Expressing angles as units of measure

   MT Reference Style Guide  >  Medical Transcription Grammar, Usage and Style  >  Measurements and Quantities  >  Conventional (non-metric) units of measure  >  Expressing angles as units of measure

When expressing planar or rotational angles, write out degrees or use the degree symbol (if available).

If the symbol is used, do not space between the number and the symbol.

Straight leg raise was positive at 40 degrees.
OR
Straight leg raise was positive at 40°.
NOT
Straight leg raise was positive at 40 °.

The patient's left elbow was positioned at a 90° angle for the imaging study.

If the degree symbol is not available, spell out the word degree or degrees. Compound modifying expressions should be hyphenated when the word is spelled out.

The patient's left elbow was positioned at a 90-degree angle for the imaging study.
Images were obtained in a 360-degree arc.