Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Towards a Terminologia Anatomica Humana

  • Original Article
  • Convergence and Divergence of Anatomical Terminology
  • Published:
Anatomical Science International Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Unfortunately, the long-awaited revision of the official anatomical nomenclature, the Terminologia Anatomica 2 (TA2), which was issued in 2019 and after a referendum among the Member Societies officially approved by the General Assembly of the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists in 2020, is built on a new version of the Regular Anatomical Terminology (RAT) rules. This breaks with many traditional views of terminology. These changes in the Terminologia Anatomica of 1998 (TA98) met great resistance within many European Anatomical Societies and their members are not willing to use terms following the RAT rules. European anatomy teachers and scientists using traditional Latin in their teaching, textbooks and atlases will keep using the TA98. The German Anatomical Society (Anatomische Gesellschaft) recently announced the usage of the TA2023AG in curricular anatomical media such as textbooks and atlases, based on the TA98 and the Terminologia Neuroanatomica (TNA). We are preparing a more extensive improvement of the TA98, called Terminologia Anatomica Humana (TAH). This project is fully based on the noncontroversial terms of TA98, incorporating the recent digital version (2022) of the TNA from 2017. Further, it is completed with many new terms, including those in TA2, along with their definitions and relevant references, clinical terms, and correcting inconsistencies in the TA98. The TAH is still in process, but many chapters are already freely available at the IFAA Website in Fribourg (https://ifaa.unifr.ch) as is the digital version of the TNA.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

All data are available freely at IFAA Website in Fribourg (https://ifaa.unifr.ch).

References

  • Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland (1933) Final report of the committee appointed by the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland on June 22nd, 1928 “To consider proposals to the society for the revision of the B.N.A., with the view of bringing the matter before the next meeting of an international congress of anatomists”. Robert Maclehose and Co, Ltd, University Press, Glasgow

  • AnatomicalTerms.Info. https://www.anatomicalterms.info

  • Anatomische Gesellschaft (2023) Terminologia Anatomica 2023 of the Anatomische Gesellschaft (TA2023AG), Protokolll der Mitgliederversammlumg der Anatomischen Gesellschaft 28-09-2023 Wuerzburg

  • Anderson RH, Loukas M (2009) The importance of attitudinally appropriate description in cardiac anatomy. Clin Anat 22:47–51

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baud R, Sprumont P, ten Donkelaar HJ (2018) The representation of white matter in the central nervous system. Front Neuroanat 12:102

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Caggiatti A, Bergan JJ, Gloviczki P, Jantet G, Wendell-Smith PH, An International Interdisciplinary Consensus Committee on Venous Anatomical Terminology (2002) Nomenclature of the veins of the lower limbs: an international interdisciplinary consensus statement. J Vasc Surg 36:416–422

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caggiatti A, Bergan JJ, Gloviczki P, Eklof B, Allegra C, Partsch H, An International Interdisciplinary Consensus Committee on Venous Anatomical Terminology (2005) Nomenclature of the veins of the lower limb: extensions, refinements, and clinical application. J Vasc Surg 41:719–724

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charpy A (1912) Aponévroses du cou. In: Poirier P (ed) Traité d’anatomie humaine. Masson, Paris, pp 258–260

    Google Scholar 

  • DeLancey JV (1996) Standing anatomy of the pelvic floor. J Pelvic Surg 2:260–263

    Google Scholar 

  • Dorschner W, Stolzenburg J-U, Neuhaus J (2001) Structure and function of the bladder neck. Adv Anat Embryol Cell Biol 159:1–113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • FCAT (1998) Terminologia Anatomica. International anatomical terminology. Thieme, Stuttgart, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Feigl G, Hammer GP, Litz R, Kachlik D (2020) The intercarotid or alar fascia, other cervical fascias, and their adjacent spaces—a plea for clarification of cervical fascia and spaces terminology. J Anat 237:197–207

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • FICAT (2008) Terminologia Histologica. International histological terminology. Lippincott, Wolters-Kluwer, Philadelphia

    Google Scholar 

  • FIPAT (2013) Terminologia Embryologica. International embryological terminology. Thieme, Stuttgart, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • FIPAT (2017a) Terminologia Embryologica, 2nd ed. http://FIPAT.library.dal.ca

