Definition of "fistula" []

• An abnormal duct or passage resulting from injury, disease, or a congenital disorder that connects an abscess, cavity, or hollow organ to the body surface or to another hollow organ. (noun)

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.

• "The risk for fistula is compounded among young women who are married and give birth in their teens - in Niger, half of all girls are married by age 15."
• "Doctors here specialize in fistula operation and women travel here from far and wide for a cure."
• "_ -- The word fistula is applied to any ulcerous lesion upon the external surface of the body which is connected by ducts, or passages, with some internal cavity."