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.
You are welcome to submit questions and suggestions using our "Contact Us" form. The information on this blog follows the terms on our "Privacy and Security Statement" and cannot be construed as medical guidance or instructions for treatment.
We have 1039 guests online
Jean George Bachmann
(1877 – 1959)
French physician–physiologist whose experimental work in the early twentieth century provided the first clear functional description of a preferential interatrial conduction pathway. This structure, eponymically named “Bachmann’s bundle”, plays a central role in normal atrial activation and in the pathophysiology of interatrial block and atrial arrhythmias.
As a young man, Bachmann served as a merchant sailor, crossing the Atlantic multiple times. He emigrated to the United States in 1902 and earned his medical degree at the top of his class from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia in 1907. He stayed at this Medical College as a demonstrator and physiologist. In 1910, he joined Emory University in Atlanta. Between 1917 -1918 he served as a medical officer in the US Army. He retired from Emory in 1947 and continued his private medical practice until his death in 1959.
On the personal side, Bachmann was a man of many talents: a polyglot, he was fluent in German, French, Spanish and English. He was a chef in his own right and occasionally worked as a chef in international hotels. In fact, he paid his tuition at Jefferson Medical College, working both as a chef and as a language tutor.
The intrinsic cardiac conduction system was a major focus of cardiovascular research in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The atrioventricular (AV) node was discovered and described by Sunao Tawara and Karl Albert Aschoff in 1906, and the sinoatrial node by Arthur Keith and Martin Flack in 1907.
While the connections that distribute the electrical impulse from the AV node to the ventricles were known through the works of Wilhelm His Jr, in 1893 and Jan Evangelista Purkinje in 1839, the mechanism by which electrical impulses spread between the atria remained uncertain.
In 1916 Bachmann published a paper titled “The Inter-Auricular Time Interval” in the American Journal of Physiology. Bachmann measured activation times between the right and left atria and demonstrated that interruption of a distinct anterior interatrial muscular band resulted in delayed left atrial activation. He concluded that this band constituted the principal route for rapid interatrial conduction.
Subsequent anatomical and electrophysiological studies confirmed the importance of the structure described by Bachmann, which came to bear his name. Bachmann’s bundle is now recognized as a key determinant of atrial activation patterns, and its dysfunction is associated with interatrial block, atrial fibrillation, and abnormal P-wave morphology. His work remains foundational in both basic cardiac anatomy and clinical electrophysiology.
Sources and references
1. Bachmann G. “The inter-auricular time interval”. Am J Physiol. 1916;41:309–320.
2. Hurst JW. “Profiles in Cardiology: Jean George Bachmann (1877–1959)”. Clin Cardiol. 1987;10:185–187.
3. Lemery R, Guiraudon G, Veinot JP. “Anatomic description of Bachmann’s bundle and its relation to the atrial septum”. Am J Cardiol. 2003;91:148–152.
4. "Remembering the canonical discoverers of the core components of the mammalian cardiac conduction system: Keith and Flack, Aschoff and Tawara, His, and Purkinje" Icilio Cavero and Henry Holzgrefe Advances in Physiology Education 2022 46:4, 549-579.
5. Knol WG, de Vos CB, Crijns HJGM, et al. “The Bachmann bundle and interatrial conduction” Heart Rhythm. 2019;16:127–133.
6. “Iatrogenic biatrial flutter. The role of the Bachmann’s bundle” Constán E.; García F., Linde, A.. Complejo Hospitalario de Jaén, Jaén. Spain
7. Keith A, Flack M. The form and nature of the muscular connections between the primary divisions of the vertebrate heart. J Anat Physiol 41: 172–189, 1907.
"Clinical Anatomy Associates, Inc., and the contributors of "Medical Terminology Daily" wish to thank all individuals who donate their bodies and tissues for the advancement of education and research”.
