Anatomical eponymous

Eponymous  ANATOMICS

Like all science, Anatomy has its own language. The set of terms used to designate and describe the organism or its parts is called the Anatomical Nomenclature. With the extraordinary accumulation of knowledge at the end of the last century, thanks to the work of important “anatomical schools” (especially in Italy, France, England and Germany), the same structures of the human body were given different names in these centers of study and research.

Due to this lack of methodology and unavoidable arbitrariness, more than 20 000 anatomical terms were consigned (today reduced to a few more than 5 000). The first attempt to standardize and create an international anatomical nomenclature took place in 1895. In successive Anatomy congresses in 1933, 1936 and 1950 revisions were made, and finally in 1955 in Paris the Anatomical Nomenclature, known under the acronym PNA, was officially approved. (Paris Nominates Anatomically).

Subsequent revisions were made in 1960, 1965 and 1970, as the anatomical nomenclature has a dynamic character and can always be criticized and modified, provided there are sufficient reasons for the modifications and to be approved at International Anatomy Congresses. The officially adopted language is Latin (because it is a “dead language”), but each country can translate it into its own vernacular.

In designating a structure of the organism, the nomenclature seeks to use terms that are not only signs for memory but also bring some information or description about that structure. Within this principle, the eponymes (names of persons to designate things) were abolished and the terms indicate: the form (trapezius muscle); your position or situation (median nerve); its course (circumflex scapular artery); their connections or interrelations (sacroiliac ligament); its relationship to the skeleton (radial artery); its function (m. scapula lifter); mixed criterion (m. superficial flexor of the fingers - function and situation). However, there are improper or not very logical names that have been retained because they are consecrated by use.

Below is a list of the eponyms that were used to designate elements of the human anatomy. Eponyms have only historical importance in anatomy. They are difficult to memorize, inaccurate and ethnocentric. They are often redundant because the same structure is renamed several times depending on the country. The tendency is that the eponymes will be disused over the years. In order for us to have scientific precision and universalization we need to make use of the following current nomenclature:

The above list does not contain all the eponymes, just some commonly used. For full eponymous names, look for an International Anatomical Terminology book that contains FCAT (CFTA) affiliation & #8211; Federative Committee on Anatomical Terminology.