A00.0.00.101Terminologia Anatomica et Vox Populi Conveniant/Let theTerminologia Anatomica and the Voice of the People Unite

Contrast in usage of FCAT-approved anatomical terminology between members of two anatomy associations in North America

Almost 12 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 FCAT-recommended anatomical terms by North American anatomists. A survey was sent to members of the Human Anatomy & Physiology Society (HAPS) to compare the frequency of FCAT term usage with a previous study involving the American Association of Anatomists (AAA). The HAPS differed from AAA in being composed mostly of biologists (56.5%) who teach anatomy with only 18.3% of respondents having terminal degrees in anatomy. The survey included the same 25 sets of synonymic names for selected gross anatomical structures or related terms used for the AAA survey. Overall results indicate that the FCAT preferred term had the highest frequency of usage in only 40.0% of the survey questions, demonstrating 4% lower compliance than AAA respondents. Compliance with FCAT preferred terms ranged from 92.2% to 1.7% usage. When compared with AAA anatomists, there were reversals in predominant usage between FCAT and non-FCAT terms for six sets of anatomical structures: HAPS respondents predominantly used non-FCAT terms for adrenal gland (88.7%), antecubital fossa (57.4%), patellar tendon (65.2%), ligamentum capitis femoris (36.5%), while preferring the FCAT anterior circumflex humeral artery (45.2%) and anterior/posterior preferred over ventral/dorsal (41.7%). Almost 54% of HAPS anatomists were not familiar with the FCAT, nearly 21% higher than the AAA.

Frequency in usage of FCAT-approved anatomical terms by North American anatomists

It has been 10 years since the Federative Committee on Anatomical Terminology (FCAT) published Terminologia Anatomica (TA), the current authority on anatomical nomenclature. There exists a perceived lack of unity among anatomists to adopt many FCAT recommended anatomical terms in TA. An e-mail survey was sent to members of the American Association of Anatomists (AAA) to determine the frequency of FCAT term usage by North American anatomists. The survey consisted of 29 questions, including 25 different sets of synonymic names for selected gross anatomical structures or related terms. Overall results indicate that the FCAT preferred term had the highest frequency of usage in only 44.0% of the survey questions. As frequency of use of FCAT terms decreased, the corresponding frequency of use of non-FCAT terms increased. Some questions showed almost complete compliance with the FCAT preferred terms (highest = 98.4% usage) to almost complete disregard for the FCAT terms (lowest = 0.8% usage). A slight association (P = 0.06) may exist between FCAT familiarity and concern for usage of synonymic terms. The more familiar anatomists were with the FCAT, the more concerned they were with anatomic synonyms.