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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Sphincter

UPDATED: The word [sphincter] derives from the Greek [σφιγκτήρ] (sfinkt??r), with the same meaning, in turn arising from the Greek word [σφιχτός] (sficht?s) meaning "tight". . The term was originally  used by Galen (129AD - 200AD) in the meaning of "to bind tight" or "that which binds tight".

A sphincter is an area of circular muscle fibers that controls a canal or an opening. Rufus named some of them, because of their shape, [orbicularis], a Latin term meaning "circular". An example of this nomenclature are the [orbicularis oculi] and the [orbicularis ori] muscles, the circular muscles of the eye and mouth, respectively.

Some of the so-called "sphincters" in the body are functional sphincters, that is, they control a canal mostly because of their shape, not because of the constrictive action of their circular muscle fibers, such as the ileocecal sphincter or valve, which is normally a one-way valve (shown in the picture)

Ileocecal valve (www.bartleby.com)
For a detailed description of this imageclick here.
Other sphincters are true anatomical sphincters, where the number and strength of their circular fibers close off the lumen of the organ, but these are not one-way valves. An example of this type of sphincter is the pylorus.

Images and links courtesy of: www.bartleby.com

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