  • FIPAT (2017b) Terminologia Neuroanatomica. http://FIPAT.library.dal.ca

  • FIPAT (2019) Terminologia Anatomica, 2nd ed. http://FIPAT.library.dal.ca

  • Fritsch H, Brenner E, Lienemann A, Ludwikowski B (2002) Anal sphincter complex. Dis Colon Rectum 45:188–194

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fritsch H, Lienemann A, Brenner E, Ludwikowski B (2004) Clinical anatomy of the pelvic floor. Adv Anat Embryol Cell Biol 175:1–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gobée OP, Jansma D, de Ruiter MC (2011) AnatomicalTerms. Info: heading for an online solution to the anatomical synonym problem: Hurdles in data-reuse from the Terminologia Anatomica and the Foundation Model of Anatomy and potentials for future development. Clin Anat 24:817–830

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hafferl A (1969) Lehrbuch der topographischen Anatomie. Springer, Berlin, pp 227–235

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Herlin C, Chica-Rosa A, Subsol G et al (2015) Three-dimensional study of the skin/subcutaneous complex using in vivo whole body 3T MRI: review of the literature and conformation of a generic pattern of organization. Surg Radiol Anat 37:731–741

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • His W (1895) Die anatomische Nomenklatur. Nomina anatomica. Arch Anat Entwgesch Suppl 1–180

  • James TN (1963) The connecting pathways between the sinus node and the A-V node and between the right and the left atrium in the human heart. Am Heart J 66:498–508

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • James TN (2001) The internodal pathways of the human heart. Prog Cardiovasc Dis 43:495–535

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kachlik D (2021) Change of anatomical nomenclature must be deliberate: the female external genitalia. Clin Anat 34:320–323

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kachlik D, Baca V, Bozdechova I, Cech P, Musil V (2008) Anatomical terminology and nomenclature: past, present and highlights. Surg Radiol Anat 30(6):459–466

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kachlik D, Pechacek V, Musil V, Baca V (2010) The venous system of the pelvis: new nomenclature. Phlebology 25:162–172

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kachlik D, Pechacek V, Musil V, Baca V (2012) The deep venous system of the lower extremity: new nomenclature. Phlebology 27:48–58

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kachlik D, Musil V, Baca V (2015) Terminologia Anatomica after 17 years: inconsistencies, mistakes and new proposals. Ann Anat 201:8–16

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kachlik D, Musil V, Baca V (2016) Contribution to the anatomical nomenclature concerning general anatomy and anatomical variations. Surg Radiol Anat 38:757–765

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kachlik D, Musil V, Baca V (2017) Contribution to the anatomical nomenclature concerning upper limb anatomy. Surg Radiol Anat 39:405–417

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kachlik D, Musil V, Baca V (2018) Contribution to the anatomical nomenclature concerning lower limb anatomy. Surg Radiol Anat 40:537–562

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kachlik D, Musil V, Blankova A et al (2021) A plea for extension of the anatomic nomenclature: vessels. Bosn J Basic Med Sci 21:208–220

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Luzsa G (1972) Röntgenanatomie des Gefäßsystems. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mori S, Fukuzawa K, Takaya T et al (2016) Clinical cardiac structural anatomy reconstructed within the cardiac contour using multidetector-row computer tomography: left ventricular outflow tract. Clin Anat 29:353–363

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moxham BJ, Sprumont P (2016) Anatomical terms: towards development of terminologies (terminogenesis) head to head discussion. Eur J Anat 20:281–285

    Google Scholar 

  • Musil V, Blankova A, Dvorakova V, Turyna R, Baca V (2019) A plea for an extension of the anatomical terms: organ systems. Bosn J Basic Med Sci 19:1–13

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • NA4 (1977) Nomina Anatomica with Nomina Histologica and Nomina Embryologica, 4th edn. Excerpta Medica, Amterdam, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Neumann PE, Baud R, Sprumont P (2017) Human anatomy nomenclature rules for the computer age. Clin Anat 30:300–302

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nikityuk DB (2023) The Oroanatomical terminology with Russian equivalents. Website of the All-Russian Research Society of Anatomists, Histologists, and Embryologists (VNOAGE), May 31, 2023; Plexus, November 2023

  • PNA/NA1 (1955) Parisiensia Nomina Anatomica. Spottiswoode, Ballantine & Co, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosse C, Mejino JLV Jr (2003) A reference ontology for biomedical informatics: the Foundation Model of Anatomy. J Biomed Inform 36:478–500