Click here for more information
- Details
UPDATED: Cachexia describes a condition where the patient is ill and malnourished. It originates from the Greek word [κακός], meaning "bad". The suffix -ia] denotes "condition". It is a "bad condition" and refers to a bad habitus (body). The term was adopted later in Latin. The term [cachexia] was first used in English in 1541 in a translation of Galen's "Therapeutyke". The adjective form is [cachectic].
The term [cachexia] is used to describe a patient that because of general malnutrition, a chronic disease, or cancer appears very thin, with extreme weight loss, muscular atrophy, and a general appearance of wasting.
Note: The links to Google Translate include an icon that will allow you to hear the Greek or Latin pronunciation of the word.
- Details
Click for a larger image
UPDATED: The word [volvulus] arises from the Latin word [volvere], meaning "to twist" or "to roll". It refers to the rolling or twisting of a segment of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract enough to cause stenosis or stricture of the vessels supplying the GI segment. This can lead to ischemia and eventual necrosis or infarction of the organ. A volvulus will also cause blockage of the passage of food through the GI tract. The plural for [volvulus] is [volvuli].
A volvulus can occur anywhere the GI tract is intraperitoneal; that is, it has a mesentery or mesentery-like attachment that renders it mobile and therefore can allow it to twist. Most volvuli occur in the transverse and sigmoid colon, as well as the jejunum and ileum. The etiology of a volvulus is multiple, ranging from peristaltic hypermobility, congenital malrotation pathology of the GI tract, to internal hernias, either congenital or acquired.
In the accompanying image by Thorek (1938), the arrow indicates the location of a mesenteric defect, being the cause for an internal hernia and intestinal torsion or volvulus. For more information and images, you can read this 2011 article by Timpone, V.M. et al. on "Abdominal Twists and Turns: Part I, Gastrointestinal Tract Torsions With Pathologic Correlation"
Article image in the public domain. modified from Thorek, 1938 "Modern Surgical Technique"
- Details
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.
Edward Jenner
Edward Jenner (1749 - 1823). English physician and surgeon, Edward Jenner was born in Berkeley, Gloucestershire. His training included a seven year apprenticeship to a surgeon. He then moved to London where he completed his training at the St. George’s Hospital with John Hunter. Jenner became Hunter’s assistant for anatomical dissection and research. After finishing his studies, he returned to Berkeley.
During Jenner’s time smallpox was a disease with high mortality and terrible complications that could leave a patient blind or scarred for life. Of most interest to him was local lore that related that farmers and milkmaids that contracted cowpox could not contract smallpox, even when in direct exposure to smallpox. Cowpox is a viral infection of cows causing only minor discomfort and complications when acquired by a human.
In 1796 Jenner was visited by Sarah Nelmes, a patient with smallpox-like signs on her hands. Jenner diagnosed cowpox instead of smallpox and discovered that she was a milkmaid. Sensing the need for additional research, he inoculated a young boy by scratching the boy’s skin and then rubbing some of the material exuding from Sarah’s pustules. The boy developed cowpox.
A month and a half later Jenner exposed the boy to smallpox. The boy did not develop any signs or symptoms of smallpox. The new era of vaccination had started.
In spite of his success, the spread of this new technique was slow and not easy, with many detractor and critics. In the end, Jenner was honored for his discovery. In 1980 the World Health Organization formally declared the erradication of smallpox from the world. Individuals are not vaccinated against smallpox anymore and only a few samples of the virus exist in restricted laboratories in the world.
In the pages of “Medical Terminology Daily” we explain why the process is called “vaccination” and also the role that Jenner’s discovery had in the “Royal Philanthropic Vaccination Expedition” to the New World.
Sources:
1. “Edward Jenner and the history of smallpox and vaccination” Riedel, S Proc (Bayl Univ Med Cent). Jan 2005; 18(1): 21–25
2. “Edward Jenner and the eradication of smallpox” Willis NJ Scott Med J. 1997 Aug; 42(4):118-21.
3. "Smallpox; A Great and Terrible Scourge" U.S National Library of Medicine"
Image in the Public Domain. Courtesy of the National Library of Medicine, Digital Collections.
