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Medical Terminology

University of Maryland Medical Center Baltimore, MD 21201

The article by Kijowski and De Smet [1] on MRI of the elbow, describing findings of osteochondritis, is well written and nicely illustrated.

A minor, but not trivial, point is the use of the word "capitellum" to indicate the site of the abnormality in the distal humerus. Some radiology texts and anatomy books seem to interchange the words capitulum and capitellum for this part of the distal humerus. The Latin suffixes -ulum and -ellum do have similar meanings—small and little, respectively [2]. A problem arises when other radiology texts and anatomy books use the word capitellum to indicate the epiphysis of the radial head. No single radiology text or anatomy book can claim to be the final authority for terminology. However, if medical terminology is to be precise, universal, and easily understood in our cyber world there needs to be one agreed-upon term for this part of the distal humerus and all other anatomic structures. For all anatomic terminology, there is an authoritative source.

That source is the Federative Committee on Anatomical Terminology representing 56 international member associations of the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists. Their latest printed compendium is the Terminologia Anatomica: International Anatomical Terminology [3] formerly known as the Nomina Anatomica. The intent of the committee is clear in their preface on page V: "Anatomical terminology is the foundation of medical terminology and it is important that doctors and scientists throughout the world use the same name for each structure." Their name for this part of the distal humerus is capitulum, as it was for Vesalius.

One study has reported the level of adherence to these published anatomic terms in the radiology literature [4]. Anonymous American radiology journals had a "close adherence" to the "official" terminology compared with radiology journals from other countries. I urge the editor to maintain this record of close adherence to this official terminology and to adopt the international anatomical terminology for all papers submitted to the AJR.

References

Top References

 

1. Kijowski R, De Smet A. MRI findings of osteochondritis dissecans of the capitellum with surgical correlation. AJR2005; 185:1453 -1459[Abstract/Free Full Text]
2. [No authors listed]. A dictionary of prefixes, suffixes, and combining forms. In: Webster's third new international dictionary, unabridged. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 2002:17 -57
3. Federative Committee on Anatomical Terminology. Terminologia anatomica: international anatomical terminology. New York, NY: Thieme, 1998:V , 19
4. Grignon B, Roland J, Braun M. Employment of the anatomical terminology of the Nomina Anatomica in the radiologic literature. Surg Radiol Anat 1995;17 : 289-291[Medline]

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This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Mulligan, M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Mulligan, M. Social Bookmarking                      What's this? Hotlight (NEW!) What's Hotlight?