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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A Moment in History

Jean-Louis Petit

Jean Louis Petit
(1674 – 1750)

French surgeon and anatomist, Jean Louis Petit was born in Paris in on March 13, 1674.  His family rented an apartment at his house to Alexis Littre (1658 – 1726), a French anatomist. Petit became an apprentice of Littre at seven years of age, helping him in the dissections for his lectures and at an early age became the assistant in charge of the anatomic amphitheater.

Because of Petit’s dedication to anatomy and medicine, in 1690 at the age of sixteen, became a disciple of a famous Paris surgeon, Castel.

In 1692, Petit entered the French army and performed surgery in two military campaigns. By 1693 he started delivering lectures and was accepted as a great surgeon, being invited to the most difficult operations.  In 1700 he was appointed Chief Surgeon of the Military School in Paris and in the same year he received the degree of Master of Surgery from the Faculty of Paris.

In 1715 he was made a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences and an honorary member of the Royal Society of London. He was appointed by the King as the first Director General of the Royal Academy of Surgery when it was founded in 1731.

Petit’s written works are of historical importance.  “Traite des Maladies des Os” ( A Treatise on Bone Diseases);  “Traite des Maladies Chirurgicales et des Operation” (A Treatise on Surgical Diseases and their Operations” This last book was published posthumously in 1774. He also published a monograph on hemorrhage, another on lachrymal fistula, and others.

He was one of the first to perform choIecystotomy and mastoidotomy. His original tourniquet design for amputations saved many in the battlefield and the design of the same surgical instrument today has not changed much since its invention by him.

His name is remembered in the lumbar triangle, also called the "triangle of Petit", and the abdominal hernia that can ensue through that area of weakness, the lumbar hernia or "Petit's hernia".

Sources:
1. “Jean Louis Petit – A Sketch of his Life, Character, and Writings” Hayne, AP San Fran Western Lancet 1875 4: 446-454
2. “Oeuvres compl?tes de Jean-Louis Petit” 1837 Imprimerie de F. Chapoulaud
3. Extraits de l'eloge de Jean-Louis Petit Ius dans Ia seance publique de I' Academie royale de chirurgie du 26 mai 1750” Louis A. Chirurgie 2001: 126 : 475- 81

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Eponym

Published: Thursday, March 08, 2018 07:00

UPDATED: From the Greek [ep(i)] meaning "outer, above, or upon", and the Greek suffix [o-nym] meaning "name". The word [eponym] refers to a person's name becoming attached to an anatomical location or surgical procedure. For centuries it has been the custom to honor or remember someone by attaching their name to a structure, location, procedure, or maneuver.

This has changed as anatomists tend now to give locations and structures descriptive terms. An example of this would be the "Ampulla of Vater" named after the German anatomist Abraham Vater (1684-1751) described today in anatomical texts as the "hepatopancreatic ampulla". The controversy on using eponyms or not goes on...

There are many eponymical terms in the medical arena; following are some of them, click on the links for additional information:

• Hesselbach’s triangle: Named after Franz Kaspar Hesselbach (1759-1816) (see yellow insert in superior image)
• Spigelian line (linea semilunaris): Site for an Spigelian hernia, named after Adrian Van Der Spigelius (1578-1625) (see blue arrow in inferior image)
• Fallopian tube: Named after Gabrielle Fallopius (1523-1563)
• Cooper's pectineal ligament. Named after Sir Astley Paston Cooper (1768-1841)
• Hartmann's procedure: A two-stage colon resection and anastomosis. Named after Prof. Henri Hartmann (1860-1952), a French surgeon.
• Heimlich's maneuver:  Named after Dr. Henry J. Heimlich (1920 - )
• Ligament of Treitz: Named after Václav Treitz (1819 - 1872), a Czech pathologist.

If you want to see a listing of the eponyms in this website, click here.
Here is an article on "The lost influence of Andreas Vesalius on eponymic anatomy".

Here is an interesting article on eponyms by Ilana Yurkiewicz published on 11/15/2012 in Scientific American: "Modern medical terms are still named after Nazi doctors. Can we change it?". It is interesting and thougthful reading.

PERSONAL NOTE: Many anatomists today are actively trying to eliminate eponyms from anatomical, medical, and surgical books. For me, this eliminates the interest of learning about the people who either first described these structures or procedures, which is one of the objectives of this website. I wonder (and this is a tongue-in-cheek comment) if the reason for this desire to eliminate eponyms is because there are so many attached to anatomical structures that there is no place for their own names! When history has forgotten about the original eponyms maybe we will see new ones with the names of modern anatomists! I do not worry, my name is attached to the "Ligaments of Miranda". Dr. Miranda

Superior image property of: CAA.Inc.. Artist: M. Zuptich.
Inferior image property of:CAA.Inc.. Artist:D.M. Klein
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