SHEILA SLOANE B. MEDICAL ABBREVIATIONS EPONYMS Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 http://archive.org/details/medicalabbreviatOOsloa MEDICAL ABBREVIATIONS EPONYMS 2nd Edition MEDICAL ABBREVIATIONS EPONYMS 2nd Edition SHEILA SLOANE B. Formerly President, Medi-Phone, Inc. Author, The Medical Word Book, 3rd Edition; A Word Book in Radiology; and A Word Book in Laboratory Medicine, 2nd Edition W.B. SAUNDERS COMPANY A Division ofHarcourt Brace & Company Philadelphia London Toronto Montreal Sydney Tokyo W.B. SAUNDERS COMPANY A Division ofHarcourtBrace &Company The CurtisCenter Independence Square West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106 LibraryofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sloane, Sheila B. — Medicalabbreviations&eponyms/Sheila B. Sloane 2nded. p. cm. ISBN0-7216-7088-1 — 1. Medicine Abbreviations. 2. Eponyms—Dictionaries. I. Title. R123.S569 1997 610M48—DC20 96-28595 MEDICAL ABBREVIATIONS & EPONYMS, 2nd Edition ISBN 0-7216-7088-1 Copyright © 1997, 1985 byW.B. Saunders Company. All rights reserved. No part ofthis publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any informationstorageandretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublisher. Printed in the United States ofAme9rica.87654321 Last digit is the print number: Dedicated to John, my friend, mentor, and supporter Preface to the Second Edition Don'tneverlookback: somethingmay begainingonyou. Satchel Paige Writing a preface is, however ill-advisedly, simply looking back. The reader will want to know what was done and why; the writer will wonder whether deletion has been wise, addition precise, and purpose fulfilled. In the eighteenth century linguistic purists frowned on use of abbrevia- tions and even eponyms. They regarded both as i—nelegant shortcuts in the art ofdiscourse; butnowstarknecessity in science especially in bioscience — and its sister art, clinical medicine has brought new and extensive use to the abbreviation. The immense proliferation of polysyllabic terms and mind-bending phrases enforces its need. Flesch, in his The ABC of Style, put the matter to rest: "It's a superstition that abbreviations shouldn't be used in serious writing. Nonsense: use abbreviations wherever they are customary and needed." They are needed especially in the research report that frequently reuses a customary phrase. Why repeat "superconducting quantum interference device" when SQUID will do, even though it may be confused with a ten-armed cephalopod? So, too, eponyms have come into favor. Like the computer they save time and space, but they also evoke the names ofphysicians, patients, and places that have played a role in the ongoing development of medicine. The very name Addison's disease brings to mind the whole complex field of diseases of the ductless glands and the fact that Addison's pioneering work on their elucidation was regarded in its day as a medical curiosity. Similarly, O'nyong-nyong feverevokes the mosquito-infested African scene where this disease brings lymphadenitis, achingjoints, and painful skin rash to thousands ofpeople. The section on eponyms, which are often a source of misspelling and confusion to the transcriptionist, medical secretary, record librarian, nurse, and physician, includes diseases, syndromes, operations, positions, instru- ments, stains, tests, signs, and pathological conditions named after the discoverer, the patient, or even mythological characters. Definitions have been given for the more common diseases, syndromes, and operations, but for those which are rarely seen only the eponymic names have been listed. No effort has been made to include all possible instruments under an eponymic entry; rather, emphasis has been placed on completeness of the eponyms themselves for the purpose ofcorrect spelling and identification. The abbreviation poses a problem in spelling. That Thoreau said, "I distrust a man who can spell a word only one way" is a pleasantry, not a viii Preface to the Second Edition license to misuse words. To write "compliment" instead of "complement" is to defeat the purpose oflanguage. There are indeed canons ofcorrectness in orthography but none in the formation of abbreviations. Every diction- ary, journal, or word book consulted will afford examples ofdifference. The same abbreviation will appear in both capital and lower-case letters and with or without closing periods. The attempt here is not to state which usage is —favored, but o—nly which is more prevalent. The aim is to be inclusive not arbitrary so that in this second edition more than 10,000 new entries appear, including chemical formulas and symbols, physical and biochemical terms, and new elements, acronyms, and names of organiza- tions. The eponym poses the curious problem of proper use of the apos- — trophe a useful device that for no discernible reason has come under attack. In an amusing essay (Its Academic, Or Is It?), Professor Charles Larson deplores both its misuse and its coming demise. Nevertheless, it still seems useful as a possessive, so Smith's disease and Sjogren's syndrome and Adams' disease and Bruns' syndrome appear here in their traditional forms. Now that the weary pen is put away, the kitchen light dimmed, and the thousands of jigsaw notes and ideas consigned to oblivion, perhaps I may speak for myself. I have enjoyed doing this revision, for writing is ever a pleasure, and renewed acquaintanceship with the miracle of modern medicine is always stimulating. All books call for decisions, and whether these have been properly made only the reader may decide. Whatever that decision, correc- tions and suggestions from readers will be deeply appreciated and acted upon. In making these decisions I have consulted many books and journals in which the advance of medicine is chronicled, and I have made use of the abundant reference sources of the American Association for Medical Transcription. I have consulted too with colleagues and with my publisher. I owe a great debt of appreciation to Margaret Biblis and the staff of the W.B. Saunders Company for their dexterous help and counsel, to Wynette Kommer for her expert guidance and assistance, and to Donna Ciccotelli for her skillful typing. For his support and constant encouragement, I offer my deepest gratitude to my dearJohn Dusseau. To the many readers of the first edition of Medical Abbreviations and Eponyms it is my hope that this second edition will continue to answer the needs of transcriptionists and health-care personnel in their search for the correct spelling ofthe often-enigmatic medical term. Sheila B. Sloane