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Anatomy
Book Review
Understanding Anatomical Terms : A rapid reader companion to the study of anatomy
LA Lopa, M Natarajan, M. Kothan
Bhalani Publishing House, Mumbai, India, 1998,433 pp.
ISBN 81 85578 192
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How many times do our students pose us questions on the meaning or origin of certain anatomic terms that at first sight appear complicated in their construction ? This book - Understanding anatomical terms - provides an excellent reply by commencing with a brief history of anatomic terms, stressing the origin of every word : Greek, Latin, English or other. Further, on perusing this book, we discover precise definitions with "dissections" of different terms. The whole is simplified by a very didactic presentation of the anatomic vocabulary appropriate to each region and related to the different systems, with the detail and significance of each term in its original expression. We also appreciated the precise explanations of embryologic, cytologic and genetic terms set out in great details at the end of the book, which will certainly be of value to many medical students. These will find, first of all, a first part on general anatomy, which mentions the terms with the etymology of the word or basic root, its prefix and suffix, and any factors qualifying function, e.g., deltoid : Greek origin, letter delta, triangular shape , or again an explanation of the terms : anterior, posterior, vertical, proximal, distal, caudal, etc. The second part is devoted to a study of the regions (topographic anatomy), always with details of the explanations of the different words by reference to position, shape, orientation and comparisons. For proper names there is given the period when the author lived who gave his name to an organ, region or syndrome, e.g., for the ampulla of Vater, " Abraham Vater, German anatomist 1684-1751", or again, for the canal of Santorini, "Giovanni Domenico Santorini, Italian anatomist, 1681-1737". Although eponyms have virtually disappeared from the International Nomenclature, this information forms parts of the history and heritage of anatomy. With such a rich content, this book will be increasingly included among the manuals of anatomy used by students and teachers, who will find clear and precise definitions of the general terms, as well as a good understanding of form and function. This is a veritable "dissection" of anatomy.
CM Sellam
Surg Rad Anat 1999; 21: 146.