CHIASM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does chiasm mean? 

• CHIASM (noun)
  The noun CHIASM has 1 sense:

1. an intersection or crossing of two tracts in the form of the letter X

  Familiarity information: CHIASM used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CHIASM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An intersection or crossing of two tracts in the form of the letter X

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

chiasm; chiasma; decussation

Hypernyms ("chiasm" is a kind of...):

anatomical structure; bodily structure; body structure; complex body part; structure (a particular complex anatomical part of a living thing and its construction and arrangement)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "chiasm"):

chiasma opticum; optic chiasm; optic chiasma (the crossing of the optic nerves from the two eyes at the base of the brain)

Derivation:

chiasmal; chiasmatic; chiasmic (of or relating to a chiasm)

 Context examples 

After three weeks, the scientists saw more extensive regeneration, with axons growing through the optic nerve as far as the optic chiasm, a distance from the eye of about 6 millimeters.

(Visual activity regenerates neural connections between eye and brain, NIH)

The tumor may extend into the optic chiasm and hypothalamus.

(Optic Nerve Glioma, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Benign and malignant neoplasms which arise from or metastasize to the optic or second cranial nerve which extends from the optic disc of the eye and joins the optic chiasm.

(Optic Nerve Neoplasm, NCI Thesaurus)

Due to its location in the sella turcica, expansion of the tumor mass can impinge on the optic chiasm or involve the temporal lobe, third ventricle and posterior fossa.

(Pituitary Gland Adenoma, NCI Thesaurus)

A thin membrane of grey substance extending form the corpus callosum to the tuber cinereum above the optic chiasm and forming the anterior portion of the inferior border of the third ventricle.

(Lamina Cinerea, NCI Thesaurus)

The nerves that travel from the optic chiasm (place in the brain where some of the optic nerve fibers cross) into certain parts of the brain involved in vision.

(Optic tract, NCI Dictionary)

The cavity surrounding the optic chiasm.

(Chiasmatic Cistern, NCI Thesaurus)

A rare, slow-growing tumor that usually forms in the optic nerve, optic chiasm, or optic tract.

(Optic pathway glioma, NCI Dictionary)

The nerve carries the axons of the retinal ganglion cells which sort at the optic chiasm and continue via the optic tracts to the brain.

(Murine Optic Nerve, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The cavity surrounding the internal carotid artery on either side of the optic chiasm.

(Carotid Cistern, NCI Thesaurus)