- incompetence, incompetency
- 1. The quality of being incompetent or incapable of performing the allotted function, especially failure of cardiac or venous valves to close completely. 2. In forensic psychiatry, the inability to distinguish right from wrong or to manage one's affairs. [L. in-, neg. + com-peto, strive after together]- aortic i. defective closure of the aortic valve permitting regurgitation into the left ventricle during diastole.- cardiac i. inability of the ventricles to pump out the blood returning to the atria fast enough to prevent an abnormal rise in atrial pressure or to pump sufficient blood to maintain normal circulatory function.- cardiac valvular i. failure of a valve to perform its fundamental function : insurance of one-way flow; manifested by regurgitation of blood in the opposite direction when the valve is supposed to be closed.- mitral i. defective closure of the mitral valve permitting regurgitation into the left atrium during systole.- muscular i. imperfect closure of an anatomically normal cardiac valve, in consequence of defective action of its papillary muscles.- pulmonary i., pulmonic i. defective closure of the pulmonic valve permitting regurgitation into the right ventricle during diastole.- pyloric i. a patulous state or want of tone of the pylorus that allows the passage of food into the intestine before gastric digestion is completed.- relative i. imperfect closure of a cardiac valve, in consequence of excessive dilation of the corresponding cavity of the heart.
Medical dictionary. 2011.
