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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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This is a Greek compound word. [ana-] meaning "through or complete", the root term [-stom-] from [stoma], meaning "mouth or opening" and the suffix [-osis] meaning "condition". Usually [-osis] refers to a disease, but in this case it refers to an action or process. The plural form for [anastomosis] is [anastomoses].
The word [anastomosis] then refers to the "process or action of creating a complete opening". In reality an anastomosis is the process of creating a permanent opening between two structures which allows for drainage or flow from one structure into the other. The suffix [-ostomy], being the term for "drainage" is the best suffix to describe an anastomosis. An anastomosis can be the result of a surgical procedure or found as a natural occurrence, such as the anastomoses found in the arterial circle of Willis or an abnormal fistula.
The accompanying image shows an early 1900's depiction of an anterior gastrojejunostomy. The term [gastrojejunostomy] is then the "creation of a drainage opening (a common mouth or opening) between the stomach and the jejunum, the second portion of the small intestine.
It is our belief and core competency, that surgical medical device sales representatives and managers should be completely familiar with this medical term, as well as the many types of anastomoses that can be performed surgically. To this end, we have developed a video on the History of Surgical Stapling. At the end of a video you can see a demonstration of the use of these devices to create an anastomosis
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The [falx cerebri] is a falciform or sickle-shaped median extension of the dura mater found within the cranial cavity. It is narrow anteriorly, where it attaches to the crista galli of the ethmoid bone and widens posteriorly, where it ends when it meets another dura mater extension, the tentorium cerebelli.
The falx cerebri is found in the interhemispheric fissure of the brain, separating both cerebral hemispheres. Its inferior free edge is closely related to the corpus callosum.
Reduplications of the dura mater forming the falx cerebri creates venous channels known as "sinuses". The superior border of the falx cerebri, where it meets the dura mater covering the brain forms the [superior longitudinal sinus]. The inferior free border of the falx cerebri forms the [inferior longitudinal sinus], and at the junction of the falx cerebri with the tentorium cerebelli we find the [longitudinal sinus].
The Latin word [falx] (plural [falcis]) means "scythe" or "sickle".
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UPDATED: The root for this word comes from the Latin [falx] (plural [falcis]) meaning "scythe" or "sickle". [Falciform] means "shaped like a sickle or a scythe". The term [falx cerebri] is used to name the sickle-shaped median extension of the dura mater that separates both cerebral hemispheres.
There are several falciform structures in the human body, such as the falciform ligament of the lung, more commonly known as the pulmonary ligament, and the falciform margin of the saphenous opening, the edge of a foramen in the femoral fascia to allow passage of the greater saphenous vein.
The most commonly known use of the term is the "falciform ligament of the liver", a sickle-shaped extension of peritoneum that connects the liver capsule (Glisson's) to the peritoneal covering of the abdominal wall (parietal peritoneum). At the free edge of the falciform ligament and covered by peritoneum run the round ligament of the liver (an embryological remnant of fetal circulation) and the paraumbilical veins.
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The medical term [vaccine] originates from the Latin term [vacca] meaning "cow". The Latin adjectival form is [vaccinus].
The word originated from the work of Edward Jenner (1749 - 1823) who, based in observation, developed an injection of cowpox virus and injected them into patients, rendering them inmune to smallpox. This extraordinary discovery was the basis for the Balmis Expedition to the New World.
Since the cowpox virus was extracted initally from cows (Lat:vacca), and later from human cowpox sores, and Latin was at the time the preferred language of medical communication, the word "vaccina" was created. Evolution of the word led to the English [vaccine] and Spanish [vacuna]
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The prefix [-ect(o)-] originates from the Greek [εκτός] meaning "outside". In medical terminology it is used to mean "outside", "external", or "superficial". Applications of this prefix include:
- Ectoderm: "derm" means "skin". This term is used in embryology to denote the external embryonic layer that will give origin to the skin and the nervous system
- Ectopic: "topic" means "place" or "location". Outside its place
Note: The links to Google Translate in these articles include an icon that will allow you to hear the Greek or Latin pronunciation of the word.
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The term [volar] is used in human anatomy and orthopedics to denote either the palm of the hand or the sole of the feet. The volar surface of the hand is the anterior aspect or palm, whereas the volar surface of the feet is the inferior aspect or sole of the foot. How we came to use this word as such is a strange trip through the evolution and use of words.
The word [volar] originates from the Latin[vola] meaning "to fly". If you look online the definition of many for [volar] is "The hollow of the palms of the hands and soles of the feet". Very far from "to fly". The word was first used for the palms of the hands when mimicking a a flying bird. The hollow of the hands forces the air, hence [vola]. In fact, in Spanish the word for "to fly" is "volar" and in Italian, "volare". The term [volar] was then used by extension for the soles of the feet.
The term to refer to the palms of the hands and soles of the feet is in disuse except in orthopedics and can be found in some anatomy books. Overtime the word has been changed to [palmar] in the hand, and to [plantar] in the feet. This is why we have a muscle called the "palmaris longus" and we talk about the "plantar fascia".
Note: The links to Google Translate in these articles include an icon that will allow you to hear the Greek or Latin pronunciation of the word.