The clinical anatomy of the inferior vena cava: a review of common congenital anomalies and considerations for clinicians.

Anomalies in the course and drainage of the Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) may complicate normal functioning, correct diagnosis, and therapeutic interventions within the abdomen. Development of the IVC occurs during the 4th to 8th week of gestation, and due to its developmental complexity, there are many opportunities for malformations to occur. Although most IVC anomalies are clinically silent and are usually discovered incidentally on abdominal imaging, aberrations may be responsible for formation of thrombosis, back pain, and anomalous circulation of blood to the heart. In this review, we will discuss the most common variations and abnormalities of the IVC, which include the posterior cardinal veins, the subcardinal veins, the supracardinal veins, persistent left IVC, IVC duplication, situs inversus, left retroaortic renal vein, left circumaortic renal collar, scimitar syndrome, and IVC agenesis. For each abnormality outlined above, we aim to discuss relevant embryology and potential clinical significance with regards to presentation, diagnosis, and treatment as is important for radiologists, surgeons, and clinicians in current clinical practice.

Moritz Heinrich Romberg (1795-1873): Early founder of neurology.

Moritz Heinrich Romberg (1795-1873) began his pursuit of neurology in 1820 by translating into German Andrew Marshall's The Morbid Anatomy of the Brain. In 1830, Romberg was hired as Privatdozent of special pathology and therapy in the Charité, the University Hospital of Berlin. He quickly rose to director of the royal clinic in 1845, at which time he wrote Lehrbuch der Nervenkrankheiten des Menschen, a text generally regarded as the first formal treatise on nervous diseases. He identified the role of proprioception in tabes dorsalis, and became the first neurologist to describe the typical pupillary presentation found in patients with tertiary syphilis. Romberg is perhaps most famous for identifying "Romberg's sign," the distinctive sensory ataxia observed in neuropathies of the dorsal columns.

Wormian bones: a review.

Wormian bones are abnormal ossicles that develop from extra ossification centers within the cranium. They are most frequently located in the lambdoid suture or the coronal suture, and have been seen in the fontanelles, particularly the posterior fontanelle. It is unclear at this time exactly how or why they are formed, although genetic as well as environmental factors have been proposed. Their initial formation is thought to be caused by a degree of dural strain and increased sutural width. These conditions can result from mechanically induced stress due to intentional deformation like that practiced in ancient cultures, premature sutural closure, or from reduced skull ossification as seen in metabolic bone diseases. The cause of the malformation can have an influence on the number and location of Wormian bones. Clinically, Wormian bones are used as markers in the diagnoses of many autosomal dominant genetic disorders, namely, craniosynostosis and osteogenesis imperfecta.

Neuroanatomy of the female abdominopelvic region: A review with application to pelvic pain syndromes.

Pelvic pain can be a life altering disease. Multiple pathologies can affect this region resulting in neurologic issues. Therefore, a thorough understanding of the nerve supply to this region is important for the clinician who treats such patients. The current review outlines the anatomy of the nervous system of the abdominopelvic region with special attention to this anatomy in the female.

The history of mastectomy.

The mastectomy that is performed today is a procedure born from hundreds of years of discoveries, inventions, and amendments to existing surgical techniques. The reasons for performing this extreme surgery have changed as well, ranging from unilateral breast removal to allow greater upper limb functionality to bilateral removal of the breasts or breast tissue in individuals predisposed to breast cancer or in individuals who have already been diagnosed. The additions of surgical tools and anesthetics to the field of medicine further transformed the surgical field in general and had a large impact on the mastectomy. William Halsted's radical mastectomy served as the basis of most future breast removal techniques, and it the method recognized today as the "radical mastectomy." Most radical surgeries are currently used for prophylaxis, whereas less invasive lumpectomies have eclipsed breast removal surgeries as of the latter half of the 20th century.