Trends in dermatology eponymsCapsule Summary

Lin He, MD, PhD; Toby C. Cornish, MD, PhD; Larry J. Kricka, DPhil; Travis W. Vandergriff, MD; Kim Yancey, MD; Khang Nguyen, MD; Jason Y. Park, MD, PhD

JAAD International (Jun 2022)

Trends in dermatology eponymsCapsule Summary

Lin He, MD, PhD,
Toby C. Cornish, MD, PhD,
Larry J. Kricka, DPhil,
Travis W. Vandergriff, MD,
Kim Yancey, MD,
Khang Nguyen, MD,
Jason Y. Park, MD, PhD

Affiliations

Lin He, MD, PhD: Department of Pathology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas
Toby C. Cornish, MD, PhD: The Department of Pathology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado
Larry J. Kricka, DPhil: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Travis W. Vandergriff, MD: Department of Dermatology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dallas, Texas
Kim Yancey, MD: Department of Dermatology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dallas, Texas
Khang Nguyen, MD: Department of Dermatology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dallas, Texas
Jason Y. Park, MD, PhD: Department of Pathology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas; Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas; Correspondence and reprint requests to: Jason Y. Park, MD, PhD, Department of Pathology, Children’s Medical Center of Dallas, 1935 Medical District Dr., Dallas, TX 75235.

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 7
pp. 137 – 143

Abstract

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Background: Eponyms are ubiquitous in dermatology; however, their usage trends have not been studied. Objective: To characterize the usage of eponyms in dermatology from 1880 to 2020. Methods: Candidate eponyms were collected from a textbook and an online resource. A subset of these eponyms was deemed to be dermatology-focused by a panel of experienced dermatologists. Python scripts were used to permute eponyms into multiple variations and automatically search PubMed using BioPython’s Entrez library. Results: The dermatologist panel designated 373 of 529 candidate eponyms as dermatology-focused. These eponyms were permuted into 3159 variations and searched in PubMed. The highest occurring dermatology-focused eponyms (DFEs) in the year 2020 included Leishmania, Behçet syndrome, Kaposi sarcoma, Langerhans cell histiocytosis, and Mohs surgery. Increased DFE usage in the general medical literature parallels the overall increase in the use of other eponyms in the medical literature. However, in the most cited dermatology journals, DFE usage did not increase in the past decade. There were several eponyms with decreased usage. Limitations: This study is limited to the publications in PubMed; only titles and abstracts could be queried. Conclusion: DFEs are increasing in usage in the general medical literature, but the usage of eponyms in the most cited dermatology journals has plateaued.

Published in JAAD International

ISSN: 2666-3287 (Online)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: United States
LCC subjects: Medicine: Dermatology
Website: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/jaad-international

About the journal

Abstract

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