Eponímia mèdica catalana III

Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Medicine is full of terms that originate from people who played a decisive role in its discovery, or places and institutions from where they were identified. Elena Guardiola and Josep-Eladi Baños, of the department of experimental sciences and health of Universidad Pompeu Fabra, present the latest volume of the triology on Catalan medical eponymy from the Dr Esteve Foundation. It is a historic overview of Catalan medicine through eponyms. This third edition includes over 60 articles on people and research centres, which have left a significant mark on the history of medicine.

Some of the eponyms discussed in this series are well-known by the majority of doctors. Gimbernat’s ligament, for example, owes its name to the distinguished Catalan surgeon of the 18th century. Anatomy lecturers present it at the start of medical studies. Tolosa-Hunt syndrome, an oribital pain associated to ipsilateral ophthalmoplegia, is also taught a few years later. However, names are also included of doctors forgotten by the large majority, who have also contributed to progress in medicine in a non-stop, ingenious, efficient way.

In this third volume of the series on Catalan medical eponymy, readers will find a list of eponyms dedicated to Catalan botanic doctors of the 18th and 19th centuries, along with eponyms arising from contemporary doctors, many of whom are still active. The book also contains a range of eponyms not from people, but which are attributed to hospitals where the authors work, such as Hospital Clínic, Hospital del Mar of Barcelona or Hospital Parc Taulí of Sabadell, and places like Barcelona, Sabadell and Catalonia. For example, the city of Barcelona gives its name to a type of haemoglobin, an improvement criteria of primary biliary cirrhosis and a psychological test.

Eponyms no longer always correspond to surgical techniques, semiological data or anatomical discoveries. Catalan medical eponymy has also adapted to our times and in this third volume, heart failure risk calculators, therapeutic improvement criteria and surgery apparatus can be found. The authors remark that it is ?an interesting fact that names of doctors have gradually disappeared from eponyms. This could be the result of teamwork and leadership not being so clear as in the past. It may also be a feeling of modesty of the person concerned and not accepting admiration?.

The notebook of the Dr. Esteve Foundation Catalan medical eponymy III was presented on 24 May 2016 within the cloosing ceremony of the Acadèmia de Ciencies Mèdiques i de la Salut de Catalunya i de Balears (Catalonia and Balearic Island Academy of Medical Sciences and Health). You can ask for a free copy by clicking on Request publication, or it can be downloaded in full or in chapters in PDF.

Images of the presentation ceremony

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