Jules-Émile Péan

Jules-Émile Péan (1830-11-21–1898-01-20) was one of the great French surgeons of the 19th century.

Péan was born in 1830 in Marboué, four kilometers to the north of Châteaudun, the son of a miller. He studied at the college of Chartres and then studied medicine in Paris under Auguste Nélaton. He was appointed a doctor in 1861 and worked at St Antoine and St Louis up to 1893. He then created with its expenses the international hospital. He wrote two volumes of private clinics (1876 and 1890). He entered with the academy of medicine on November 22, 1887. He was awarded Commander of Legion of Honor in 1893. He died on January 20, 1898 in Paris. A street, Rue Péan, in Châteaudun was named after him.

Péan was very admired but controversial in his time: although a follower of hygiene, he disputed the discoveries of Louis Pasteur. He refused to dissect corpses and operated preferably in residence. Although a teacher, he was never named professor. He was the first to make a successful surgical ablation of one cyst of the ovary in 1864. He was also a pioneer in performing a vaginal hysterectomy for carcinoma in 1890. He is believed to have performed the first surgery to correct diverticula of the bladder in 1895. In 1893, he attempted the first known total joint arthroplasty, implanted in the shoulder of a French waiter in 1893; it had to be removed two years later due to infection. He invented a hemostat that still used in operating rooms around the world.

References

* [http://www.faqs.org/health/bios/85/Jules-mile-Pean.html Jules Émile Pean Biography (1830-1898)]
* [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules-%C3%89mile_P%C3%A9an Jules-Émile Péan]