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Virchows Arch (2009) 455:395396 DOI 10.1007/s00428-009-0839-2
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The term cor bovinum in anatomical pathology
Georg Reith & Bernd Busch & Marcel A. Verhoff
Received: 31 July 2009 /Revised: 9 September 2009 /Accepted: 14 September 2009 /Published online: 13 October 2009 # Springer-Verlag 2009
Keywords Cor bovinum . Historical definition . Diagnostic criteria . Minimum weight
Dear Sir:The term cor bovinum or ox heart is found in pathology literature as a somewhat arbitrarily used analogy for an enlarged heart. Thus, the German benchmark textbook Pathologie from 1999, which was edited by Remmele, uses the term to describe hearts weighing more than 600 g but less than 1,000 g, while, interestingly, referring to weights exceeding 1,000 g as an extreme enlargement. We, therefore, thought that it would be interesting to shed light on the historical origin and use of this quaint term.
Our research revealed that two authors can claim credit for coining the term cor bovinum. Even if he did not yet use the exact term [1],...