What's the difference between incurable and intractable?

Incurable


Definition:

  • (a.) Not capable of being cured; beyond the power of skill or medicine to remedy; as, an incurable disease.
  • (a.) Not admitting or capable of remedy or correction; irremediable; remediless; as, incurable evils.
  • (n.) A person diseased beyond cure.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) We conclude that mortality rates in the elderly could be improved by encouraging elective surgery and avoiding diagnostic laparatomy in patients with incurable surgical disease.
  • (2) The prime minister and chancellor threaten legal action over any losses incurred by British citizens as banks are nationalized.
  • (3) Domino’s had been in touch with Driscoll on Thursday morning and was “working to make it up to him ... and to ensure he is not out of pocket for any expenses incurred”.
  • (4) Lesion of the central nervous system in man is generally believed to be incurable.
  • (5) This lack of alteration in mitochondrial function was in spite of the fact that these rats consumed an identical amount of ethanol as those which incurred mitochondrial dysfunction.
  • (6) Given the megadoses of steroids taken by some athletes and the large forces incurred by power-trained musculature, the integrity of tendinous tissue in these athletes may be at significant risk of compromise if steroids do, in fact, exert a destructive effect.
  • (7) In patients with coronary artery disease, rapid ventricular rates require adequate treatment since disturbed oxygen balance and ischemia may be incurred.
  • (8) Therefore the usual time for incurring congenital anomalies (or the first trimester of foetal life) could be the commonest time for initiating childhood cancers.
  • (9) Partial peripheral splenic embolization can be performed in case of incurable thrombocytopenia due to hypersplenism without following splenectomy.
  • (10) A series of 83 patients with incurable cancer of the pancreatic head were analysed.
  • (11) Early neurological indicants based on information from the hospital admission clinical examination were studied in a group of patients who had sustained accident-incurred traumatic head injuries.
  • (12) The median number of days lost from practice to defend a malpractice suit was three to five, and 6 percent of the physicians surveyed incurred some out-of-pocket expenses.
  • (13) You are hunting for signs of the assembly of injuries - a broken nose, knocked-out teeth, fractured eye socket - incurred by falling face-first down a fire escape in Michigan while high on crystal meth, crack cocaine and cheap wine.
  • (14) Astrocytoma, the most common brain tumor in humans, is usually malignant and virtually incurable.
  • (15) The Natural Death Act amendments authorize the withholding and withdrawal of life-sustaining procedures from patients with incurable or irreversible conditions if death will result within a relatively short time without use of such procedures.
  • (16) By discounting the relevance of child sexual trauma, psychiatric clinicians and theoreticians overlook not only the therapeutic needs of many survivors but the opportunity to reconceptualize the role of trauma in the etiology and treatment of conditions presumed to be incurable.
  • (17) This is in contrast to regular monthly premium payments which incur no further cost to the consumer if cancelled.
  • (18) The cranial ultrasound scan features correlated well with the neuropathological findings and may be helpful in the early detection of this incurable condition.
  • (19) We concluded that the more biodegradable a tube, the more likely it was to incur distortion and luminal narrowing.
  • (20) The author answers "No" and explains why he thinks (1) that medicine should become more oriented toward providing care, preventing premature death, and improving the quality of people's lives for a reasonable span of years (for example, until 80) and less toward saving lives of the very old and incurably ill at great cost; (2) that rationing and priority setting are inevitable because of limited resources; and (3) that the claims of children may on occasion need to be placed before those of the elderly.

Intractable


Definition:

  • (a.) Not tractable; not easily governed, managed, or directed; indisposed to be taught, disciplined, or tamed; violent; stubborn; obstinate; refractory; as, an intractable child.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Four patients had previously been diverted and the other six were reconstructed because of intractable incontinence or deteriorating renal function.
  • (2) The medical records of 27 children admitted to the MINCEP Epilepsy Program for evaluation of intractable epilepsy but later shown to have nonepileptic events by EEG with simultaneous video monitoring were reviewed.
  • (3) The remaining eight patients who had surgery all had temporal lobectomies for intractable seizures; none had tumors.
  • (4) Phenacemide monotherapy controlled seizures in four children with intractable partial complex epilepsy.
  • (5) Intractable or progressing heart failure appeared to be a definite indication for emergency surgery, but medical therapy was recommended for mild to moderate heart failure.
  • (6) Results reveal a logical, understandable, and largely adaptive response to intractable seizures and offer little support for the concept of a dysfunctional or pathological interictal personality style.
  • (7) As a possible mechanism underlying the alterations of DRP, the functional consequences of atrophic changes of primary central afferent terminals are being discussed in terms of the close correlation between structure and function and the possible inferences of the electrophysiological reaction to the therapeutic application of Vinca alkaloids in the iontophoretic treatment of chronic intractable pain.
  • (8) One also had an associated valgus deformity and another had supination of the forefoot; all had intractable problems with footwear.
  • (9) Three years later he presented with intractable and ultimately fatal congestive heart failure.
  • (10) Since the introduction of computed tomography (CT) in 1974, 137 patients underwent cortical resection for intractable epilepsy.
  • (11) This study examined the relationship between long-term theophylline therapy and behavior problems in 14 asthmatic children that includes 5 intractable cases and 24 non-asthmatic children.
  • (12) The preresection and postresection intraoperative electrocorticograms of 76 consecutive patients undergoing resective surgery for intractable epilepsy were analyzed to see if location, configuration, and discharge rate of epileptiform activity correlated with type and location of pathology of the resected specimens and outcome in regard to seizure control.
  • (13) The two techniques of percutaneous cordotomy and pituitary injection of alcohol have been considered as methods applicable to the relief of intractable pain in inoperatable cancer.
  • (14) Captopril is an inhibitor of angiotensin I converting enzyme and is used for treating intractable chronic hypertension.
  • (15) Clomiphene citrate therapy was performed on 30 patients with idiopathic male infertility, who were intractable to non-hormonal therapy.
  • (16) Small bowel biopsies are not likely to be of assistance in determining the prognosis of this disorder and should not be used to determine therapy or to advise parents concerning the likely duration of intractable diarrhea of infancy.
  • (17) Two other patients had aortic root replacement, one at the age of 6.5 weeks due to intractable heart failure, and the other at the age of 3 months due to increasing gradient.
  • (18) A physical examination revealed intractable hiccups.
  • (19) In therapy, the provision of real-time visual feedback of tongue movement can be effective in the remediation of certain types of intractable speech problems.
  • (20) It is proposed that serum beta-2 microglobulin may be considered as a reliable parameter of the degree of severity of acute idiopathic anterior uveitis, as well as representing a useful tool for the evaluation of drug efficacy, especially in intractable cases.