Râles or Rumbles?

Overview

Medical percussion was created by Leopold Auenbrugger (1722-1809) as a comprehensivemethod of examination in a publication „Inventum novum ex percussione thoracis…“ in 1761.Auscultation was constituted by R.T.H. Laënnec (1781-1826) as a basic method in pneumologyand cardiology in a publication „De auscultation mediate…“ in 1819. As early and in 1822 boththese methods were described in a textbook, which was compulsory at the Prague MedicalFaculty. In a professional medical Czech language, relevant terms were formed for individualauscultation findings. For the French les râles, the Latin rhonchi, the German die Rasselgeräusche(Rassels), the original Czech term was rachoty. Based on Czech older texts L. Syllabaput across the term chropy in 1920ies as a more truthful one and this is the denomination useduntil the present time.

Key words:
percussion – auscultation – Ladislav Syllaba – râles – rumbles.