Sidebar
Brain death
Brain death is a legal definition of death. It is the complete stopping of all brain function and cannot be reversed. It means that, because of extreme and serious trauma or injury to the brain, the body's blood supply to the brain is blocked, and the brain dies. Brain death is death. It is permanent.
Brain aneurysm

brain aneurysm (AN-yoo-riz-um) is a bulge or ballooning in a blood vessel in the brain. It often looks like a berry hanging on a stem. A brain aneurysm can leak or rupture, causing bleeding into the brain (hemorrhagic stroke).

An unruptured aneurysm usually causes no symptoms. A key symptom of a ruptured aneurysm is a sudden, severe headache.
Treatments for an unruptured aneurysm include medication to control blood pressure and procedures to prevent a future rupture. Emergency medical care is required for a ruptured aneurysm.
Bowen's disease

Bowen's diseaseBowen's disease is a very early form of skin cancer that's easily treatable. The main sign is a red, scaly patch on the skin. It affects the squamous cells, which are in the outermost layer of skin, and is sometimes referred to as squamous cell carcinoma in situ.

Bowel transplant
Small bowel transplant. A small bowel (intestinaltransplant is an operation to replace a diseased or shortened small bowel with a healthy bowel from a donor. It's a complicated and highly specialised operation that's only done at four specialist centres in the UK: Birmingham Children's Hospital.
Bowel polyps
A small clump of cells that forms on the lining of the colon or rectum.
Most are harmless, but some can develop into cancer.
Colon polyps often don't cause symptoms.
Regular screening tests, such as colonoscopy, can help ensure that polyps are identified and removed before they can develop into cancer.
Bowel cancer screening

Bowel cancer screening involves having tests to check if you have or are at risk of bowel cancer. Bowel cancer screening aims to check for bowel cancer or abnormalities that could lead to bowel cancer. The screening tests include:

  • testing for blood in your poo (stools)
  • looking inside your bowel using a scope (bowel scope)
Bowel cancer
Bowel cancer is a general term for cancer that begins in the large bowel. Depending on where the cancer starts, bowel cancer is sometimes called colon or rectal cancerBowel cancer is one of the most common types of cancer diagnosed in the UK. Most people diagnosed with it are over the age of 60.