8437\/revisions\/8438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jordan-cardiac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jordan-cardiac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jordan-cardiac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}