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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Jean George Bachmann
(1877 – 1959)
French physician–physiologist whose experimental work in the early twentieth century provided the first clear functional description of a preferential interatrial conduction pathway. This structure, eponymically named “Bachmann’s bundle”, plays a central role in normal atrial activation and in the pathophysiology of interatrial block and atrial arrhythmias.
As a young man, Bachmann served as a merchant sailor, crossing the Atlantic multiple times. He emigrated to the United States in 1902 and earned his medical degree at the top of his class from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia in 1907. He stayed at this Medical College as a demonstrator and physiologist. In 1910, he joined Emory University in Atlanta. Between 1917 -1918 he served as a medical officer in the US Army. He retired from Emory in 1947 and continued his private medical practice until his death in 1959.
On the personal side, Bachmann was a man of many talents: a polyglot, he was fluent in German, French, Spanish and English. He was a chef in his own right and occasionally worked as a chef in international hotels. In fact, he paid his tuition at Jefferson Medical College, working both as a chef and as a language tutor.
The intrinsic cardiac conduction system was a major focus of cardiovascular research in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The atrioventricular (AV) node was discovered and described by Sunao Tawara and Karl Albert Aschoff in 1906, and the sinoatrial node by Arthur Keith and Martin Flack in 1907.
While the connections that distribute the electrical impulse from the AV node to the ventricles were known through the works of Wilhelm His Jr, in 1893 and Jan Evangelista Purkinje in 1839, the mechanism by which electrical impulses spread between the atria remained uncertain.
In 1916 Bachmann published a paper titled “The Inter-Auricular Time Interval” in the American Journal of Physiology. Bachmann measured activation times between the right and left atria and demonstrated that interruption of a distinct anterior interatrial muscular band resulted in delayed left atrial activation. He concluded that this band constituted the principal route for rapid interatrial conduction.
Subsequent anatomical and electrophysiological studies confirmed the importance of the structure described by Bachmann, which came to bear his name. Bachmann’s bundle is now recognized as a key determinant of atrial activation patterns, and its dysfunction is associated with interatrial block, atrial fibrillation, and abnormal P-wave morphology. His work remains foundational in both basic cardiac anatomy and clinical electrophysiology.
Sources and references
1. Bachmann G. “The inter-auricular time interval”. Am J Physiol. 1916;41:309–320.
2. Hurst JW. “Profiles in Cardiology: Jean George Bachmann (1877–1959)”. Clin Cardiol. 1987;10:185–187.
3. Lemery R, Guiraudon G, Veinot JP. “Anatomic description of Bachmann’s bundle and its relation to the atrial septum”. Am J Cardiol. 2003;91:148–152.
4. "Remembering the canonical discoverers of the core components of the mammalian cardiac conduction system: Keith and Flack, Aschoff and Tawara, His, and Purkinje" Icilio Cavero and Henry Holzgrefe Advances in Physiology Education 2022 46:4, 549-579.
5. Knol WG, de Vos CB, Crijns HJGM, et al. “The Bachmann bundle and interatrial conduction” Heart Rhythm. 2019;16:127–133.
6. “Iatrogenic biatrial flutter. The role of the Bachmann’s bundle” Constán E.; García F., Linde, A.. Complejo Hospitalario de Jaén, Jaén. Spain
7. Keith A, Flack M. The form and nature of the muscular connections between the primary divisions of the vertebrate heart. J Anat Physiol 41: 172–189, 1907.
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The [prostatic sinuses] (sinus prostaticus) are bilateral depressions found lateral to the inferior portion of the median urethral crest (also known as the verumontanum). There are two prostatic sinuses within the prostatic urethra in the male
On the floor of these sinuses there are several perforations, representing the exit of the prostatic ducts (or ductules). These ducts bring prostatic fluid from the lateral lobes of the prostate into the urethra.
The image also shows the [prostatic utricle], also known as "utriculus prostaticus" or "utriculus", a small 6mm small dead-end channel found in the male prostatic urethra. The blue dotted line shows the cut edge of the urethra.
The word [utriculus] is Latin and means "little sac" or "little uterus".
Sources:
1. "The prostatic utricle is not a M?llerian duct remnant: immunohistochemical evidence for a distinct urogenital sinus origin" Shapiro E, Huang H, McFadden DE, et al. (2004) J Urol 172; 1753–1756
2. "Gray's Anatomy"38th British Ed. Churchill Livingstone 1995
3. "Tratado de Anatomia Humana" Testut et Latarjet 8 Ed. 1931 Salvat Editores, Spain
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The suffix[-ceps] has a Latin origin from the word [caput], meaning "head" or "leader". This word evolved into [-capit-] as in [decapitation], [-capt-] as in [captain], and of course, [-ceps], meaning "head".
This suffix is used in many anatomical and medical terms such as:
• Biceps: Two heads. Both the biceps brachii muscle and the biceps femoris muscle have two muscular heads or components
• Triceps: Three heads. The triceps brachii muscle has three muscular heads or components. There is no triceps femoris in the human.
