Pierre-Victor-Adolphe Auvard (name sometimes given as Pierre-Victor Alfred Auvard in medical literature); (8 August 1855 – 1941) was a French obstetrician and gynecologist who was born in the department of Corrèze

Corrèze

Corrèze is a department in south central France, named after the Corrèze River.The inhabitants of the department are called Corréziens or Corréziennes according to gender.-History:...

.

He studied medicine 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...

, and in 1879 became interne des hôpitaux. In 1882 he furthered his studies in Germany (Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

, Dresden

Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

, Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

), and in 1884 received his doctorate with a thesis titled De la pince à os et du cranioclaste. Later he maintained a private OB/GYN clinic in Paris.

During the 1880s he introduced the "Auvard couveuse", an inexpensive incubator that became widely popular in the latter part of the 19th century. Other eponyms in the field of obstetrics that bear his name are: "Auvard maneuver"- a procedure for extraction of the placenta

Placenta

The placenta is an organ that connects the developing fetus to the uterine wall to allow nutrient uptake, waste elimination, and gas exchange via the mother's blood supply. "True" placentas are a defining characteristic of eutherian or "placental" mammals, but are also found in some snakes and...

; "Auvard's vaginal speculum", and "Auvard's basiotribe"- an instrument that is a combination of a craniotomy

Craniotomy

A craniotomy is a surgical operation in which a bone flap is temporarily removed from the skull to access the brain. Craniotomies are often a critical operation performed on patients recording, brain imaging, and for neurological manipulations such as electrical stimulation and chemical...

 forceps

Forceps

Forceps or forcipes are a handheld, hinged instrument used for grasping and holding objects. Forceps are used when fingers are too large to grasp small objects or when many objects need to be held at one time while the hands are used to perform a task. The term 'forceps' is used almost exclusively...

 and a cranioclast

Cranioclast

A cranioclast is surgical instrument akin to a strong forceps. It was once used to crush and then extract the skull of a fetus so as to facilitate delivery in cases of obstructed labour....

.

Selected publications

• Du traitement de l'eclampsie puerpérale (Paris 1888)
• Travaux d'obstétrique (3 volumes 1889)
• Hygiène infantile ancienne et moderne (with Pingat: 1889)
• Traité pratique d'accouchements (1890)
• Le nouveauné; physiologie, hygiène, allaitement, maladies les plus fréquentes et leur traitement (1890)
• De l'antisepsie gynécologie et en obstétrique (1891)