We read with interest Nieradko-Iwanicka's article on "National eponyms in medicine" and herein contribute further to the discussion [1]. Medical eponyms remain a contentious issue as there are those who promote and others who oppose their use. We propose a framework and contextual method of how to approach medical eponyms. This involves appropriately defining the term, understanding factors which support or reject their use, and recognizing potential application of their use in diagnosis and teaching pathophysiology, structural, and functional aspects of disease.Nieradko-Iwanicka defined an eponym as "a person, place or thing after whom or after which something is named" [1]. We contend that this definition is too broad, overlaps with, and is often used in the same context as a medical eponym; the term we propose is more restrictive in definition. In developing a revised definition of a medical eponym we adopted and applied concepts based on nomenclature guidelines previously proposed for future naming patterns for malformations at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) [2] and best practice standards for naming new human infectious diseases that impact global health by the World Health Organization (WHO) [3,4]. Key highlights in the NIH statement included that current designations should remain unless there is compelling reason for change, use of a single name, avoiding possessive name use, and names that may draw "unpleasant connotation for the family and/ or affected individuals" [2]. The WHO more specifically addressed the latter concern in that the name chosen should not include reference to a "cultural, social, national, regional, professional or ethnic group" [4]. Thus, names of people, geographic locations, cultural population, with industry or occupational reference or that may cause fear or harm should not be used in order to avoid
Fothergill and Carnett signs are used to distinguish intrabdominal from abdominal wall
diseases. These bedside techniques may be useful in distinguishing intrabdominal from an
abdominal wall cause of disease. Timely and accurate diagnosis of rectus sheath hematoma
in at risk patients in the appropriate clinical setting is important because of the
associated morbidity and mortality associated with this condition. Diagnosis requires an
accurate and thorough history and bedside physical examination and performance of these
maneuvers as originally described.
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