• Quadriceps: Four heads. The quadriceps femoris muscle has four muscular heads or components
An interesting side note is that the Latin word [caput] evolved through the ages as it was incorporated into other languages. In French it evolved into [chef] as the "head" or "leader" of a group of cooks, and then back to English as [chief].
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![Phlebotomist at work. By Richardelainechambers (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](/images/MTD/LargeImages/phlebotomist_lg.jpg "Phlebotomist at work.")
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Count Dracula, Mrs. Dracula, vampires, blood whisperers, etc. These are some of the nicknames given to these professionals who draw blood at medical offices, laboratories and hospitals.
The root term [-phleb-] derives from the Greek [φλέβα] (phleba) meaning "vein", and the suffix [-otomist] has two components. First [-otom-], from the Greek [τομή] (tomi) meaning "to cut" or "to open" and [-ist] from the Latin [-ista] meaning "he/she who makes or does". The medical term [phlebotomist] means "he/she who opens veins", a perfect description for these professionals.
For centuries a standard practice in medicine was to "bleed" a patient, by opening a vein under controlled conditions and letting some blood flow. The practice was known as "bloodletting" or phlebotomy, not in use today.
It is said that excessive bloodletting contributed to the death of George Washington, having removed 5 pints of blood in one day!. Today the professionals who draw blood are called "phlebotomists"
The image shows a phlebotomist at work using the Vacutainer system for drawing blood
Image by Richardelainechambers (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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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.
Title page
Martin Naboth (1675 – 1721). Not much is known about this German physician and anatomist. He was born in 1675 in Calau, a town in Southern Brandenburg, Germany. He studied medicine at the University in Leipzig, receiving his doctorate in Philosophy in 1701 and his MD in 1703. Although his interests were based in chemistry, Naboth became an avid anatomist, with interest in the anatomy of the female reproductive system.
His main publication in 1707 was “De Sterilitate Mulierum” (On Sterility in Women). In this book he refers to small pearl-like transparent structures found in the uterine cervix. Believing that he had discovered the way women store eggs, he called these “ovarium novum” (new ovaries). His discovery was accepted by many and these structures came to be known as “Ovula Nabothii “. Only later were to understand these structures as cysts created by clogging of the opening of the glands found around the uterine cervix. These mucus-producing glands are known as the [cervical glands] and also as Nabothian glands. These cysts, which are common and do not represent a sign of cervical cancer, are known today as Nabothian cysts.
Naboth had only rediscovered these cysts first described in 1681 by Guillaume des Noues (1650 – 1735), although the eponym records Naboth’s name.
Naboth published De Organo Auditus in 1703, and was appointed Professor of Chemistry in Leipzig in 1707. He died in Leipzig on May 23, 1721 leaving a large anatomical collection. We have not been able to find an image of Naboth, so we are depicting the title page of his 1707 “De Sterilitate Mulierum”. If you click on the image you can see a larger depiction.
Sources
1. “Histoire de la Mèdecine, depuis son origine jusqu'au dix-neuvime siècle” A. J. L. Jourdan ; E. F. M. Bosquillon 1815
2. DESNOUES, G. Rariora quadam observata in genitalibus mulierum. Zodiacus Medico-GaUicus, sive Miscellaneorum Medico-Physicorum Gallicorum. Annus
Tertius, Geneva. Leonard Chouet. (Feb. 1681) 1682, pp. 20-21.
3. “The Origin of Medical Terms” Skinner HA 1970 Hafner Publishing Co.
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You should try to answer this question before reading this article (or looking at your hand) .
In superficial or surface anatomy the hand is the distal component of the superior extremity. Since anatomy is studied with the specimen in the anatomical position, the hand has an anterior (volar) surface represented by the palm and a posterior (dorsal) surface.
Each hand has a thumb and four (not five) fingers. Why does the thumb have a different name? Because it is different. Look at your hand and you will see that the thumb has only two joints while the fingers have three joints, counting the metacarpophalangeal joint at the base of the fingers and the thumb.
Based on the above, it is wrong to say that you have five fingers in each hand. You have five digits in each hand and they are counted from the lateral aspect, so the thumb is your first digit and the most medial and shortest of the digits is the fifth digit, please do not call it “pinky”. Click here to see interesting anatomical trivia regarding the fifth digit.
It is important to call the components and regions of the body appropriately. And more interestingly (you can look at you hand now), it is fun to know that contrary to popular belief, you do not have a “middle finger”.
Take your time thinking about that one!
Images in the public domain, modified from the original, own work, by Evan-Amos
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The prefix [dys-] arises from the Greek [δυσ] meaning “difficult ”, "adverse", or “abnormal”. In medical terminology it is used mostly with the meaning of abnormal, as in the following medical terms:
- Dysfunctional: Abnormal function
- Dyslexia: The root term [-lex-] means “to read”. Abnormal reading
- Dystrophy: The root term [-troph-] means “to grow”. Abnormal growth
- Dysplasia: The root term [-plas-] means “development”. Abnormal development
- Dysphasia: The root term [-phas-] means “speech”. Abnormal speech. Do not confuse with aphasia