apc medical definition
Medicare’s Coding System for Medical Billing. APC stands for Medicare’s Ambulatory Payment Classification, the coding system that hospitals use to bill the federal government for services provide to Medicare and Medicaid patients. The APC system was created by the U.S. government in 2000 as part of the Medicare Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) in order to regulate monies paid to hospitals for various services. Mutations in the APC gene are also responsible for a disorder called Turcot syndrome, which is closely related to familial adenomatous polyposis. Turcot syndrome is an association of colorectal cancer with a type of cancerous brain tumor called a medulloblastoma. Most of these mutations lead to the production of an abnormally short, nonfunctional version of the APC protein. This short protein cannot suppress the cellular overgrowth that leads to the formation of abnormal growths (polyps) in the colon, which can become cancerous. APC: APC has several very different meanings in medicine. See each of the following separate entries: 1. APC (gene). 2. APC (immunology). 3. APC (medication). Several mutations in the APC gene have been found in people with a type of aggressive but noncancerous (benign) growth called a desmoid tumor. These rare tumors arise from connective tissue, which provides strength and flexibility to structures such as bones, ligaments, and muscles. The APC gene provides instructions for making the APC protein, which plays a critical role in several cellular processes. The APC protein acts as a tumor suppressor, which means that it keeps cells from growing and dividing too fast or in an uncontrolled way. It helps control how often a cell divides, how it attaches to other cells within a tissue, and whether a cell moves within or away from a tissue. A. APC, or atrial premature complex (or beat) is a beat that arise in the atria of the heart from outside the normal mechanism of heartbeats. It's very common and doesn't portend any bad prognosis. It increase with age, smoking, coffee intake, alcohol intake, and stress, and also with heart and lung disease. Argon plasma coagulation or APC is a medical endoscopic procedure used primarily to control bleeding from certain lesions in the gastrointestinal tract, and also sometimes to debulk tumours in the case of patients for whom surgery is not recommended. It is administered during esophagogastroduodenoscopy or colonoscopy. APC involves the use of a jet of ionized argon gas (plasma) that is directed through a probe passed through the endoscope. The probe is placed at some distance from the bleeding lesion, and argon gas is emitted then ionized by a high voltage discharge (approx 6kV). APC protein (molecular medicine) Genetics. A gene on chromosome 5q21-q22 that encodes a tumour-suppressor protein which acts as an antagonist of the Wnt signalling pathway. APC is also involved in cell migration and adhesion, transcriptional activation, and apoptosis. Molecular Pathology. APC mutations cause familial adenomatous polyposis.
A medical endoscopic procedure used primarily to control bleeding from certain lesions in the gastrointestinal tract, and also sometimes to debulk tumours in the case of patients for whom surgery is not recommended.