Clinical Eponyms
M-N

 

A-B C-D E-F G-H I-J K-L M-N O-P Q-R S-T U-V W-Z

This list is available for the Palm Pilot at Andrew Yee's website.

MacCallum’s plaques
 Irregular thickenings, usually in the left atrium, from subendocardial lesions, usually exacerbated by regurgitant jets
Macewen’s sign
 In hydrocephalus before closure of sutures, cracked pot sound when percussing over dilated ventricles
Machado-Joseph disease
 Spinocerebellar ataxia 3, named for affected families of Azorean origin, autosomal dominant disorder cause by a CAG expansion in gene on 14q, onset after age 40, associated with diabetes
Maffucci’s syndrome
 Endochondromatosis associated with soft tissue hemangiomas; associated with ovarian carcinomas and brain gliomas; essentially Ollier’s disease with hemangiomas
Magendie, foramen of
 Midline foramen exiting out of fourth ventricle
Mallory body
 "Alcoholic hyalin," an eosinophilic intracytoplasmic inclusion in liver cells that is characteristic of alcoholic liver disease but seen in many other conditions as well (e.g., primary biliary cirrhosis, Wilson’s disease, chronic cholestatic syndromes, focal nodular hyperplasia, and hepatocellular carcinoma); inclusions composed largely of intermediate filaments of prekeratin
Mallory-Weiss tears
 Small defects in gastroesophageal junction, from violent retching and beef with alcoholic gastritis, can bleed like crazy, 87% occur below gastroesophageal junction; bleeding stops 90% without intervention
Malta fever
 Brucellosis
Maltese cross
 Fat droplets in urine
Marchiafava Bignami syndrome
 Seen in malnourished alcoholics, necrosis of corpus callosum and subcortical white matter leading acutely to chronically to dementia, spasticity, dysarthria, gait disorder, and coma
Marcus Gunn pupil
 Afferent pupillary defect, pupil dilates instead of constricts because of optic nerve defect
Marie-Strümpell disease
 Refers to ankylosing spondylitis in Europe
Marjolin's ulcer
 Squamous cell carcinoma ulceration overlying chronic osteomyelitis or burn scar
Markle sign
 Jar tenderness in abdomen from heel drop as a localizing sign of peritoneal irritation; described in 1973
Marshall syndrome
 Dominantly inherited chondrodysplasias characterized by midfacial hypoplasia, high myopia, and sensorineural hearing deficit, from mutation in COL11A1; similar to Stickler syndrome
Marshall-Smith syndrome
 Accelerated skeletal maturation, failure to thrive, and dysmorphic facial features with death in early infancy or childhood from pulmonary infections
May-Hegglin anomaly
 Neutrophils with large pale blue inclusions resembling Döhle bodies, giant platelets (30-80 fL v. 7-10 in nl); rare AD asymptomatic trait
Mayer's reflex
 Adduction of the thumb in response to flexion of the MCP joint of the ring finger in a person with a relaxed hand - a normal finding
Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome
 Absence of vagina from abnormality of müllerian development
Mayne’s sign
 In aortic regurgitation, decrease in diatolic pressure of 15 mm Hg when arm is held above the head; of questionable utility since observed in 65% of normal people
Mayo, vein of
 Vein overlying pylorus
Mazzotti reaction
 Reaction to proteins released by dying onchocerca, including fevers, rashes, ocular damage, joint and muscle pain, and lymphangitis as well as hypotension, pyrexia, respiratory distress, and prostration
McArdle’s syndrome
 Glycogen storage disease V, deficiency in muscle phosphorylase, with consequent glycogen accumulation in skeletal muscle, produces painful muscle cramps and muscle weakness following exercise
McBurney’s point
 One-third the distance from the ASIS to the umbilicus
McBurney’s sign
 Tenderness at McBurney’s point in appendicitis
McCune-Albright syndrome
 Triad of irregular café au lait spots, fibrous dysplasia of long bones with cysts, and precocious puberty
McMurray's sign
 An audible click heard when rotating the tibia on the femur, indicating meniscal injury
McRoberts’s maneuver
 Flexion of legs onto maternal abdomen for shoulder dystocia, causeing a significant cephalad rotation of the symphysis pubis and subsequent flattening of the sacrum.
Means-Lerman scratch
 In hyperdynamic heart (as in hyperthyroidism), a systolic scratch occasionally heard in the second left intercostal space during expiration, presumed to be secondary to rubbing together of normal pleural and pericardial surfaces
Meckel scan
 99Tc pertechnetate scan that selectively tags acid secreting cells (gastric mucosa); it is used most often for unexplained bleeding in infants and young adults
Meckel’s cartilage
 Branchial arch 1
Meckel’s diverticulum
 Persistence of vitelline duct, contains all 3 layers of bowel (mucosa, submucosa, muscularis propria), antimesenteric, present in 2% of population, usually within 30 cm of ileocecal valve; the five 2s: 2" long, 2 feet from ileocecal valve, 2% of population, commonly persists in first 2 years of life, may have 2 types of epithelia
Meckel-Gruber syndrome
 Sloping forehead, posterior encephalocele, polydactyly, and polycystic kidneys
Mees’s lines
 Horizontal white bands of the nails seen in chronic arsenical poisoning, and occasionally in leprosy; R.A. Mees, 20th century Dutch physician
Meige’s syndrome
 Blepharospasm with facial dystonia and lip smacking
Meigs’s syndrome
 Unusual combination of hydrothorax, ascites, and ovarian fibroma
Meissner’s plexus
 Submucous plexus; innervates glandular epithelium, muscularis mucosa, intestinal endocrine cells, and submucosal blood vessels
MELAS
 Mitochondrial encephalopathy with acidosis and stroke, onset in childhood, stroke-like episodes with hemiparesis, hemianopia, or cortical blindness; full expression of the disease leads to death often before age 20; 80-90% have point mutation in leucine tRNA in mtDNA
Mendelson’s syndrome
 Chemical pneumonitis after aspiration of gastric contents
Ménétrier’s disease
