A medical procedure in which a needle or tube is inserted through the abdominal wall into the colon to remove fluid or sample tissue for diagnostic purposes.
From Greek 'colon' (the large intestine) + 'centesis' (puncture). The '-centesis' suffix comes from 'kentein' meaning 'to pierce,' and entered medical terminology in the 19th century.
Colocentesis is rare today because doctors developed safer alternatives like colonoscopy, but it represents an earlier era when doctors would literally punch through the abdomen to reach internal organs—modern medicine's willingness to take risks was sometimes jaw-dropping.
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