Armand Trousseau
Encyclopedia
Armand Trousseau was a French
internist. His contributions to medicine include Trousseau sign of malignancy
, Trousseau sign of latent tetany
, Trousseau-Lallemand bodies (an archaic synonym for Bence Jones cylinders), and the truism, "use new drugs quickly, while they still work."
, Indre-et-Loire
, Armand Trousseau began his medical studies in his native town as a pupil of Pierre Fidele Bretonneau
at the local general hospital. He later continued his studies in Paris
, where he received his doctorate in 1825 and became adjunct faculty in 1827. In 1828, the French government assigned him to investigate epidemics ravaging some parts of southern France. After completing his mission the same year, Trousseau travelled to Gibraltar
as a member of a commission to investigate yellow fever
. This work, and a monograph on laryngeal phthisis, led to his early recognition in Paris.
In 1830 Trousseau became Médecin des hôpitaux through concours, and in 1832 received a position in public health with the central bureau while working as a physician in the Hôtel-Dieu under Joseph Claude Anthelme Récamier
. In 1837 he received the great prize of the academy. In 1839 he was appointed physician at the Hôpital St. Antoine and eventually became Chair of therapy and pharmacology at the Paris medical faculty. In 1850 he assumed the Chair of clinical medicine and again commenced working in the Hôtel-Dieu. He was also active in politics, particularly after the French Revolution of 1848
, holding several positions including being a member of the legislative body. During his later years Trousseau developed gastric cancer. Ironically, he previously described Trousseau sign of malignancy
and developed a similar finding in himself. This cancer limited his activities and eventually proved fatal.
, emphysema
, pleurisy
, goiter, and malaria
. He received the prize of the French Academy of Medicine for his classic essay on laryngology
which originally appeared in 1837. He was the first in France to perform a tracheotomy
, and he wrote a monograph on this as well as intubation
in 1851. His textbooks on clinical medicine and therapeutics were both extremely popular and translated into English. Trousseau coined the terms aphasia
and forme fruste
and popularized eponym
s in disease description such as Addison's disease
and Hodgkin's lymphoma
.
Trousseau was considered an outstanding teacher. Numerous students of his achieved fame in their own right, including Puerto Rican
pro-independence leader, surgeon and Légion d'honneur
laureate, Ramón Emeterio Betances
. Trousseau’s son Georges Phillipe Trousseau
(1833–1894) became the royal doctor of the Kingdom of Hawaii
, and grandson was the distinguished ophthalmologist Armand Henri Trousseau (1856–1910).
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
internist. His contributions to medicine include Trousseau sign of malignancy
Trousseau sign of malignancy
The Trousseau sign of malignancy is a medical sign found in certain cancers that is associated with venous thrombosis and hypercoagulability. It is also referred to as Trousseau syndrome and is distinct from the Trousseau sign of latent tetany.-History:...
, Trousseau sign of latent tetany
Trousseau sign of latent tetany
Trousseau sign of latent tetany is a medical sign observed in patients with low calcium. This sign may become positive before other gross manifestations of hypocalcemia such as hyperreflexia and tetany, but is generally believed to be more sensitive than the Chvostek sign for hypocalcemia.To...
, Trousseau-Lallemand bodies (an archaic synonym for Bence Jones cylinders), and the truism, "use new drugs quickly, while they still work."
Biography
A native of ToursTours
Tours is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department.It is located on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the alleged perfection of its local spoken French, and for the...
, Indre-et-Loire
Indre-et-Loire
Indre-et-Loire is a department in west-central France named after the Indre and the Loire rivers.-History:Indre-et-Loire is one of the original 83 départements created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...
, Armand Trousseau began his medical studies in his native town as a pupil of Pierre Fidele Bretonneau
Pierre Bretonneau
- Biography :Born at Saint-Georges-sur-Cher, in the Loir-et-Cher département. His father was a surgeon. He studied with his uncle, the vicar at Chenonceaux department along with the children of the Chenonceau château...
at the local general hospital. He later continued his studies in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where he received his doctorate in 1825 and became adjunct faculty in 1827. In 1828, the French government assigned him to investigate epidemics ravaging some parts of southern France. After completing his mission the same year, Trousseau travelled to Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
as a member of a commission to investigate yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
. This work, and a monograph on laryngeal phthisis, led to his early recognition in Paris.
In 1830 Trousseau became Médecin des hôpitaux through concours, and in 1832 received a position in public health with the central bureau while working as a physician in the Hôtel-Dieu under Joseph Claude Anthelme Récamier
Joseph Récamier
Joseph-Claude-Anthelme Récamier was a French gynecologist.He was born in Cressin-Rochefort, Ain. For much of his professional career he was associated with the Hôtel-Dieu de Paris, where in 1806 he became chief physician...
