Garza VL

Language: Spanish
References: 13
Page: 59-66
PDF size: 558.86 Kb.

ABSTRACT

Objective: To describe the contributions of Dominique Jean Larrey to surgery.
Data collection: Review of the literature (11 references).
Data selection: Critical analysis of the texts referring to the life and works of the French surgeon Dominique Jean Larrey.
Setting: Third level health care hospital.
Results: Larrey established contact with Napoleon Bonaparte in 1795, and worked on his side for 16 years, taking care of the Emperor’s army. He participated in 25 military campaigns, 60 battles, and more than 400 events or disputes. In one of them, the Battle of Wagran, in 1809, from the 2000 wounded soldiers, 600 returned to the battlefields and mortality was of 2% under the care of the medical surgical team of Larrey. He also participated as surgeon in the historical battle of Waterloo, in June 1815, when Wellington and Blücher defeated Napoleon. For his services he received the honor of being appointed Surgeon of the Imperial Guard and General Inspector of the French Army. His medical surgical career was influenced by Pierre Joseph Desault, Ráphaele Sabatier, Pierre Francois Percy, Joseph Souberbielle, and Alexis Boyer.
Dominique Jean Larrey lived and participated in an epoch when surgeons were vilified and the lives of the soldiers were not important. He contributed with his ideas to the progress in military surgery and evidenced his humanism, combining a large dose of compassion, courage, initiative, loyalty, and moral integrity. His main contributions were: The creation of “fast ambulances”, which helped to save many lives, his ability to perform early amputations and the use of local antiseptics, such as Styrax and vinegar, followed by immobilization of fractures.
Conclusion: Dominique Jean Larrey is a particular example on how his personal attitude transformed him into a personality, and how, from time to time, his life and endeavors call upon the attention of someone who writes a couple of pages to remember him.

REFERENCES

1. Bodemer CW. Baron Dominique-Jean Larrey, Napoleon’s surgeon. Bull Amer Coll Surg 1982; 67: 18-21.

2. Davis JH. History of trauma. In: Trauma. Feliciano, Moore, Mattox (editors). Appleton & Lange, Stanford, Connecticut 1996: 9.

3. Gelfand T.A confrontation over clinical instruction at the Hotel Dieu of Paris during the French revolution. J Hist Med Allied Sci 1973; 28: 268-82.

4. Hau T. Surgical practice of Dominique Jean Larrey. Surg Gynecol Obstet 1982; 154: 89-94.

5. Fackler ML. Misinterpretarions concerning Larrey’s method of wound treatment. Surg Gynecol Obstet 1989; 168: 280-2.

6. Helling TS, Daon E. The historic lethaly of penetrating wounds to the hip. Surgery 1997; 121: 264-77.

7. Historia de la Medicina. Lyons As y Petrucelli J (editores). Ediciones Doyma, Barcelona, 1980.

8. Historia Universal de la Medicina. Lían-Entralgo P (editor). Masson-Salvat, México, 1998.

9. Putman JJ. Napoleón. Nat Geog 1982; 161: 142-89.

10. Surgery. An illustrated history. Rutkow IM (editor). Mosby-year Book Inc, St. Louis Missouri,1993.

11. The Illustrated History of Surgery. Haeger K (editor). Harold Starke (medical) Publishers, London, England, 1988.

12. Wangensteen OH, Wangensteen SD, Klinger CF. Wound management of Ambroise Paré and Dominique Larrey great French military surgeons of the 16th and 19th centuries. Bull Hist Med 1972; 46: 207-34.

13. Weiner DB. The French revolution, Napoleon and the nursing profession. Bull Hist Med 1972; 46: 274-305.