Medical Terminology Daily (MTD) is a blog sponsored by Clinical Anatomy Associates, Inc. as a service to the medical community. We post anatomical, medical or surgical terms, their meaning and usage, as well as biographical notes on anatomists, surgeons, and researchers through the ages. Be warned that some of the images used depict human anatomical specimens.

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A Moment in History

Jean-Louis Petit

Jean Louis Petit
(1674 – 1750)

French surgeon and anatomist, Jean Louis Petit was born in Paris in on March 13, 1674.  His family rented an apartment at his house to Alexis Littre (1658 – 1726), a French anatomist. Petit became an apprentice of Littre at seven years of age, helping him in the dissections for his lectures and at an early age became the assistant in charge of the anatomic amphitheater.

Because of Petit’s dedication to anatomy and medicine, in 1690 at the age of sixteen, became a disciple of a famous Paris surgeon, Castel.

In 1692, Petit entered the French army and performed surgery in two military campaigns. By 1693 he started delivering lectures and was accepted as a great surgeon, being invited to the most difficult operations.  In 1700 he was appointed Chief Surgeon of the Military School in Paris and in the same year he received the degree of Master of Surgery from the Faculty of Paris.

In 1715 he was made a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences and an honorary member of the Royal Society of London. He was appointed by the King as the first Director General of the Royal Academy of Surgery when it was founded in 1731.

Petit’s written works are of historical importance.  “Traite des Maladies des Os” ( A Treatise on Bone Diseases);  “Traite des Maladies Chirurgicales et des Operation” (A Treatise on Surgical Diseases and their Operations” This last book was published posthumously in 1774. He also published a monograph on hemorrhage, another on lachrymal fistula, and others.

He was one of the first to perform choIecystotomy and mastoidotomy. His original tourniquet design for amputations saved many in the battlefield and the design of the same surgical instrument today has not changed much since its invention by him.

His name is remembered in the lumbar triangle, also called the "triangle of Petit", and the abdominal hernia that can ensue through that area of weakness, the lumbar hernia or "Petit's hernia".

Sources:
1. “Jean Louis Petit – A Sketch of his Life, Character, and Writings” Hayne, AP San Fran Western Lancet 1875 4: 446-454
2. “Oeuvres compl?tes de Jean-Louis Petit” 1837 Imprimerie de F. Chapoulaud
3. Extraits de l'eloge de Jean-Louis Petit Ius dans Ia seance publique de I' Academie royale de chirurgie du 26 mai 1750” Louis A. Chirurgie 2001: 126 : 475- 81


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Anatomical variations (1)

"The only constant in anatomy is variation". This dictum is incredibly powerful and true. Even the so-called "anatomical constants" are subject to it.

One common misconception is that "we are all the same". This could not be further from the truth. Every body is different from every else's body. Anatomical variations range from the minimal to the incredible. One of the most interesting anatomical variations is the one called "situs inversus". In this case the individual is a mirror image of a human. The apex of the heart points to the right side of the body; the duodenum circles to the right, the liver "hangs" from the left side of the respiratory diaphragm, etc. This particular anatomical variation presents in different degrees and can sometimes coexist with some cardiovascular congenital abnormalities.

Third supernumerary kidney. (modified from Dixon, 1911
Of course there are minor anatomical variations that have no effect on daily life at all and are only discovered by accident, or upon autopsy or dissection. One of the most complete resources on this topic is the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variations. An excerpt from this site states: "It is clear that textbook writers and teachers over the centuries, even until today, fail to understand or to transmit to their students the crucial concept that anatomical and physiological diversity and variation is a canon of living organisms. This failure leads to the belief that textbooks are conveying immutable facts with only few anomalous exceptions".

Shown here is an extremely rare case of a third kidney. Dixon (1911) describes in his research paper that as of that date, only 10 cases were known, of these only eight were recorded, with 87% of them found on the left side of the body. Click on the image for a larger depiction.

Source and primary image: "Supernumerary kidney: The occurrence of three kidneys in an adult male subject" Dixon, A.F. J. Anat. Physiol. 45:117-121, 1911.

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