. In 1837 he received the great prize of the academy. In 1839 he was appointed physician at the Hôpital St. Antoine and eventually became Chair of therapy and pharmacology at the Paris medical faculty. In 1850 he assumed the Chair of clinical medicine and again commenced working in the Hôtel-Dieu. He was also active in politics, particularly after the French Revolution of 1848
French Revolution of 1848
The 1848 Revolution in France was one of a wave of revolutions in 1848 in Europe. In France, the February revolution ended the Orleans monarchy and led to the creation of the French Second Republic. The February Revolution was really the belated second phase of the Revolution of 1830...
, holding several positions including being a member of the legislative body. During his later years Trousseau developed gastric cancer. Ironically, he previously described Trousseau sign of malignancy
Trousseau sign of malignancy
The Trousseau sign of malignancy is a medical sign found in certain cancers that is associated with venous thrombosis and hypercoagulability. It is also referred to as Trousseau syndrome and is distinct from the Trousseau sign of latent tetany.-History:...
and developed a similar finding in himself. This cancer limited his activities and eventually proved fatal.
Legacy
Trousseau was instrumental in creating new modes of treatment of croupCroup
Croup is a respiratory condition that is usually triggered by an acute viral infection of the upper airway. The infection leads to swelling inside the throat, which interferes with normal breathing and produces the classical symptoms of a "barking" cough, stridor, and hoarseness...
, emphysema
Emphysema
Emphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...
, pleurisy
Pleurisy
Pleurisy is an inflammation of the pleura, the lining of the pleural cavity surrounding the lungs. Among other things, infections are the most common cause of pleurisy....
, goiter, and malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
. He received the prize of the French Academy of Medicine for his classic essay on laryngology
Laryngology
Laryngology is that branch of medicine which deals with disorders, diseases and injuries of the vocal apparatus, especially the larynx. Common conditions addressed by laryngologists include vocal fold nodules and cysts, laryngeal cancer, spasmodic dysphonia, laryngopharyngeal reflux, papillomas,...
which originally appeared in 1837. He was the first in France to perform a tracheotomy
Tracheotomy
Among the oldest described surgical procedures, tracheotomy consists of making an incision on the anterior aspect of the neck and opening a direct airway through an incision in the trachea...
, and he wrote a monograph on this as well as intubation
Intubation
Tracheal intubation, usually simply referred to as intubation, is the placement of a flexible plastic or rubber tube into the trachea to maintain an open airway or to serve as a conduit through which to administer certain drugs...
in 1851. His textbooks on clinical medicine and therapeutics were both extremely popular and translated into English. Trousseau coined the terms aphasia
Aphasia
Aphasia is an impairment of language ability. This class of language disorder ranges from having difficulty remembering words to being completely unable to speak, read, or write....
and forme fruste
Forme fruste
In medicine, a forme fruste is an atypical or attenuated manifestation of a disease or syndrome, with the implication of incompleteness, partial presence or aborted state...
and popularized eponym
Eponym
An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...
s in disease description such as Addison's disease
Addison's disease
Addison’s disease is a rare, chronic endocrine disorder in which the adrenal glands do not produce sufficient steroid hormones...
and Hodgkin's lymphoma
Hodgkin's lymphoma
Hodgkin's lymphoma, previously known as Hodgkin's disease, is a type of lymphoma, which is a cancer originating from white blood cells called lymphocytes...
.
Trousseau was considered an outstanding teacher. Numerous students of his achieved fame in their own right, including Puerto Rican
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
pro-independence leader, surgeon and Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
laureate, Ramón Emeterio Betances
Ramón Emeterio Betances
Ramón Emeterio Betances y Alacán was a Puerto Rican nationalist. He was the primary instigator of the Grito de Lares revolution, and as such, is considered to be the father of the Puerto Rican independence movement...
. Trousseau’s son Georges Phillipe Trousseau
Georges Phillipe Trousseau
Georges Phillipe Trousseau was a French physician who became the royal doctor of the Kingdom of Hawaii, and engaged in a variety of agricultural ventures.-Biography:Georges Phillipe Trousseau was born in Paris on May 1, 1833...
(1833–1894) became the royal doctor of the Kingdom of Hawaii
Kingdom of Hawaii
The Kingdom of Hawaii was established during the years 1795 to 1810 with the subjugation of the smaller independent chiefdoms of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lānai, Kauai and Niihau by the chiefdom of Hawaii into one unified government...
, and grandson was the distinguished ophthalmologist Armand Henri Trousseau (1856–1910).