Elementary anatomy for the future general practitioner: the arteries.

In all countries of the world the amount of time allotted to teaching anatomy has been drastically reduced. This study is intended to be a contribution to defining, against such a background, a basic stock of macroscopic anatomy that should be required from every medical student, whatever branch of the profession he may eventually engage in. More advanced knowledge, specific to a particular specialty, will be integrated into the resident's curriculum. In this way free time will be made available so that the gifted student can be given an effective introduction into contemporary morphological research. In the chapter on the arteries, general medical relevance is granted to only 13.2% of the vessels mentioned in the International Nomenclature. Marked reduction in the amount of teaching of macroscopic anatomy seems therefore to be possible, without surrendering a full, clinically-orientated education.