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Saremi F, Sánchez-Quintana D, Mori S et al (2017) Fibrous skeleton of the heart: anatomic overview and evaluation of pathologic conditions with CT and MR imaging. Radiographics 37:1330–1351

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Seo JW, Kim JS, Cha MJ et al (2022) Surgical and electrical anatomy of the inter-nodal and intra-atrial conduction system of the heart. J Chest Surg 55:364–377

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Shafik A (1999) Levator ani muscle: new physioanatomic aspects and role in the micturition mechanism. World J Urol 17:266–273

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smith B, Ashburner M, Rosse C et al (2007) The OBO Foundry: coordinated evolution of ontologies to support biomedical data integration. Nat Biotechnol 25:1251

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Smith B, Almeida M, Bona J et al (2015) BFO 2.0 specification and user’s guide. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BFO-ontology/BFO/master/docs/bfo2-reference/BFO2-Reference.pdf

  • Stecco C, Macchi V, Porzionato A, Duparc F, De Caro R (2011) The fascia: the forgotten structure. Ital J Anat Embryol 3:127–138

    Google Scholar 

  • Stecco C, Tiengo C, Stecco A et al (2013) Fascia redefined: anatomical features and technical relevance in fascial flap surgery. Surg Radil Anat 35:369–376

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stieve H (1936) Jenaer Nomina Anatomica. Fischer, Jena

    Google Scholar 

  • ten Donkelaar HJ, Baud R (2021) About the Terminologia Neuroanatomica: past, present and future. Plexus, November 2021

  • ten Donkelaar HJ, Broman J, Neumann PE et al (2017) Towards a Terminologia Neuroanatomica. Clin Anat 30:145–155

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • ten Donkelaar HJ, Kachlik D, Tubbs RS (2018) An illustrated Terminologia Neuroanatomica: a concise encyclopedia of human neuroanatomy. Springer, Cham

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Terminologia Neuroanatomica (2021) https://ifaa.unifr.ch

  • Thiel W (1992) The preservation of the whole corps with natural color. Ann Anat 174:185–195

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Whitmore I (1999) Terminologia Anatomica: a new terminology for the new anatomist. Anat Rec 257:50–53

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wu Y, Dabhoiwala NF, Hagoort J et al (2015) 3D Topography of the young adult anal sphincter complex reconstructed from undeformed serial anatomical section. PLoS ONE 10:e0132226

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Wu Y, Dabhoiwala NF, Hagoort J et al (2017) Architectural differences in the anterior and middle compartments of the pelvic floor of young-adult and postmenopausal females. J Anat 230:651–663

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Wu Y, Hikspoor JPJM, Mommen G et al (2020) Interactive three-dimensional teaching models of the female and male pelvic floor. Clin Anat 33:275–285

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Luis Filgueira and Pierre Sprumont for encouraging us in this project and allowing us to use the IFAA Website in Fribourg. The authors would also like to thank our Anatomical Societies for their support.

Funding

No funds, grants, or other supports was received.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. FIPAT Working Group Neuroanatomy, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Hans J. ten Donkelaar

  2. Department of Neurology, Radboud University Medical School, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Hans J. ten Donkelaar

  3. Donders Institute of Brain, Cognition and Evolution, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Hans J. ten Donkelaar

  4. Webmaster IFAA Website Fribourg, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Robert Baud

  5. Anatomy, Section of Medicine, Faculty of Science and Medicine, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Robert Baud

  6. SIB Data Mining, Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Geneva, Switzerland

    Robert Baud

  7. Department of Anatomy, Second Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, V Úvalu 84, 150 06, Prague 5, Czech Republic

    David Kachlik

  8. Centre for Endoscopic, Surgical and Clinical Anatomy, Second Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague 5, Czech Republic

    David Kachlik

Authors
  1. Hans J. ten Donkelaar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Robert Baud
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. David Kachlik
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Hans ten Donkelaar, Robert Baud, and David Kachlik. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Hans ten Donkelaar and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Kachlik.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

ten Donkelaar, H.J., Baud, R. & Kachlik, D. Towards a Terminologia Anatomica Humana. Anat Sci Int (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12565-024-00759-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12565-024-00759-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation