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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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Adjectival medical term that means “pertaining to a hospital”. The word is a derivate of the Greek word [νοσοκομείο] (nosokomio) meaning “hospital”. This term is itself composed by two Greek terms: [νόσος] (nosos), meaning “disease” or “injury” and [κομέω], meaning “to take care of”, so the Greek term [νοσοκομείο] means “to take care of a sick person” and the place where you do that is logically, a “hospital”.
This term was later adopted by Roman doctors, giving rise to the Latin term “nosocomium”, from which we derive our English “nosocomial”.
Although we use the term “hospital-acquired infection”, a proper way of saying this is “nosocomial infection”. A synonym for [nosocomial] is [iatrogenic].
Interestingly, the Latin root for “injury”, or [noxa] gave us the Golden Rule of Surgery” “Primum Non Nocere”
Thanks to Sharon L. Mueller, RN for suggesting this article.
Note: The links to Google Translate include an icon that will allow you to hear the Greek or Latin pronunciation of the word.
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Middle cardiac vein
The middle cardiac vein is a vein that runs alongside or parallel to the posterior interventricular artery, also known as the posterior descending artery (PDA).
The middle cardiac vein appears close to the cardiac apex and ascends in the posterior interventricular sulcus (groove) to empty into the coronary sinus. It is responsible for venous drainage of the posterior aspect of the right and left ventricular wall as well as the posterior aspect of the interventricular septum.
Sources:
1 "Tratado de Anatomia Humana" Testut et Latarjet 8 Ed. 1931 Salvat Editores, Spain
2. "Anatomy of the Human Body" Henry Gray 1918. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger
Original image modified. Image courtesy of bartleby.com
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UPDATED: In both these words the suffix [-osis] means "condition". The root term [-kyph-] is Greek and means "bent or bowed" without an indication of the direction of bending, thus the term was originally used for any abnormal spinal curvature. It was Hippocrates who first used this term to denote "hunchback". Since then the term [kyphosis] denotes a curvature of the spine towards posterior, or better described, a spinal curvature in the median plane with a posterior convexity.
Hippocrated also used the Greek term [lordosis] to denote a curvature opposite to kyphosis. Lordosis is then a spinal curvature in the median plane with an posterior concavity.
In the human spine, as viewed from the lateral aspect (see image), there are four normal curvatures. The cervical and lumbar curvatures are lordotic, while the thoracic and sacrococcygeal curvatures are kyphotic. Based on this description kyphosis and lordosis are normal conditions of the human spine.
A pathological, excessive, or exacerbated curvature should be denoted with the terms [hyperkyphosis] and [hyperlordosis] respectively; the prefix [hyper-] meaning "excessive". Through use, the terms [kyphosis] and [lordosis] are also used to denote pathological conditions. Hyperkyphosis has mostly a thoracic presentation, while hyperlordosis has mostly a lumbar presentation.
In vernacular terms, an individual with hyperkyphosis is known as a "hunchback", while an individual with hyperlordosis is known as a "swayback".
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The eponymic “valve of Vieussens” is a venous valve found at the most proximal portion (or beginning) of the coronary sinus. The valve was first described by Raymond de Vieussens and thus carries its name.
Venous valves are common on peripheral veins but they tend not to be present on intraabdominal and intrathoracic veins, with some exceptions. These valves are form by thin veil-like reduplications of the venous endothelium.
Zawadzki, et al (2004) demonstrated in an endoscopic study of the valve of Vieussens that it is present in 78% of the cases and that the valve can be single, double, and even triple. The morphology of this particular valve is of interest as there are some cardiac catheterization procedures that may attempt to pass a retrograde catheter or fluid from the coronary sinus into the great cardiac vein.
Sources:
1. “Endoscopic Study of the Morphology of Vieussens Valve” Zawadzki, M. et al Clinical Anatomy (2004) 17:318 –321
2. “The valve of Vieussens: an important cause of difficulty in advancing catheters into the cardiac veins” Corcoran, SJ J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol. 1999 Jun;10(6):804-8
3. “Valve of Vieussens: An obstacle for left ventricular lead placement” Sthromer, B Can J Cardiol. Sep 2008; 24(9): e63
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Anterior view of the heart
The marginal veins are usually two (sometimes three) venous branches each which run along or parallel with the obtuse marginal arteries. They represent the venous return from the anterolateral aspect of the left ventricular wall.
The first (obtuse) marginal vein usually anastomoses with the great cardiac vein just before the great cardiac vein empties into the coronary sinus. The other obtuse marginal veins may enter the coronary sinus directly
Sources:
1. "Gray's Anatomy" 38th British Ed. Churchill Livingstone 1995
2. “Variable anatomy of the right coronary artery supply to the left ventricle” Adams, J. Treasure, T. Thorax 1985;40:618-623
4. "Anatomy of the Human Body" Henry Gray 1918. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger
Image modified by CAA, Inc. Original image courtesy of bartleby.com