Definition of "contralateral" [contralateral]

• Taking place or originating in a corresponding part on an opposite side. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "A study published Monday in the journal Cancer found that among women in New York state who had cancer in one breast, the number who opted to have the other breast removed, called contralateral prophylactic mastectomy, more than doubled between 1995 and 2005, with nearly 5,000 women opting for the procedure during that period."
• "Hajopoulos, 44, had what doctors call a contralateral prophylactic mastectomy, or, in laymen's terms, a preventive mastectomy in a breast not yet determined to have cancer."
• "Researchers reported a 150 percent increase between 1998 and 2003 for the procedure, called contralateral prophylactic mastectomy, in a study published last year in the Journal of Clinical Oncology."