Can AnatomicalTerms.info with its synonyms and succinct open definitions be a solution to address variations in usage of anatomical terminology?

Abstract

Anatomy, the study of human structure, is foundational to medicine. Its language has a long history, with contributions from authors hailing from diverse cultures and countries, adhering to various scientific traditions, speaking different languages, and practicing medicine across a wide gamut of specialties. The resultant disparity in terms provides challenges both for students in learning and for interdisciplinary communication. We report here on a user-friendly look-up web site, "AnatomicalTerms.info" that links a Terminologica Anatomica term to alternative terms in usage: synonyms, polysemes, eponyms, homonyms, and terms in other languages. Accompanying open-source definitions are generated with the help of "Definition Machine" software, that supports creating the most concise and accessible definitions for anatomical terms, eschewing superfluous description, thus reducing cognitive load of learners of anatomy looking up terms. AnatomicalTerms.info is a readily accessible online source for both the authoritative and alternatively used terms that can accurately cross-reference and/or disambiguate anatomical structures across disciplinary and cultural divides. As such, it can serve as a useful educational and clinical resource that is also flexibly open to additions and expansion as anatomical and clinical needs dictate.

Keywords: Anatomy; Dictionaries, medical as topic; Education, medical, undergraduate; Open Access Publishing; Systematized nomenclature of medicine.

Fig. 1

The four phases of the process of the definitional writing process for AnatomicalTerms.Info (ATI). The color-coded contributions of the three subcommittees of CAT are shown as they interacted with each other and with the CAT Committee as a whole in generating consistent, succinct, and understandable definitions of standard Terminologia Anatomica (TA) terminology