 Giant cerebriform enlargement of the rugal folds of the gastric mucosa, results from profound hyperplasia of the surface mucous cells with accompanying glandular atrophy, most often encountered in men (3:1), 40s-60s, sometimes in children, may produce epigastric discomfort, weight loss, and sometimes bleeding related to superficial rugal erosions, gastric secretions mostly mucous, little HCl, may be sufficient protein loss to produce hypoalbuminemia
Méniere’s disease
 1. fluctuating sensorineural loss, classically involving the low frequencies; 2. Vertiginous episodes; 3. Aural pressure; 4. Tinnitus that is most frequently described roaring; pathologic changes are said to consist of a dilation of the endolymphatic system that leads to a degeneration of the delicate vestibular and cochlear hair cells
Menke’s disease
 X-linked, problem in the distribution of copper in the body, amount of copper and ceruloplasmin in serum reduced, excess of copper in intestinal mucosa, muscle, spleen, and kidney; usually fatal by age 3
MERRF
 Myoclonic epilepsy and ragged red fibers, syndrome of mitochondrial myopathy, myoclonus, generalized seizures, intellectual deficits, ataxia, and hearing loss; extraocular movements normal; associated with point mutations in lysine tRNA in mtDNA
Metzer index
 MCV/RBC ratio; >13 iron def, < 13 thalassemia
Meyer’s loop
 A portion of the optic radiations subserving vision from the superior field coursing rostrally within the temporal lobe before heading caudally to the primary visual cortex; lesions produce contralateral upper quadrantanopia (pie in the sky)
Meynert, basalis nucleus of
 Degenerates in Alzheimer’s; uses ACh
Mikulicz’s syndrome
 Bilateral inflammatory enlargement of the parotid, submaxillary, and sublingual, and lacrimal glands and xerostomia, secondary to sarcoid, leukemia, lymphoma, etc.
Milkman’s fractures
 In osteomalacia, radiolucent narrow lines that lie either at right angles or obliquely to the cortical outlines of bones and often transect them; bilateral and symmetric, found at the axillary margins of the scapula, lower ribs, neck of the proximal femurs, and posterior regions of the proximal ulnas; related either to stress fractures or to mechanical erosion by penetrating nutrient arteries; aka Looser’s zones
Millard-Gubler syndrome
 Ventral pontine injury causing symptoms similar to Fouville’s syndrome except lateral rectus weakness only, instead of gaze palsy
Miller Fisher syndrome
 Variant of Guillain-Barré where cranial nerves are affected, leading to triad of ataxia, areflexia and ophthalmoplegia, cross-reacting antibodies to GQ1b ganglioside have been found
Mirrizi’s syndrome
 Extrinsic obstruction of the common bile duct from a cystic duct gallstone
mitral facies
 Malar flush with pinched and blue facies in mitral stenosis
Mobitz type I AV block
 Wenckebach pattern, second degree block with intermittent conduction failure resulting in progressive PR prolongation before dropped beat; may be seen in ischemic heart disease, digitalis, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, inferior wall MI
Mobitz type II AV block
 Second degree block with intermittent conduction failure with sudden non-conducted sinus P wave without progressive prolongation of PR interval; not seen with digitalis excess or inferior wall MI generally but may be seen with anterior wall MI
Möbius syndrome
 Congenital facial paralysis with or without limb defects associated with misoprostol use
Modigliani syndrome
 Thyroid in normal position but people with long curving necks enhance prominence and palpation of thyroid
Mönckeberg’s arteriosclerosis
 Ring-like calcifications within the media of medium-sized to small muscular arteries (femoral, tibial, radial, and ulnar arteries, genital arteries), occurs almost exclusively in individuals over 50 years old; doesn’t narrow lumen, distinct from atherosclerosis
Mondor’s disease
 Thrombophlebitis of superficial breast veins
Monge’s disease
 Chronic mountain sickness, loss of high altitude tolerance after prolonged exposure, characterized by extreme polycythemia, exaggerated hypoxemia, and reduced mental and physical capacity; relieved by descent
Monro, foramina of
 Connects each of the lateral ventricles with the third ventricle
Monro-Kellie doctrine
 cranial cavity is a closed rigid box, change in the amount of intracranial blood can occur only through changes in CSF quanitity
Monsel’s solution
 Ferric subsulfate
Monteggia fracture
 Fracture of the proximal third of the ulna with a dislocation of radial head
Montgomery, glands of
 Sebaceous glands of areola
Mooren corneal ulcers
 Chronic, painful ulcers, involves circumference of peripheral cornea and may progress to vision loss; associated with hep C
Morgagni's hernia
 Anterior parasternal diaphragmatic hernia, right more common than left
Morrison’s pouch
 Hepatorenal recess; the most posterior cavity in the peritoneal cavity
Mucha-Habermann disease
 Pityriasis lichenoides et varioliformis acuta, scattered necrotic papules and vesicles that can resemble insect bites but usually are more generalized and symmetric
Muehrcke’s nails
 Paired narrow horizontal white bands that are immobile as nail grows; seen in hypoalbuminemia, nephrotic syndrome
Müller’s maneuver
 Reverse Valsalva
Müller’s sign
 In aortic regurgitation, systolic pulsations of the uvula
Müller-Lyer illusion
 The two horizontal lines stuff with arrows
Munchausen’s syndrome
 Factitious disorder, eponym given by Asher in 1951 after Baron Karl Munchausen (1720-1797), retired German cavalry officer with a reputation for preposterous stories about his activities as a soldier, hunter
Munro’s microabscesses
 In psoriasis, when neutrophils form small aggregates within the parakeratotic stratum corneum
Murphy’s sign
 A sharp increase in tenderness with a sudden stop in inspiratory effort, sign of acute cholecystitis, 27% sensitive
Myerson’s sign
 Persistent blinking with glabellar stuff

