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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Coracobrachialis

Coracobrachialis muscle - Image modified from the original by Henry VanDyke Carter, MD. Public domain
Coracobrachialis muscle.
Click on the image for a larger depiction

The coracobrachialis muscle is a thin, elongated bilateral flexor muscle that extends between the coracoid process of the scapula and the humerus bone. It is the shortest of the three muscles that attach to the coracoid process, the others being the pectoralis minor muscle and the tendon of the short head of the biceps brachii muscle. The coracobrachialis muscle attaches by way of a tendon into the middle third of the medial surface of humerus between the origins of the triceps brachii and brachialis. Its tendon mixes with the tendon of the pectoralis minor.

The coracobrachialis id one of the three muscles contained in the anterior compartment (flexor compartment) of the arm, the other two being the brachialis and the biceps brachii.

The coracobrachialis muscle helps to flex and adduct the arm as well as to stabilize the shoulder joint, helping prevent dislocation. It receives innervation from the musculocutaneous nerve (C5-C7). This nerve, as it continues distally pierces the muscle and appears on its anterior aspect coursing inferiorly, The muscle is used when you reach with your hand and forearm to the contralateral aspect of your body, as in reaching to scratch your opposite ear, or doing a bench press.

It is found deep to the pectoralis major and anterior to the axillary artery and the brachial plexus. Along with the humerus and the short head of the biceps brachii, the coracobrachialis muscle forms the lateral wall of the axilla.

The coracobrachialis is one of the 17 muscles that attach to the scapula.

Note: The side image modified from the original in "Gray's Anatomy" by Henry VanDyke Carter, MD. Public domain. Animated image below by Wikimedia Commons - Anatomography [CC BY-SA 2.1 following Creative Commons attributes.

Anatomography, CC BY-SA 2.1 JP <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.1/jp/deed.en>, via Wikimedia Commons

Sources:
1. “Gray’s Anatomy” Henry Gray, 1918
2. "Tratado de Anatomia Humana" Testut et Latarjet 8th Ed. 1931 Salvat Editores, Spain
3. "Gray's Anatomy" 42nd British Ed. Churchill Livingstone 2021
4. “An Illustrated Atlas of the Skeletal Muscles” Bowden, B. 4th Ed. Morton Publishing. 2015
5. "Trail Guide to The Body" 4th. Ed. Biel, A. Books of Discovery. 2010