ABI
Abbreviation with 2 meanings
| Stands for | Ankle-brachial index |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 2 |
| Categories | Medical, Technology & Computing |
ABI has two meanings. It stands for Ankle-brachial index (cardiology) or Application binary interface (programming).
Meanings of ABI at a glance
| # | ABI stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ankle-brachial index | Medical › Cardiology |
| 2 | Application binary interface | Technology & Computing › Programming |
1. Ankle-brachial index
Medical · Cardiology Abbreviations
Ratio of systolic blood pressure at the ankle to that in the arm, measured with a cuff and a Doppler probe. A value between 1.00 and 1.40 is normal, 0.90 or lower confirms peripheral artery disease, and above 1.40 suggests stiff, noncompressible arteries.
Example: ABI 0.54 left, 0.98 right, consistent with significant left leg PAD.
Each leg's index divides the higher of its two ankle pressures by the higher of the two arm pressures. Calcified arteries in diabetes or kidney disease can falsely raise readings, so a toe-brachial index is used instead. The test takes about 15 minutes and needs no needles. In rehabilitation and trauma notes ABI can mean acquired brain injury.
2. Application binary interface
Technology & Computing · Programming Abbreviations
The low-level contract between compiled program components, defining how functions are called, how data is laid out in memory and how system calls work. Software built for one ABI cannot link against libraries built for an incompatible one.
Example: Upgrading the compiler broke the ABI, so every plugin had to be rebuilt.
An API is a source-level contract, while an ABI is a binary-level one, so code can remain API-compatible yet break ABI compatibility. C++ is notorious for ABI changes between compilers and versions. In Ethereum, a contract ABI is the JSON description that tells apps how to encode calls to a smart contract.
Related abbreviations
More cardiology abbreviations
- AAA – Abdominal aortic aneurysm
- ABPM – Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring
- ACC – American College of Cardiology
- ACHD – Adult congenital heart disease
- ACS – Acute coronary syndrome
- ADHF – Acute decompensated heart failure
- AED – Automated external defibrillator
- AF – Atrial fibrillation
See all 229 cardiology abbreviations →
More programming abbreviations
- ADR – Architecture decision record
- ADT – Abstract data type
- AMQP – Advanced Message Queuing Protocol
- AOT – Ahead-of-time (compilation)
- API – Application programming interface
- ASCII – American Standard Code for Information Interchange
- AST – Abstract syntax tree
- awk – Aho, Weinberger and Kernighan
See all 154 programming abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not medical advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.