 

A-B C-D E-F G-H I-J K-L M-N O-P Q-R S-T U-V W-Z

 

Nägele’s rule
 Means of estimating date of delivery by counting back 3 months from the first day of the last menstrual period and adding seven days; full term 38 weeks after fertilization, 40 weeks after LNMP
Nardi test
 Narcotic-indcued stimulation or spasm reproducing the abdominal pain and amylase elevation of relapsing pancreatitis (for inferring sphincteric disease in any pancreatic or biliary ductal system without a gallbladder), presumably accurate in the diagnosis of peri-sphincteric disease
Naxos disease
 Initially described on Greek island of Naxos, synrome of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, non-epidermolytic palmoplantar keratoderma, and woolly hair, due to deletion in plakoglobin, a constituent protein in adherens and desmosomal junctions
Negri bodies
 In rabies virus-infected brain neurons, eosinophilic cytoplasmic inclusions
Nelson’s syndrome
 Enlargement of a pituitary adenoma in a patient with Cushing’s disease whose adrenals have been removed from loss of feedback inhibition of cortisol
nerve endings
 FREE includes Merkel cell associated: found in the epidermis as small aggregates called tactile corpuscles (Merkel cell has neural crest and squamous properties); ENCAPSULATED includes Meissner’s: asymmetrical, lamellated; Pacinian: symmetrical, lamellated; Ruffini: no lamellation
Niemann-Pick disease
 Unifying feature, lysosomal accumulation of sphingomyelin and cholesterol, type A&B (*deficiency of sphingomyelin-cleaving enzyme sphingomyelinase*) and type C&D (enzyme normal or nearly normal, defect in esterification and transport); type A, 75-80% of all cases, extensive neurologic involvement, marked visceral accumulations of sphingomyelin, and progressive wasting and early death within the first 3 years of life); half have cherry red spot in macula as in Tay-Sachs
Nikolsky’s sign
 A peculiar vulnerability of the skin in pemphigus vulgaris; the apparently normal epidermis may be separated at the basal layer and rubbed off when pressed with a sliding motion
Nissl bodies
 In neurons, rough ER
Nissl stain
 Stains cell bodies dye binds to acid groups, in particular the RNAs of the ribosomes located within the cell body; Franz Nissl, German medical student at time
Norwalk virus
 Outbreak in a school in Norwalk, Ohio in 1969
Nothnagel’s syndrome
 Injury to superior cerebellar peduncle causing ipsilateral oculomotor palsy and contralateral cerebellar ataxia

 

A-B C-D E-F G-H I-J K-L M-N O-P Q-R S-T U-V W-Z

 

From Andrew Yee, Harvard Med '00