Crista terminalis

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A Moment in History

Georg Eduard Von Rindfleisch
(1836 – 1908)

German pathologist and histologist of Bavarian nobility ancestry. Rindfleisch studied medicine in Würzburg, Berlin, and Heidelberg, earning his MD in 1859 with the thesis “De Vasorum Genesi” (on the generation of vessels) under the tutelage of Rudolf Virchow (1821 - 1902). He then continued as a assistant to Virchow in a newly founded institute in Berlin. He then moved to Breslau in 1861 as an assistant to Rudolf Heidenhain (1834–1897), becoming a professor of pathological anatomy. In 1865 he became full professor in Bonn and in 1874 in Würzburg, where a new pathological institute was built according to his design (completed in 1878), where he worked until his retirement in 1906.

He was the first to describe the inflammatory background of multiple sclerosis in 1863, when he noted that demyelinated lesions have in their center small vessels that are surrounded by a leukocyte inflammatory infiltrate.

After extensive investigations, he suspected an infectious origin of tuberculosis - even before Robert Koch's detection of the tuberculosis bacillus in 1892. Rindfleisch 's special achievement is the description of the morphologically conspicuous macrophages in typhoid inflammation. His distinction between myocardial infarction and myocarditis in 1890 is also of lasting importance.

Associated eponyms

"Rindfleisch's folds": Usually a single semilunar fold of the serous surface of the pericardium around the origin of the aorta. Also known as the plica semilunaris aortæ.

"Rindfleisch's cells": Historical (and obsolete) name for eosinophilic leukocytes.

Personal note: G. Rindfleisch’s book “Traité D' Histologie Pathologique” 2nd edition (1873) is now part of my library. This book was translated from German to French by Dr. Frédéric Gross (1844-1927) , Associate Professor of the Medicine Faculty in Nancy, France. The book is dedicated to Dr. Theodore Billroth (1829-1894), an important surgeon whose pioneering work on subtotal gastrectomies paved the way for today’s robotic bariatric surgery. Dr. Miranda.

Sources:
1. "Stedmans Medical Eponyms" Forbis, P.; Bartolucci, SL; 1998 Williams and Wilkins
2. "Rindfleisch, Georg Eduard von (bayerischer Adel?)" Deutsche Biographie
3. "The pathology of multiple sclerosis and its evolution" Lassmann H. (1999) Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 354 (1390): 1635–40.
4. “Traité D' Histologie Pathologique” G.E.
Rindfleisch 2nd Ed (1873) Ballieres et Fils. Paris, Translated by F Gross

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Details: Written by: Efrain A. Miranda, Ph.D.; Published: February 11, 2015; Hits: 9745

Click for a larger image

The anatomical term [crista terminalis] is Latin. [Crista] refers to the crest of a helmet, a tuft (of hair or feathers), or a ridge. The word [terminalis] means "end" or "terminal". The term then means "the terminal or end ridge".

The crista terminalis is a superoinferior muscular ridge found in the right atrium marking the boundary between the smooth wall of the right atrium, also known as the "sinus venarum" (venous sinus), and the muscular wall of the right atrial appendage. The muscular wall of the right atrial appendage is comb-shaped and is called the pectinate muscle.

Because of the longitudinal direction of the muscular fibers of the crista terminalis, it is considered to be one of the pathways for electrical transmission of the cardiac depolarization between the sinuatrial (SA) node and the atrioventricular (AV) node.

The crista terminalis causes a superoinferior longitudinal depression on the surface of the heart known as the sulcus terminalis.

The accompanying image is a dissection of a human heart and shows the crista terminalis, pectinate muscle, fossa ovalis, the ostium of the coronary sinus, the right atrial smooth wall of the sinus venarum. Click on the image for a larger version. The animated image does a slow pass trough all these and other structures.

Sources:
1. "The origin of Medical Terms" Skinner, AH, 1970
2. "Terminologia Anatomica: International Anatomical Terminology (FCAT)" Thieme, 1998
3. "Tratado de Anatomia Humana" Testut et Latarjet 8th Ed. 1931 Salvat Editores, Spain
Image courtesy of Rocky Vista University,College of Osteopathic Medicine, Parker, CO

Crista terminalis

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