[Neuroanatomical eponyms in Revista de Neurología on-line]

Anatomical eponyms are terms that have been proscribed in anatomical terminology, but are widely used in medicine and neurology. Their persistence is due to the fact that they are used in textbooks and scientific papers.

To determine which neuroanatomical eponyms are used in neurology in Spanish, and how often they are utilised.

We conducted a descriptive, longitudinal, retrospective study of the neuroanatomical eponyms that appeared in papers published in the online version of Revista de Neurología between 1998 and 2006.

In all, 46 papers with 193 eponyms were reviewed. The main eponyms used were the following: vein of Galen (14%), circle or polygon of Willis (11.9%) and cerebral or Sylvian aqueduct (11.4%). Other eponyms that do not appear in the Anatomical terminology were: Broca's area (15.5%) and Wernicke's area (7.2%). Most of the eponyms were found in clinical notes (43.4%) and reviews (28.2%), and there was an increase in the number of eponyms published in more recent years, that is, 2003-2006.

No studies on the frequency of eponym usage were found and the first data on the subject are those included here. In order to prevent the dissemination of eponyms, they should not appear in the title or the keywords used in articles. Eponyms referring to blood vessels and the ventricular system of the brain were the most commonly used and were found in the clinical notes or reviews dealing with magnetic resonance, computed tomography and ultrasound imaging of the vascular system of the brain.