After Andreas Vesalius's description of it as a suitable cavity for the gland that receives the "phlegm of the brain" in De Humani Corporis Fabrica (1543), medical scholars began to use seat/saddle-related terms such as the ephippium, pars sellaris, sella equina, sella ossis, and sella sphenoidalis. The real designation of the sella turcica, however, was introduced to the anatomical nomenclature by the anatomist Adrianus Spigelius (1578-1625) in his famous work De Corpora Humanis Fabrica (1627).
Aretaeus of Cappadocia is considered as one of the greatest medical scholars of Greco-Roman antiquity after Hippocrates. He presumably was a native or at least a citizen of Cappadocia, a Roman province in Asia Minor (Turkey), and most likely lived around the middle of the second century (AD) His eight volume treatise, written in Ionic Greek, entitled On the Causes, Symptoms and Cure of Acute and Chronic Diseases remained unknown until the middle of the 16 th century when, in 1552, the first Latin edition was published. In this work, Aretaeus offered clinical descriptions of a number of diseases among which he gave classic accounts of asthma, epilepsy, pneumonia, tetanus, uterus cancer and different kinds of insanity. He differentiated nervous diseases and mental disorders and described hysteria, headaches, mania and melancholia. He also rendered the earliest clear accounts on coeliac disease, diphtheria and heart murmur, and gave diabetes its name.
Prior to the advent of modern imaging techniques, maneuvers were performed as part of the physical examination to further assess pathological findings or an acute abdomen and to further improve clinicians' diagnostic acumen to identify the site and cause of disease. Maneuvers such as changing the position of the patient, extremity, or displacing through pressure a particular organ or structure from its original position are typically used to exacerbate or elicit pain. Some of these techniques, also referred to as special tests, are ascribed as medical eponym signs. Data sources: PubMed, Medline, online Internet word searches, textbooks and references from other source text. PubMed was searched using the Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) of the name of the eponyms and text words associated with the sign. Conclusion: These active and passive maneuvers of the abdomen, reported as medical signs, have variable performance in medical practice. The lack of diagnostic accuracy may be attributed to confounders such as the position of the organ, modification of the original technique, or lack of performance of the maneuver as originally intended.
Background: Abdominal palpation is a difficult skill to master in the physical examination. It is through the tactile sensation of touch that abdominal tenderness is detected and expressed through pain. Its findings can be used to detect peritonitis and other acute and subtle abnormalities of the abdomen. Some techniques, recognized as signs or medical eponyms, assist clinicians in detecting disease and differentiating other conditions based on location and response to palpation. Described in this paper are medical eponyms associated with abdominal palpation from the period 1876 to 1907. Data Sources: PubMed, Medline, on-line Internet word searches, textbooks and references from other source text were used as the data source. PubMed was searched using the Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) of the name of the eponyms and text words associated with the sign. Conclusion: We present brief historical background information about the physician who reported the sign, original description of the sign, and its clinical application and implication in today's medical practice.
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
Narrative medicine is of great significance in the area of health care, which underpins the ability of acknowledgment, absorption, and interpretation according to which plights and stories of patients are extensively considered for the commencement of actions. It reflects the manifestation of a model that entails effective medical practice with the aim to achieve best possible outcome. Adopting different approaches to narrative medicine (such as the method of close literature reading and reflective writing) facilitates with the opportunity to examine and explore central medical situations. Narrative medicine is responsible for the development of effective communication between patient and healthcare professionals, alongside inaugurating substantial discourse with the community regarding health care. With the advancement in clinical conditions, the scope of narrative medicine has become a growing need, and thus, several developed countries have already included narrative medicine as an integral part of health care. However, the major ethical problem associated with patient narratives is the use of data with intention other than treatment which may result in maleficence. Therefore, the practice of narrative medicine requires balancing all the aspects of health care against any possible harm.
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