%0 Journal Article
%T Frequency in Usage of Terminologia Anatomica Terms by Clinical Anatomists
%A Bradford D. Martin
%A Donna Thorpe
%A Vanessa DeLuna
%A Trish Howard
%A Josh Hagemeyer
%A Nicholas Wilkins
%J Journal of Biomedical Education
%D 2014
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2014/950898
%X Almost 16 years since the publishing of Terminologia Anatomica (TA) by the Federative Committee on Anatomical Terminology (FCAT), there has yet to be a unified adoption of TA-recommended anatomical terms by anatomists. A survey was sent to members of the American Association of Clinical Anatomists (AACA) to determine the frequency of TA term usage. Most respondents (70.3%) received their terminal degrees in anatomy, with 23.4% in clinical and anthropological areas. Academically ranked, most respondents were professors (38.4%) and most were from North America (81.1%). Almost 40% of respondents were textbook authors. Overall results indicate that the TA preferred term had the highest frequency of usage in only 53% of the anatomical structures/features surveyed. Compliance with TA preferred terms ranged from 98.2% to 3.6% usage. Almost 25% of AACA anatomists were not familiar with the FCAT and over 75% were concerned about synonymity in anatomical terminology. Data demonstrates that clinical anatomists of the AACA are not consistent in how they use anatomical terminology, as well as how they conform to TA terminology. 1. Introduction Human anatomy is a fundamental science that is important in all areas of medicine. Naming of body structures started around the 5th century BC, when Aristotle and Hippocrates initiated many new Greek anatomical terms [1]. Starting in the 1st century AD, many more terms were added, until eventually there were 50,000 anatomical terms by the end of the 19th century, a majority derived from Latin [2]. Many of these new terms were introduced during the 17th to 19th centuries due to increased anatomical detail, but many synonyms, homonyms, and eponyms became prevalent during this period as well [3]. Since the 19th century, anatomical nomenclature has been the subject of considerable controversy and disagreement [4]. Many anatomists have called for a standardization of the vocabulary in anatomy, which would provide global agreement on naming structures. The International Federation of Associations of Anatomists (IFAA) commissioned the Federative Committee on Anatomical Terminology (FCAT, now referred to as FIPAT for Federative International Program for Anatomical Terminology) to publish Terminologia Anatomica (TA) [5] in response to international dissatisfaction on how anatomical terms were used [3, 4]. The TA replaced the sixth edition of Nomina Anatomica (NA) published by the International Anatomical Nomenclature Committee (IANC) as the current authority for gross anatomical terms [6]. Ten years later, many anatomists and anatomy
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jbe/2014/950898/