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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Although this article is called “How to Read Medical Terms”, a better title would have been “How to Translate Medical Words” because that is what we do, we translate terms which have multiple linguistic origins to vernacular English.
Medical words are not read as we normally read English, from left to right. Rather, they are read in an order related to their components, prefixes, root terms, suffixes, and combining vowels.
Let’s take as an example the word [preperitoneal], where the prefix is [pre-], the root term is [-periton-] and the suffix is [-eal]. Read in normal left to right English the word would translate as “anterior (aspect of) peritoneum pertaining to”, which does not sound correct.
The proper way is to read the suffix first, the prefix second, and the root term last. Thus, this translation would read as “pertaining to (the) anterior (aspect of) the peritoneum”. There are exceptions of course, but the rule presented here applies to most medical words.
In the absence of the prefix, the word is translated suffix first and root term second.
When a word contains combined root terms they are read in the way they are written, from left to right, as they will have already been placed in a proximal to distal relationship, otherwise the word would be wrongly constructed.
There are more nuances to Medical Terminology, but they go beyond the objectives of "Medical Terminology Daily". For a complete course on Medical Terminology for your company, contact CAA, Inc.
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Most medical words have only one root term and do not require combination as in the word [colectomy]. The situation arises when there is more than one organ or structure that is influenced by the suffix and the prefix (when present), such as [coloproctectomy]. Following are the basic rules for root terms combination:
- - Place an [-o-] between the root terms being combined. The combining vowel [o] means "and". The word [gastroenterology] means "study of the stomach and the small intestine"
- - Organize the root terms using their proximal to distal relationship. For a better explanation, click here
- - If the first root term ends in a vowel, the combining vowel [-o-] is not needed. An example are the root terms [-chole-], meaning "bile or gall". and [cyst], meaning "bladder or sac". The word [chole-cyst-ectomy] does not have an [-o-] between the root terms
- - If the proximal to distal relationship does not apply, then the words should be ordered in a way that is euphonic
- - The only time a hyphen should be used is the rare case when using an [o] is not possible. Based on this rule, the word [salpingooophorectomy] is correct, the word [salpingo-oophorectomy] is not. An example of this is the word [cross-section].
An example of rule #5 is the word co-author. Since adding an [o] as a combining vowel would give us the word cooauthor (which is not correct), a hyphen must be used.
In the case of the word [coloproctectomy] the word can be divided into these components" The first root term [-col-], meaning "colon", the combining vowel [-o-], meaning "and", the second root term [-proct-], meaning "rectum", and the suffix [-ectomy], meaning "removal of". Properly read, the word means "removal of colon and rectum]. The proper term is [coloproctectomy], please do not use the terms [proctocolectomy] or worse, [protocolectomy], because they are incorrect usage of medical terminology.
For information on how to read medical words, click here.
There are more nuances to Medical Terminology, but they go beyond the objectives of "Medical Terminology Daily". For a complete course on Medical Terminology for your company, contact CAA, Inc.
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In medical terminology there are many adjectival suffixes that transform a root term into an adjective. In general these adjectival suffixes have the meaning of "pertaining to", and complete the word. In many cases the adjectival suffix can be omitted and simply refer to the root term.
An example of this is the suffix [-ic] in the word [gastric], added to the root [-gastr-] meaning "stomach". The word [gastric] then means "pertaining to the stomach", or more simply stated, "stomach". The following lists some of the adjectival suffixes and examples of its use. For brevity, we have not given the root term meaning, but they can be inferred.
• -ic: Gastric; pertaining to the stomach, stomachal, or stomach
• -eal: Esophageal; pertaining to the esophagus, or esophagus
• -ar: Ocular; pertaining to the eye, or eye
• -ose: Adipose; pertaining to, or full of, fat. Refers to fat or fatty tissue
• -ine: Uterine; pertaining to the uterus or uterus
• -al: Surgical; pertaining to surgery or surgery
For information on how to read medical words, click here.
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The suffix component of a word is found at the end of a medical word after the root term(s) and also alters or influences the meaning of the root term. In the words [planter], [planted], and [planting] the suffixes are [-er], [-ed], and [-ing]. Some of the most simple suffixes are adjectival suffixes such as [-ic], [-al], [-eal], etc. all of them meaning "related to" or "pertaining to".
In medical terminology, the use of each root term can be multiplied many times over by the addition of prefixes and suffixes. Using the root term [-gastr-], meaning "stomach", we can form: [gastric], [gastritis], [gastrotomy], [gastrectomy], [gastrostomy], [gastrorrhaphy], [gastrography], [gastroscope], [gastroscopy], [gastropod], [gastroma], [perigastritis], [endogastritis], [intragastric], [epigastric], etc.
For information on how to read medical words, click here.
The listing of medical suffixes is quite large and should be mastered by professionals in the medical industry. Medical Terminology is one of the core competencies of CAA, Inc.
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All words have a foundation, called a root or a root term. The root is the minimal expression of a word that conveys a specific meaning. The word [hepa] does not mean liver, but the root term [-hepat-] does. There are some root words that have two presentations, like [-card-] and [-cord-], both meaning "heart", and even three presentations such as [-uter-], [-metr-], and [-hyster-], all of them meaning "uterus". All these following words have root terms meaning "uterus": periuterine, endometrium, and hysterectomy.
As an example, all the following medical terms: [pneumonectomy], [pneumonia], [pneumonitis], [pneumogastric], [pneumobacillus], and [pneumothorax] have the same common root term [-pneumon-], from the Greek [πνεύμονας], meaning "lung".
In medicine, surgery, and human anatomy there are several cases where there is more than one root term for the same organ. The terms [lienectomy] and [splenectomy] both mean "removal of the spleen", as the root terms [-lien-] and [-splen-] both mean "spleen". The same is the case in the following pairs: [-nephr-] and [-ren-], meaning "kidney"; [-cyst-] and [-vesic-], meaning "bladder"; [-pneumon-] and [-pulmon-], meaning "lung"; etc.
Root terms can also be combined to form complex medical terms, such as [gastroenterology], [leiomyomata], [cholecystectomy], [dacryocystolithectomy], [nephroureterocystourethrectomy], etc. To do this there are specific rules for combination.
For information on how to read medical words, click here.
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A prefix is a component of a word that precedes the root term and alters or influences the meaning of the root term. The root [port], from the Latin [portare], meaning "to carry" is found in the words export, support, and transport. The prefixes are [ex-], meaning "outside"; [sup-], meaning "above or on top"; and [trans-], meaning "across".
The same is true for medical terms. The words suprahepatic, infrahepatic, and transhepatic, all contain the root term[-hepat-] from the Greek [hepar], meaning "liver". The prefixes are [supra-], meaning "superior or above"; [infra], meaning "inferior or below"; and [trans], meaning "through or across".
For information on how to read medical words, click here.
The listing of medical prefixes is quite large and should be mastered by professionals in the medical industry. Medical Terminology is one of the core competencies of CAA, Inc.
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