Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Child's Nervous System https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-022-05504-9 COVER EDITORIAL An unusual example of eponymous confusion: ganglion of Meckel Vatfa Büşra Emek 1  · Mustafa Orhan 1  · İlhan Bahşi 1 Received: 14 March 2022 / Accepted: 15 March 2022 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2022 Keywords Ganglion of Meckel · Pterygopalatine ganglion · Sphenopalatine ganglion · Eponym Morphological eponyms are often identifed by the sur- names of the scientists who frst described the structures. Although most of the morphological eponyms have been abandoned over time, some of them are still widely used [1]. On the other hand, the issue of moving away from eponyms is still controversial in the literature. The reason for using eponyms is that the names of some formations are usually expressed as eponyms rather than the standard terminology or the idea of honoring the people who defne these struc- tures [2]. On the other hand, it is also stated that the use of eponyms causes many confusions. The most obvious of these confusions is the existence of more than one structure referred to by the surname of a scientist, the eponyms used to refer to more than one scientist with the same surname, or the writing of the same scientist’s surname in diferent ways for a single structure [1, 3, 4]. The pterygopalatine ganglion, located deep within the pterygopalatine fossa, is the largest of the peripheral para- sympathetic ganglia [5]. As far as is known, in 1749, Johann Friedrich Meckel the Elder frst described this ganglion and named it sphenopalatine ganglion [6]. After that, it was referred to as the sphenoidal ganglion or sphenopalatine ganglion by Burdin in 1803 [7]. In 1816, this formation was expressed as sphenopalatine ganglion or ganglion of Miekel by Bell and Bell [8]. In 1827, this formation was expressed as the sphenopalatine ganglion of Meckel [9]. In 1955, the name of this ganglion was updated as the pterygopalatine ganglion to match the bony fossa in which it is located [10]. Although the name of this ganglion is accepted as pterygo- palatine ganglion in the current anatomical terminology, it is also still referred to as ganglion of Meckel [11]. On the other hand, it is known that fve scientists from the Meckel family made signifcant contributions to the development of anatomy, pathology, and surgery over the four generations. These were Johann Friedrich Meckel the Elder (1724–1774), Philipp Friedrich Theodor Meckel (1755–1803), Johann Friedrich Meckel the Younger (1781–1833), August Albrecht Meckel (1790–1829), and Johann Heinrich Meckel von Hemsbach (1821–1856) [12]. It can also be confused that the ganglion of Meckel is used to refer to which of these scientists. Johann Friedrich Meckel the Elder did a lot of head and neck dissection and described the cavum Meckelii (Meckel’s cave or cavum trigeminale), submandibular ganglion, and pterygopalatine ganglion (sphenopalatine ganglion and ganglion of Meckel) (Fig. 1 and cover). Philipp Friedrich Theodor Meckel described the Meckel’s ligament (anterior ligament of the malleus) and Meckel’s receptaculum (recep- taculum of the labyrinth). Johann Friedrich Meckel the Younger described the Meckel’s diverticulum, Meckel’s carti- lage, and Meckel–Gruber syndrome. August Albrecht Meckel (1790–1829) was quite skilled in both dissection and paint- ing. Johann Heinrich Meckel von Hemsbach (1821–1856), the ffth anatomist of the Meckel family, also did valuable work like others [12]. It is known that the use of eponyms in medical terminol- ogy causes confusion. Moreover, it is also clear that there is severe confusion in the nomenclature of the pterygopala- tine ganglion from the past to the present. Therefore, in this paper, we wanted to draw attention to the nomenclature of the pterygopalatine ganglion. On the other hand, the contri- butions of fve essential scientists of the Meckel family to the literature cannot be denied. On this occasion, the Meckel family, which carries out valuable works that still remain important today, should be appreciated. * İlhan Bahşi dr.ilhanbahsi@gmail.com Vatfa Büşra Emek vbusraemek@gmail.com Mustafa Orhan mustafarhn@yahoo.com 1 Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Gaziantep University, Gaziantep 27310, Turkey