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] The basivertebral foramen is an opening in the posterior aspect of each vertebral body (click on the picture for a larger image) which allows the exit of the basivertebral veins. These foramina can be single (as seen in the image) or multiple. The basivertebral veins represent a communication that allows drainage of the vertebral body venous sinuses into the extensive complex venous network of the internal venous plexuses that surrounds the spinal cord.
The plexus of veins around the spinal cord are known as Batson's plexus. this plexus is named after Oscar Vivian Batson (1894 - 1979), an American anatomist and ENT.
Image property of: CAA, Inc. Photographer: David M. Klein
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[UPDATED] Latin words meaning "oval fossa" or "oval depression". The fossa ovalis is, as it names implies, an oval-shaped depression in the interatrial wall of the right ventricle. (see image, pointer "A"). The fossa ovalis represents in the adult the fetal communication between the right and left atrium allowing for fetal oxygenated blood to bypass the pulmonary circulation and enter the systemic circulation directly. The fossa ovalis is closed upon birth by two opposing membranes, and the higher pressure on the left side of the heart.
The persistence of the communication between the right and left atrium is known as an Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) and will need surgical correction. Some anatomists refer to this depression as the "foramen ovale" and it is surrounded by a well-defined muscular border known as the "limbus fossa ovalis", also known by the eponym "ring or anulus of Vieussens"
The interatrial opening in the fetus, and the persistent ASD in the adult is referred by the eponym "foramen of Botallus, remembering Leonardo Botallus.
The image shows a human heart with the right atrium opened. The black arrow points to the depression of the foramen ovale in the adult.
For more information:
• On fetal circulation
• On the fossa ovalis (Gray's Anatomy)
Image property of: CAA, Inc. Photographer: David M. Klein
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This root term is Greek and means "diaphragm", referring specifically to the respiratory diaphragm. Because of the importance to life of the region that includes the respiratory diaphragm, liver, and heart, Greek and Roman physicians saw this area as the seat of emotions, a concept that later evolved to include mental instability, and mind. So, for them the seat or location of the emotional processes was not in the brain, but in the area of conjunction of liver, heart, and respiratory diaphragm.
In the late 1700's, when Franz J. Gall developed a pseudoscience that looked at protuberances in the cranium as predictors of mental capabilities and mental pathologies, he named it [phrenology], or "study of the mind". In fact, look at the word "frenzy" and you will see a variation of the root [-phren-] in it!
Today we use the root term [-phren-] mostly to denote "respiratory diaphragm", although it can be found in medical words such as [schizophrenia] meaning "mind".
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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.
George Papanicolaou, MD, PhD
George Papanicolau, MD, PhD (1883 - 1962) Greek physician, cytologyst, physyiologist, and zoologist, Papanicolaou was born on the island of Euboea, Greece. His original Greek name is Georgios Nikolaou Papanikolaou. He initially attended the University of Athens, earning his MD in 1904.
After two years as a conscript in the Army, Papanicolaou continued additional studies in Zoology earning his PhD in 1910 at the University of Munich, later going back to the army as a physician.
Papanicolaou immigrated to the USA in 1913 with his wife. He took a position at the anatomy department of the Cornell University where over the next 45 years established the field of diagnostic cytology, becoming a Professor Emeritus of Clinical Anatomy.
His studies took him to study the cytological patterns in the internal genitalia of guinea pigs, establishing a “cytological calendar”. This study he continued in humans, where he discovered malignant changes in some of the cells obtained. His study on vaginal smears was published in 1943, starting what today is known as a “Pap smear”, a simple annual study that saves thousands of women from cervical and uterine cancer.
Dr. Papanicolaou died in 1960. His personal motto was “I live to serve life”
Sources:
1. “George Nicholas Papanicolaou, 1883-1962” Owens, C. Endoc T 2008:6(5) 28
2. "George N Papanicolaou (1883-1962) MD" Frangos, CC. J Me Biog 17 (3) 134
3. "George N. Papanicolaou, MD, PhD" Elgert, P A; Lab Med (2009) 40;4 245
4. "The diagnostic value of vaginal smears in carcinoma of the uterus" Papanicolaou, GN; Traut HF; Amm J Obst Gyn 1941; 42:193-206.
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This compound term is Latin, from [bifurcus] meaning double-pronged. The prefix [bi-] means "two" or "double", and the root [-furcat- ], derived from the Latin [furca] meaning "a fork". Bifurcation means "to fork into two".
In anatomy the term is used to denote the splitting of a structure into two, such as the "bifurcation of the aorta". A variation of the term is "bifid".
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The aorta is the main and largest artery of the systemic portion of the circulatory system. It is one of the great vessels of the heart. It starts at the ventriculoaortic anulus and ends at its bifurcation of the aorta in front of the body of the 4th lumbar vertebra. At this point the aorta is continuous with the left and right common iliac arteries.
The aorta has four segments: ascending aorta, aortic arch, descending or thoracic aorta, and abdominal aorta.
The etymology of the term [aorta] is not clear. The first reference of this structure is from Aristotle, who uses the word "aorta", although in the same work he refers to it as the "tendinous vein". Adrian Van Der Spigelius (1578 - 1625) mentions that the name aorta was given to the curved sheath of a Macedonian knife which has a pronouncedly curved handle (the aorta has a pronounced curve at the aortic arch). Yet another interpretation comes from the Greek, where a similar word means a "curved shoulder strap".
Sources:
1. "The origin of Medical Terms" Skinner, AH, 1970
2. "Medical Meanings" Haubrich, William S. Am Coll Phys Philadelphia 1997