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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The suffix [-(o)penia] arises from the Greek [πενία] or [penia], meaning "poverty" or "to lack". In medical terminology this suffix is used to mean "a deficiency", or "lack of". Examples of its use are:
- Leukopenia or leukocytopenia: A combination of root terms; [leuk], means "white", and [-cyt-] means "cell". A white cell deficiency
- Pancytopenia: The prefix [pan] means "wide" or "many". The term refers to the deficiency of a wide variety of cells, in this case, blood cells
- Neutropenia or neutrocytopenia: Refers to the deficiency of neutrophil cells or polymorphonuclear leukocytes, The most common type of white blood cells
- Osteopenia: The root term [-oste] means "bone". A bone deficiency, not low enough to be classified as osteoporosis
- Erythropenia: The root term [-erythr-] means "red". A deficiency of red blood cells
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The right coronary artery (RCA) is one of the two branches that arises from the ascending aorta and provide blood supply to the heart. The RCA begins at the coronary ostium, situated usually within the right sinus of Valsalva found in the aortic valve, one of the semilunar valves of the heart.
The RCA gives off in its initial course two arteries: the conus artery, which gives blood to the conus arteriosus, the outflow tract of the right ventricle, and the artery to the sinuatrial (SA) node, a component of the conduction system of the heart.
The RCA descends in the atrioventricular sulcus, giving off a series of small right ventricular branches and a couple of small right atrial branches, it then bends around the acute margin (margo acutus) and passes to the posterior surface of the heart. Just before the RCA bends posteriorly, it will give off the acute marginal artery, usually a thin, longer branch that extends towards the cardiac apex.
In its posterior trajectory the RCA gives off a couple of small posterior right ventricular arteries and then ends at the crux cordis, where the RCA gives off the posterior interventricular artery, commonly known as the posterior descending artery (PDA). The RCA will also give off the posterolateral artery, which, situated in the atrioventricular sulcus, extends the vascular territory of the RCA into the region of the left ventricle. This origin of the PDA from the RCA is subject to anatomical variation, which gives origin to the concept of coronary dominance.
Arising from the terminal portion of the RCA (sometimes from the posterolateral artery) is the artery to the atrioventricular (AV) node, another component of the conduction system of the heart. It is easily understood that stricture or stenosis of the RCA (depending on location) can then lead to damage of the conduction system of the heart.
Human heart and coronary artery anatomy and pathology are some of the many lecture topics developed and presented by Clinical Anatomy Associates, Inc.
Image property of: CAA.Inc.Artist: Victoria G. Ratcliffe
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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.
Sir Percival Pott
Sir Percival Pott (1714 – 1788)
English surgeon and anatomist, Percival Pott was born in London on January 6, 1714. His name has the alternate spelling Percivall. In 1729 Pott started his apprenticeship with a surgeon, William Nourse. At age 22 he received the diploma from the Company of Barber Surgeons, and by age 34 he became a full independent surgeon at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. In 1753 Percival Pott was elected, with William Hunter, as Master of Anatomy at Surgeon’s Hall
His name is eponymically remembered in “Pott’s fracture”, a condition that apparently he himself suffered and that kept him in bed writing several of his most important works. This historical account is refuted by many and could be legend. The fact is that Percival Pott did write about what today is known as “Pott’s fracture”.
Percival Pott was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society in 1764 and became Governor of the Company of Barber Surgeons in 1765.
Pott was one of the first to recognize a condition caused by industrial working conditions when he diagnosed “Chimney Sweeper’s Cancer” a scrotal cancer caused by the exposure to soot and poor working and personal hygienic conditions.
Some of Pott’s eponyms:
- Pott’s fracture: Fracture of the fibula superior to the lateral with rupture of the medial ligament and outward displacement of the foot
- Pott’s disease: Spinal tuberculosis with hyperkyphosis
- Pott’s puffy tumor: Edema of the scalp due to underlying osteomyelitis and suppuration
Sources:
1. "Sir Percival Pott" Ann R Coll Surg Engl (Suppl) 2011; 93:66–67
2. “Percivall Pott (1714–1788) and chimney sweepers’ cancer of the scrotum” Brown JR, Thornton JL. Br J Ind Med 1957; 14: 68–70
3. "Percival Pott; Pott's fracture, Pott's disease of the spine, Pott's paraplegia". Harold, E. J Periop Pract, 22 (11), 366
4. “The Origin of Medical Terms” Skinner, HA 1970
5. “Dictionary of Medical Eponyms” Firkin, BG; Whitworth JA 1987
6. “Invective in surgery: William Hunter versus Monro Primus, Monro Secundus, and Percival Pott” Ravitch. MM, Bull N Y Acad Med. 1974; 50(7): 797–816
7. “Percivall Pott” Dobson, J. Ann Roy Coll Surg Eng 1972: 50; 50-65
Original image courtesy of "Images from the History of Medicine" at www.nih.gov
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The [iliococcygeus muscle] is one of the muscles that forms the pelvic diaphragm. It is the more superficial and one of the two muscular components of the levator ani muscle, the other one being the pubococcygeus muscle.
The iliococcygeus muscle attaches anterolaterally to a thickening of the deep fascia of the obturator internus muscle called the Arcus Tendineous Levator Ani (ATLA).
It attaches posteriorly to the sacrococcygeal region and posteromedially it attaches to a medial ligamentous structure that stretches between the anal canal and the coccyx, the anococcygeal ligament or anococcygeal raphe.
Some fibers of both the iliococcygeus and the pubococcygeus muscles continue inferiorly between the external and internal anal sphincters. This is known as the "conjoined longitudinal muscle of the anal canal" and it is one of the few areas in the human body where there is a mixing of both smooth (involuntary) muscle and striated (voluntary) muscle.
Image property of: Photographer: David M. Klein
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The [pubococcygeus muscle] is one of the muscles that forms the pelvic diaphragm. It is the deepest and one of the two muscular components of the levator ani muscle, the other one being the iliococcygeus muscle.
The pubococcygeus muscle attaches anteriorly to the posterior aspect of the body of the os pubis or pubic bone, leaving a gap or hiatus anteriorly which allows passageway of the deep dorsal vein of the penis in the male or the deep dorsal vein of the clitoris in the female.
Anterolaterally, the pubococcygeus muscle attaches to a thickening of the deep fascia of the obturator internus muscle called the Arcus Tendineous Levator Ani (ATLA).
As its name implies, the pubococcygeus attaches posteriorly to the sacrococcygeal region and posteromedially it attaches to a medial ligamentous structure that stretches between the anal canal and the coccyx, the anococcygeal ligament or anococcygeal raphe.
Several subcomponents are described in the pubococcygeus muscle, one of them being the puborectalis muscle. This muscle is the medial component of the pubococcygeus, it attaches anteriorly to the pubic bone and arches posterior to the anal canal, kinking it and being one of the components of fecal continence.
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Dura Mater: Latin terms meaning [tough mother]. The dura mater is the outermost of the three meninges. It is quite tough, forming a sac containing the spinal cord and brain, known as the dural sac or thecal sac. The image, from a book by Andreas Vesalius, shows a head with the dura mater in situ (label "A").
For more information on the meninges, click here.
Original images from Andreas Vesalius '"De Humani Corporis Fabrica; Libri Septem" (1543)