Abstract
As someone who recently confused the saccus cecus with sacculus rotundus, I am the last person who should be allowed to review a new edition of Illustrated Veterinary Anatomical Nomenclature (NAV). A second confession: I was unaware until now that an illustrated version of NAV even existed until its 4th edition landed on my desk.
Diagnosticians have no shortage of anatomical texts and resources. None serves all purposes. There are the gorgeously illustrated, such as Veterinary Anatomy of Domestic Mammals (König and Liebich; Schattauer), which at ~$400 is too nice to be exposed to the postmortem room. There are reliable standbys, such as Dyce, Sack, and Wensing's Textbook of Veterinary Anatomy (Singh; Elsevier), and Miller and Evan’s Anatomy of the Dog (Hermanson, de Lahunta, Evans; Elsevier). Plus, the idiosyncratic but handy, such as Anatomy of Domestic Animals: Systemic & Regional Approach (Pasquini, Spurgeon, Pasquini; Sudz).
The text has advantages for diagnosticians over these conventional texts in that its focus is on the precision of anatomical terms. It is a good supplement to the online versions of NAV (http://www.wava-amav.org/wava-documents.html). It focuses on 3 major NAV lists: gross, histologic, and embryologic terms, with an emphasis on the first. The book’s most helpful feature is its logical organization of 280 plates with 1,308 annotated line drawings, many by its author, Dr. Constantinescu. The vast majority of drawings are of gross structures. There are histologic images, but these are generally small. The information they contain may be more explicit in standard histology texts. For the diagnostic tribe, the main benefit is its easy-to-use format, particularly when double-checking anatomical nomenclature and one’s own spelling.
Major systems are divided into components, such as bones, articulations and sutures, nervous system, sense organs, etc. Each is represented by text in numbered lists on the left page, corresponding to line drawings on the facing page. A typical illustrated page has 2–6 images, each identified by species. Individual anatomical terms are linked by letter to the drawings so that one can see the same structure in major animal species at a glance. This makes it easy to confirm terms on the postmortem floor when completing gross reports. The species covered are domestic cattle, sheep, goats, dogs, cats, and horses; the hapless domestic chicken is forlorn. Others, such as the rabbit and golden hamster, are touched upon for some unique structures such as the conus papillaris, but this is hit-or-miss. Although exotic species are otherwise ignored, it is not difficult to identify comparable structures. Particularly helpful are schematic drawings of nuclei in the brain, tracts in the spinal cord, and surface topography of skin and major organs, all largely based on the dog or horse. For some complex structures that are difficult to render clearly by line drawings, such as equine paranasal sinuses, one may need to consult conventional anatomy texts.
The extensive index may be unfamiliar for some readers, given that it relies on Latin for anatomical terms. It is nevertheless easy to navigate once you know that arteries are found under A or Aa, nuclei in the brain under Nucl, and so on. A separate short index translates common Latin used anatomically. Here one finds that alveolus means bucket, amygdala almond, and vagus wandering. I was puzzled initially by the alternate definition of filum terminale, the tapered distal portion of the spinal cord. We Dubliners use this to describe the last movie of the evening. To Latinists, it is the terminal thread.
The book is published in Germany. It is a robustly produced hardback with good reproductions of meticulous line drawings. It will not be the first book you reach for of an evening, unless insomnia is your fate. But it has a place on pathologists’ shelves and that of others who need a quick, precise anatomical text. It will be helpful for authors who submit to JVDI, which requires the use of NAV.