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 205 guests online
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
"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
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.
William Cowper
William Cowper (1666 – 1710). English barber-surgeon and anatomist, William Cowper (sometimes known as William Cooper) was born in Petersfield, Hampshire. After apprenticeship with famous barber-surgeons, Cowmper was admitted as a Freeman to the Company of Barber Surgeons in 1691 after which he had a successful career as a surgeon and an anatomist in London.
Cowper opened the first private school of anatomy in London. In 1694, Cowper published “Myotomia Reformata “, a great textbook with a description of all the muscles. A controversy arose because Cowper used the illustrations from another book by Govert Bidloo (1649 – 1713). The controversy became a problem for Cowper who had to answer questions on the subject to the Royal academy, where Cowper became a member in 1699. Cowper alleged that Bidloo’s plates, although greatly illustrated had a poor description which he improved.
In 1699 Cowper published the “Philosophical Transactions” where he describes the bulbourethral glands which are today eponymically tied to his name. An infection of these glands is called a “Cowperitis”.
The bulbourethral glands had already been described by Jean M?ry (1645– 1722) and Cowper did not claim to discover these glands. As in the case with many eponyms, the name attached to a structure is not necessarily the one who discovered it. Today, many do not remember that Cowper's name is also used to describe "Cowper's ligament", that portion of the fascia lata that is attached to the iliac crest.
Sources:
1. “Two eponymous surgeons: William Cowper and Francois Poupart” Ellis, H. Brit J Hosp Med (2009) 70:4, 225
2. "Cowper, William (1666–1710)" Kornell, M, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
3. "Medical Discoveries, who and when" Schmidt, JE: C Thomas Pub. 1959
Original image in the public domain, courtesy of "Images from the History of Medicine" at www.nih.gov
- Details
Click for a larger image
[UPDATED] The term [vasa vasorum] comes from the Latin [vasa] or [vas] meaning "a vessel", as in a container. Vasa vasorum means "the vessels of the vessels". The term "vasa vasorum" is plural. The singular form is "vas vasis".
In arteries and veins, only the inner layer of the vessel, the endothelium can receive nutrition and oxygen from the blood that is carried by the vessel. Arteries and veins have their own blood supply network, their own arteries and veins. These are the vasa vasorum.
The image shows the internal structure of an artery with its three layers, tunica intima (named after Xavier Bichat), tunica media, and tunica adventitia, as well as the vasa vasorum. Click on the image for a larger depiction.
NOTE: My personal thanks to Michiaki Akashi, M.D. for allowing us to use his artwork in this article. Dr. Akashi works as a surgeon and pathologist in the Saga Prefectural Hospital Koseikan in Saga, Japan. Dr. Miranda
- Details
Click for a larger image
The [obturator foramen] is a bilateral and roughly triangular opening in the lower portion of the pelvis bound by the following bones: ilium, ischium, and pubic bone. The obturator foramen is closed off by the obturator membrane, a though, tendinous membrane that leaves a small superior opening (obturator canal) that allows passageway of the obturator nerve, obturator artery, and obturator vein. These neurovascular structures provide nerve and blood supply to the anterior compartment of the thigh.
The obturator membrane serves as a point of attachment to the external obturator and internal obturator muscles.
The obturator foramen is important for transobturator sling surgery used in cases of urinary incontinency.
Image property of: CAA.Inc. Artist: M. Zuptich
- Details
Click for a larger image
The word [lambda] is Greek and is represented by the symbols [Λ] and [λ]. Because of the inverted "V" shape and inverted "Y" shape of these symbols, it was used by Galen of Pergamon (129AD - 200AD) to denote the junction of the sagital suture (interparietal articulation) and the occipitoparietal suture, also known as the "lamboid" suture. The lambda can also be described as the point of junction of the occipital bone with the parietal bones.
Although Galen named this junction originally, it was Vesalius (1514- 1564) who brought this name into modern anatomy. Later, Peter Paul Broca (1824- 1880) used this landmark as a craniometric point.
Image in the public domain, modified from Toldt's "Atlas of Human Anatomy", 1903.
- 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.
Click for a larger image
Leonardo Botallus (c.1530- ??) Italian anatomist and physician,Leonardo Botallus (also known as Botalli, Botallo, or Botal) was born circa 1530 in the region of Piedmont. Botallus studied medicine at the italian university of Pavia, where he was a student under Gabrielle Fallopius. Botallus graduated circa 1553. He was an avid advocate of bloodletting, causing him to direct his anatomical studies towards the subject of the vascular system. Although he did not discover the foramen ovale and the ductus arteriosus, he mentions these structures by those names in both his posthumous publications " De via sanguinis a dextro in sinistro cordis ventriculum" (1640) and "Opera Omnia Medica et Chirurgica" (1660)
In France Botallus became physician to King Charles IX. Not much more is known about Botallus, and history fails to record his date and place of death, as well as his image. The image depicted here is from his 1660 publication. Click on the image for a larger depiction.
Botallus' name is eponymically remembered in the following structures:
- Foramen of Botallus: The foramen ovale, an opening found in the fetus in the region of the fossa ovalis that closes upon birth
- Duct of Botallus: A communicating vessel between the left pulmonary artery and the proximal region of the descending aorta, part of fetal circulation, also known as the ductus arteriosus
- Ligament of Botallus: The closed ductus arteriosus in the adult
Sources:
1. "History of medicine; a correlative text, arranged according to subjects" Mettler, C Ch. 1947 The Blakiston Co
2. "Stedmans Medical Eponyms" Forbis, P; Bartolucci, SL. Williams & Wilkins 1998
3. "The origin of Medical Terms" Skinner, AH, 1970
4. "The First Closure of the Persistent Ductus Arteriosus" Alexi-Meskishvili,V; B?ttcher, W. Ann Thorac Surg 2010;90:349 –56
NOTE: There is no known image of Botallus. Skinner's "Origin of Medical Terms" shows one, but we could not confirm the origin of the image. If you know or have one, let us know!
- Details
This term arises from the Latin [lumbus] meaning "loin". The "loins" region of the body is the area lateral to the umbilicus, wrapping around posteriorly. In fact, there are two abdominal regions known as the "lumbar regions".
Galen of Pergamon(129AD - 200AD) named and described the lumbar vertebrae.