Hi,

I'm from Spain, and here usually spanish is used to define anatomical structures, in most cases antient names (tarsal scahoid, styloid apophysis for the 5th metatarsal tuberosity, etc), causing problems when trying to communicate with professionals of other countries. 

I think the English International Anatomical Terminology is meant to be as the standard

Anatomical terminology in Russian language is very similar with Latin. We have some terms in Russian, for example "бугристость" ("bugristost" is mean "tuberosity"), but if you say "tuberositas", you will be understood too.

In the UK, Latin is never used in clinics. In general, clinicians will never opt for confusing terminology (Latin or otherwise) whilst in a clinic with a patient. The aim is always for clarity and comprehension: jargon and Latin terms simply detract from this, as the huge majority of patients do not understand either.

Similarly, in the British University setting, there is also a strong move away from Latin terminology, when describing anatomy. The vogue in the UK currently is to describe anatomy (in dissection, lectures and vivas) in simple but accurate English terms (e.g. the terminal ileum, instead of 'pars terminals ilei'). This is likely linked to the aforementioned issue - we want our patients to be able understand their condition as much as possible. Learning obfuscatory Latin terms in our formative stages would likely lead to such difficult terms slipping into our conversations with patients, which would of course work against any rapport or good communication that we had built. 

All of the above is true, unless our patients are Professors of Anatomy (or indeed, Classics)!

Joe, UK

"For historical reasons, latin is widely used in anatomy teaching."

Dear Colleague, this is not correct. The "Nomina Anatomica" is a mixture of Greek, Arabic, and Latin terminology - although most official terms are now in Latin, indeed.

The first one to translate the original Greek anatomical writings of Galen (130-210 CE) directly into Latin (in an appropriate way) was Alessandro Benedetti (1450-1512), Professor of anatomy and surgery at the University of Padua.                         Again in Padua, Brussels anatomist Andreas Vesalius later "finished the job" by inserting these terms in his Fabrica (1543).                                                    Nevertheless, since then, several originally Greek terms have remained until today. 

With regard to your question, however, e.g., the well-known "Feneis" dictionary currently contains Latin and English terms for each anatomical structure - so there is always an alternative for anyone, so to say.

More (historical) information may be found in : van Zwieten KJ, Schmidt KP, Zubova IA, Varzin SA, Zinkovsky AV, Piskùn OE (2014) Some Byzantine / Greek influences on the early work of the Anatomist Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564). In: SA Varzin et al. (Eds.) Proceedings of the 9th annual scientific and practical conference with international participation "Health - the basis of human development: problems and solutions", 20-22 November 2014, Medical Faculty, St.-Petersburg State University, St.-Petersburg (in press).

With kind regards,

Koos Jaap van Zwieten 

When I studied In Ukraine, i was taught first Latin language, next Latin anatomical terms, but in UK, no Latin is used (almost), just English anatomical names (lectures, textbooks, videos), but please remember that English names often are Latin derived. However, in Poland and Ukraine the clinical diagnosis and  sometimes prescription  is fully written in latin.