Medical Terminology Daily (MTD) is a blog sponsored by Clinical Anatomy Associates, Inc. as a service to the medical community. We post anatomical, medical or surgical terms, their meaning and usage, as well as biographical notes on anatomists, surgeons, and researchers through the ages. Be warned that some of the images used depict human anatomical specimens.
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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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UPDATED: Latin word meaning "tail". The plural form is "caudae". The adjective use "caudal" or "caudad" means "towards the tail" or "inferior". Although not correct, in many anatomy books the term "caudal" is defined as "towards the feet", meaning that has become accepted through use. In reality this is a embryological term that can also be used in quadrupeds. The use of this term in the adult human is not correct, or at least should be avoided; unless you are truly going "towards the tail" i.e. coccyx
Applications of this word include:
- Cauda equina (the horse's tail): A structure formed by the inferior portion of the spinal cords and the corresponding ventral and dorsal roots, resembling a horse's tail.
- Caudate nucleus: One of the deep ganglia of the brain which has an elongated, curved extension resembling a tail
- Caudate lobe (of the liver): A small lobe of the liver that has a small projection resembling a tail, the caudate process.
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Cauda equina dissection
The term cauda equina is Latin. The word [cauda] means "tail", and the word [equina] means "horse". The horse's tail.
Since the spinal cord is shorter that the spinal canal, there is a discrepancy as to the origin of the dorsal and ventral roots and their corresponding intervertebral foramen, where they exit as a spinal nerve. The cauda equina is found inside the sacrolumbar portion of the spine's dural or thecal sac, inferior to the conus medullaris, and is formed by the filum terminale and the dorsal and ventral roots found inferior to the distal end of the canus medullaris.
If you click on the accompanying image you will see a larger version. Observe the resemblance of the grouping of these roots to a horse's tail. For an image from Gray's anatomy click here.
Image property of CAA.Inc. Photographer:D.M. Klein.
Link and linked image courtesy of Bartleby.com
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This article is part of the series "A Moment in History" where we honor those who have contributed to the growth of medical knowledge in the areas of anatomy, medicine, surgery, and medical research.
Antoine Louis
Antoine Louis (1723- 1792). French surgeon, anatomist, and physiologist. Following his medical studies and a long career as a physiologist, Antoine Louis was named Permanent Secretary of the Royal French Academy of Surgery. His other titles were those of Professor of the Royal Academy, Consultant Surgeon of the Armies of the King, member of the Royal Society of Sciences of Montpellier, Inspector of the Royal Military Hospitals, and Doctor in Law of the University of Paris. As a member of these academies Louis was instrumental in the design and construction of the guillotine. Initially called the "Louisette", this device was later named after another French physician in the same committee, Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin.
Antoine Louis' name is better know to history as the eponymic origin of the "sternal angle" also know as the "Angle of Louis" and synonymously (probably by misspelling or translation) the "angle of Lewis", and "angle of Ludwig". This anatomical landmark is extremely important as it serves as a superficial landmark for important anatomical occurrences (click here).
As a point of controversy, there are some that contest the history of this eponym adjudicating it to Pierre Charles Alexander Louis (1787-1872), another French physician dedicated to the study of tuberculosis.
Sources:
1. Srickland, N; Strickland A Angle of Louis, More Than Meets the Eye. MedTalks:
2. Ramana, R. K., Sanagala, T. and Lichtenberg, R. (2006), A New Angle on the Angle of Louis. Congestive Heart Failure, 12: 197–199
3. "The origin of Medical Terms" Skinner, HA; 1970
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Click for an animation of the
sella turcica
UPDATED: The words [sella turcica] are Latin and mean "Turkish chair". The sella turcica is a depression found in the superior aspect of the sphenoid bone and it does resemble one! The accompanying image is that of a Turkish chair made in wicker. (wickerbydesign.com). The Turkish chair resembles a horse saddle with high ends.
If you click on the image, you will see an animation of the sphenoid bone highlighting the sella turcica, where you will see the resemblance between the chair and the bone.
The hypophysis or pituitary gland, which dangles from the hypothalamus by a neural stalk, is found within the concavity of the sella turcica, surrounded by the optic tracts laterally and by the optic chiasm anteriorly.
The depression of the sella turcica is sometimes called the [pituitary fossa] or [fossa hypophyseos]. It is bound anteriorly and posteriorly by four bony processes, the (left and right) middle and posterior clinoid processes.
The pituitary fossa is closed by a tent-like structure made of dura mater which has a small opening that allows the hypophyseal stalk to pass trough. This is the diaphragma sellae.
Question: Do you know that there are four named diaphragms in the human body? See if you can name them!
Image of the Turkish chair courtesy of wickerbydesign.com.Secondary animated image byBodyParts3D, courtesy of Wikipedia.
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Hover for another image
This word has a Greek root [-sphen-] meaning "wedge", and the suffix [-oid] meaning "similar to" or "resembling". [Sphenoid] means "resembling a wedge" or "wedge-like".
The sphenoid bone (os sphenoidale) has been described as butterfly or bat-shaped, and is a complex bone situated as a wedge or keystone in the base of the skull. Hover over the image1 for a view of the location of this bone.
The sphenoid bone has a superior depression called the sella turcica, Latin for "turkish chair" where the hypophysis or pituitary gland is found.
On its inferior aspect the sphenoid bone presents with two thin wing-like plates called the lateral and medial pterygoid plates or lamina (see the area with the letter "H" in the accompanying image)
Image1 modified from "De Humani Corporis Fabrica" 1543 1st Ed.by Andreas Vesalius. Animation via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Polygon data generated by Database Center for Life Science (DBCLS), CC BY-SA 2.1 JP.
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UPDATED: The term [cholangiogram] is composed by the combined root terms [-chole-] derived from the Greek word [χολή] (cholí) meaning "gall" or "bile, and the root term [-angi-], also derived from the Greek [αγγείο] (angeío), meaning "vase", or "vessel"letter. The suffix [-(o)gram] evolved from the Greek word [γράμμα] (grámma) , meaning "letter", although today we use it to mean "examination of". For more information on this suffix, click here. The term [cholangiogram] therefore means "examination of a bile vessel".
A cholangiogram is the fluoroscopic imaging of a bile duct. To do this a radio-opaque dye is introduced in the bile system and a series of X-ray images are taken of the hepatobiliary tree. Today the examination can be performed intraoperative in conjunction with a cholecystectomy using a C-arm fluoroscope
The accompanying video (without sound) shows an intraoperative normal cholangiogram.
Video courtesy of YouTube, Mr. Andrew Smith and the Yorkshire Gallstone Clinic.