Clinical Anatomical Terminology
About
The Clinical Anatomical Terminology (CAT) Committee is a committee of the American Association of Clinical Anatomists (AACA) that addresses issues that prevent clarity of discussion among students, faculty, and clinicians; specifically, usage of multiple terms to describe the same anatomical structures and concepts.
No universally agreed definitions for anatomical terms exist. An official list of anatomical terms, the Terminologia Anatomica (TA) [1], was sanctioned and published in 1998. However, a concerted initiative to define these terms has not been undertaken to date. Definitions for most of these terms are present in medical dictionaries, textbooks, and publications. However, among these sources significant variations are found, not only in form, but in some cases also in the meaning assigned to anatomical terms[2]. Users often are not aware that the terms they use may be understood differently. This may lead to misunderstanding, confusion, and inefficiency in learning anatomy for students and ultimately may hinder professional medical communications. Open publication and peer review of definitions will create awareness of existing differences in meaning and gradually reduce inconsistencies. Therefore, the primary initiative of the CAT Committee is to create open, peer-reviewed, anatomical definitions based on specific, consistent, and concise patterns and guidelines. These patterns and guidelines were initially developed by Paul Gobée, MD, with contributions from members of the AACA CAT committee.
Anatomical definition creation, vetting, and distribution is facilitated by the CAT Committee using the open-access Anatomical Terms Info website.
References
- Terminologia Anatomica: International Anatomical Terminology. New York: Thieme Medical Publishers. 1998. ISBN 0-86577-808-6. Search this book on
- Nayak, S. B (2013). "Thoracic inlet or thoracic outlet: Which one is which in anatomical and clinical literature?". Anat Sci Educ. 7 (2): 167. doi:10.1002/ase.1416. PMID 24136863.
External Links
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- ↑ Terminologia Anatomica: International Anatomical Terminology. New York: Thieme Medical Publishers. 1998. ISBN 0-86577-808-6. Search this book on
- ↑ Nayak, S. B (2013). "Thoracic inlet or thoracic outlet: Which one is which in anatomical and clinical literature?". Anat Sci Educ. 7 (2): 167. doi:10.1002/ase.1416. PMID 24136863.