- Details
The medical suffix [-(o)logy] originates from the Greek, although there is discussion as to the real meaning of the term in Ancient Greek. In modern Greek the word [λόγος] (logos) means "reason", while the word [λόγια] (logia) means "words". The fact is that over time the meaning of this suffix has evolved to mean "study of" and has been applied to most of the medical sciences. Some examples are:
- Biology: The study of life
- Histology: The study of tissues
- Anthropology: The study of man
- Physiology: The study of function
- Nephrology: The study of the kidney
- Gynecology: Study of women
Note: The links to Google Translate include an icon that will allow you to hear the Greek or Latin pronunciation of the word.
- Details
The root term [antrhop-] is a derivate from the Greek word [άνθρωπος] (anthropos) meaning "man". [Andr(o)] is a similar root term with the same meaning. Applications of this root term include:
- Anthropoid: The suffix [-oid] originates from the Greek [oeides], meaning "similar to", "like", or "shaped like". Similar to a man
- Anthropogenic: The suffix [-(o)genic] means "pertaining to genesis, creation, or origin”. Something that creates a man
- Anthropologist: The suffix [-(o)logy] means "study of”. The study of man. If you are interested in forensic anthropology, click here for the Facebook page of my good friend Dr. Elizabeth Murray, PhD, DAFBA.
- Anthropometric: The suffix [-(o)metric] means "measurement”. The measurements of man. An example of this are the anthropometric studies of Peter Paul Broca (1824 - 1880) who named many of the craniometric points in the human skull
Note: The links to Google Translate include an icon that will allow you to hear the Greek or Latin pronunciation of the word.
- Details
Open letter to friends and colleagues:
I started "Medical Terminology Daily" in October 2012, hosted at my own website, which has been online since 1998. The objective of "Medical Terminology Daily" is to be a service to the medical community, medical students, medical industry, and public in general. We post a workweek daily medical, anatomical, or surgical term, its meaning and usage, as well as biographical notes on anatomists, surgeons, and researchers through the ages. This last content stays for a week on the sidebar called "A Moment in History" and after a week, it is published as a main body article.
Each week we send a newsletter with a week's worth of articles to those who have subscribed. An example of the newsletter can be seen here.
Initially, I thought this site to be mostly about Clinical Anatomy and Medical Terminology, but the trends of the requests and conversations have created articles on Histology, Pathology, Surgical Procedures and Techniques, History of Surgery, etc. This has taxed me and the few contributors we have.
After almost two years the traffic is very good and now I am looking to expand the group of contributors to the site. I could not do it before because we lacked a good submission system for the articles. We are now in the final beta testing stage for the submission system.
We are looking to add ten new contributors to the website from different venues in Medical Sciences, including physicians, surgeons, anatomists, and university professors in Basic Medical Sciences. Preferably, all contributors should have graduate and postgraduate studies. Although we do appreciate the interest of students and the public in general, we want to maintain a very high level of professionalism and credibility. If you yourself cannot be a contributor, you may know someone who would qualify. Feel free to forward this letter as needed by clicking on the envelope icon at the top of this article.
I am sure that everybody is busy, but even small contributions are most welcome. Contributors can use the material in this website for their own teaching purposes: all we ask is proper credit where it is due.
If you want to consider participating, first please look at the footer of the "Medical Terminology Daily" website. at In this footer are the links to the pages that we offer our contributors as well as the guidelines for publication, and the link to access the backend of the website and write an article directly.
Each contributor can do as much or as little as they want, and we offer a page so that you can post a biography, or links to your website. We have one contributor (not listed yet) that is planning to present this website to his students and have them work on article ideas, so they learn to research as well as to write properly. His plan is to select the three best articles in his class and submit them for publication. The publication of the article with recognition to the author will be another item on the student's CV!
If you want to apply as a contributor, please send a message using the "Contact Us" page in this website with information on your studies, place of work, and how to contact you back. I promise to answer all of the requests. Those who are accepted as contributors will receive their login information as well as a manual to manage the back end of the website.
Your consideration is most appreciated
Sincerely,