Disease Eponyms

[LiveUninhibited]

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I've found that sometimes I miss questions on the Kaplan Q bank because I did not know the eponym for a disease. I remember being told early on that we won't have to know anatomy eponyms, but in the case of some diseases I'm not aware of any name besides an eponym (e.g. Graves) so I can't assume the same rules apply. For diseases that have both a descriptive name and an eponym name, do we need to know both for the USMLE, or just the descriptive name? For example Neurofibromatosis type 1 (descriptive name) is also known as von Recklinghausen's disease (eponym). Thanks in advance.

 

[DrUKDO]

I would know whatever name they have in first aid. There's also a cool free app called Eponyms that has them all listed, if you want a quick resource for looking them up. You could make a favorites list in the app and use that to study if you are having trouble memorizing them.

 

[Valadi]

They say you don't need to know eponyms, but for big time usmle diseases it won't hurt to remember them, because they might pop up. Eg, you may get either mccune-albright or polyostotic fibrous dysplasia as an answer choice.

For small time stuff or cryptic stuff (the duct of Santorini, the organ of zuckerkandl, throckmorton's sign), you're not going to need to know.

 

[dan_o]

Old thread sorry:

Yes you'll need to know a number of eponyms, especially in order to rule out bad answers. It's frustrating. I've been told that docs suffer from Brown's Eponymophilia , ha ha ha. But yes classic stuff like graves, cushings, hashimotos, etch are requisite.

 

[CherryRedDracul]

I hate eponyms.

“So long as signs are determined from fancied analogies, and named from these or after the person who describes them, there cannot but be obscurity and confusion.” - Austin Flint

He must be rolling in his grave now because some butthole named the murmur he discovered the "Austin Flint murmur".

 

[Brain Bucket]