Cover Page

The Authors

Robert H. Whitaker, MD, MChir, FRCS, FMAA, graduated from the University of Cambridge and trained at University College Hospital, London. He spent a year at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, in the Urological Research Laboratories before returning to continue his training first at the St Peters Hospital group in London and then as a Senior Lecturer in Urology at the London Hospital Medical School. He was appointed as a Consultant Urologist at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge in 1973 and spent 20 years practising mostly paediatric urology before retiring from clinical practice to join the Department of Anatomy in Cambridge to help with the teaching of students and trainee surgeons. He is a Fellow and Examiner of the Medical Artists' Association of Great Britain. In 2013 he was awarded the Farquharson Teaching Award by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

Neil R. Borley MB, BS, FRCS, MS, trained at Guy's Hospital, London. He undertook a surgical rotation at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, before becoming a Demonstrator in the Department of Anatomy in Cambridge under Professor Harold Ellis. He passed the Primary FRCS examination in 1993 for which he received the Hallet Prize and then continued his surgical training at Papworth Hospital and Kent & Canterbury Hospital. Thereafter he moved to Oxford as Surgical Registrar and then Clinical Lecturer in Surgery and Clinical Tutor in the Nuffield Department of Surgery. He is now a Consultant Colorectal Surgeon in Cheltenham.

Instant Anatomy

Robert H. Whitaker

MA, MD, MChir, FRCS, FMAA
Selwyn College
University of Cambridge

Neil R. Borley

MB, BS, FRCS, FRCS (ed)
Cheltenham General Hospital, Cheltenham

Fifth Edition

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Preface to Fifth Edition

We have added some more material to this 5th edition but believe that we have kept to our original plan of a quick reference book that is user friendly. Most of the new material is presented as easy ways to remember tricky little areas of anatomy that our students have found so useful over the years. A good example is the new section entitled “rules and exceptions” which we hope you will find useful and possibly even fun.

As always we continue to believe that anatomy is the language of medicine and that at qualification as a doctor, physiotherapist, nurse or radiographer, to name just a few professions, there is a basic amount of anatomical knowledge that is essential. It is at last beginning to dawn on many specialities in medicine that many mistakes that lead to surgical or other errors are due to inadequate anatomical knowledge.

Most of the expansion in this 5th edition has been in the last section of “Surface Anatomy and Key Areas” that includes clinically applicable material such as the examination of the heart and chest. We continue to resist the occasional request for an index but please do give us feedback on your assessment of this new edition which, despite a little expansion, remains true to our initial intention to produce an instant reference book for the white coat pocket and briefcase.

Since the previous editions our Instant Anatomy Website (www.instantanatomy.net) has continued to flourish and subscriptions (www.instantanatomy.co.uk) have been taken out by a number of universities and many individuals. If you like sitting back and watching and listening to podcasts then this is the site for you.

ROBERT WHITAKER

NEIL BORLEY

Cambridge and Cheltenham, 2016

Preface to First Edition

How many times have you looked up the course of an artery or nerve in one of the excellent anatomy textbooks that are available today only to find that the details are spread over several sections of the book and that an instant summary is not available? At times like this you wish there was a quick reference book with all the answers neatly catalogued in dictionary format.

We have attempted to provide such a concise text for rapid reference. Of course, we emphasise that this is not a text for learning anatomy from scratch but one that should be used in conjunction with one of the fuller texts that has stood the test of time. The book is designed for those who already have some working knowledge of anatomy and need to find accurate facts quickly.

Both authors have been sufficiently recent students of anatomy for higher degrees and for teaching undergraduate medical students that each can remember the problems that both students and they themselves encountered. The book has been compiled with this in mind.

It is designed primarily for undergraduate medical students and prospective surgeons who are studying for a higher degree in surgery. For each of these groups we believe it will be ideal. However, it should also be extremely useful for all clinicians who need to remind themselves of anatomical facts at all stages in their careers and for other professional groups such as nurses, physiotherapists and radiographers.

Inevitably in a book of this size there has been some selection of material for inclusion and no attempt has been made to provide details of minutiae that appear in the fuller text.

The authors' original artwork was redrawn with a graphics program by Jane Fallows, medical illustrator, to whom the authors owe an immense debt of gratitude for her skill and patience.

ROBERT WHITAKER

NEIL BORLEY

Cambridge, 1994

Notes on the Text

The illustrations show the right side of the body as viewed from in front, unless otherwise indicated. The two exceptions are the cervical and brachial plexuses where it makes little difference as to which side they are viewed and they are more conveniently drawn and remembered as they are shown here. Where there might be confusion, a small compass has been added to indicate the left and right sides of the body.

Eponymous names appear sparingly and only when they are in common usage. The following abbreviations have been used as appropriate throughout the text.

List of abbreviations

ant anterior(ly)
art(s) artery(ies)
br(s) branch(s)
CMC carpometacarpal
div(s) division(s)
ext external
inf inferior(ly)
int internal
IP interphalangeal
jnt(s) joint(s)
lat lateral(ly)
lig(s) ligament(s)
med medial(ly)
MC(s) metacarpal(s)
MCP metacarpophalangeal
MTP metatarsophalangeal
MT(s) metatarsal(s)
N(s) or nerve(s)
post posterior(ly)
prox proximal
sup superior(ly)
TMT tarsometatarsal
V(s) vein(s)

Note: Abbreviations are not used for muscle names or in titles. The following words are always written in full: greater, lesser, middle, superficial and combinations such as posterolateral.