What does necrosis mean?
Necrosis is the medical term for the death of cells or tissue when cells are damaged so severely that they cannot recover. It may result from infection, burns, toxins, trauma, tumors, or a loss of blood supply that deprives tissue of oxygen. In clinical descriptions, necrosis often appears in combinations such as tissue necrosis, cellular necrosis, and ischemic necrosis, the last meaning tissue death caused by inadequate circulation. The word is formal and technical, but its basic meaning is straightforward: abnormal death within the body. Necrosis is especially important in diagnosis because dead tissue can indicate infection, inadequate blood flow, or the effects of another serious condition. It should not be confused with apoptosis, a controlled form of cell death that is part of normal development and tissue maintenance.
nounThe death of cells or tissue caused by injury, disease, infection, or loss of blood supply. Necrosis is a pathological form of tissue death, distinct from the controlled cellular death involved in normal development and tissue maintenance.
- The pathological death of cells or tissue resulting from injury, disease, infection, or inadequate blood supply.
"The biopsy showed widespread necrosis in the affected tissue."
"Severe frostbite can cause tissue necrosis."
"The scan revealed necrosis around the tumor."
The standard plural is “necroses,” pronounced with a long e in the second syllable: /nɛˈkroʊsiːz/.
"The scans showed multiple areas of necrosis."
Necrosis is the body’s warning that tissue has been so badly injured or deprived of blood that its cells can no longer recover.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does necrosis come from?
Necrosis comes from Greek nekrosis, meaning a state of death, formed from nekros, “dead,” a term that is also the source of English words such as necropolis and necrology. The suffix -osis is used in medical terminology for a condition or process. The English medical use developed from Greek pathology, where necrosis referred to the death or putrefaction of bodily tissue.
Related word forms
How necrosis is actually used
This is a formal medical and scientific term. It is usually used for tissue or cell death caused by disease or injury and is often distinguished from apoptosis, the programmed cellular death involved in normal biological processes.
Easily confused with necrosis
Necrosis is typically the uncontrolled or pathological death of cells and tissue, whereas apoptosis is a regulated cellular process involved in normal development and tissue maintenance.