At present there are more than 8 thousand anatomical concepts (areas of the body, organs and their parts), for which medical professionals around the world use special terms of the International Anatomical Nomenclature (Nomina Anatomica).
The history of creation of universal anatomical terminology has its roots in the era of antiquity. The result of historical development was the parallel existence of different nomenclature notations of the same concept. Both the latest International Anatomical Terminology (Terminologia Anatomica, 1998) and the Basel Anatomical Nomenclature (BNA, 1895), the Jena Anatomical Nomenclature (JNA, 1935) and the Paris Anatomical Nomenclature (PNA, 1955) apply to human anatomy.
Predominant use of the modern variant of any term does not exclude, however, older names found in various sources.