Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1546

JEAN ZULéMA AMUSSAT (1796-1856) Mémoire sur la possibilité d'établir un anus artificiel dans la région lombaire sans pénétrer dans le péritoine. Germer-Baillière 1839 [6] 210 pp. 23.8 cm.

For more information on this author or work, see number: 1545

Amussat was a prominent French general surgeon of the nineteenth century who taught and practiced in Paris. Although his surgical interests were varied, he concentrated on surgery of the bladder, prostate, and abdominal viscera. He won prizes for his contributions to lithotripsy, torsion of arteries, air embolus, and what was then called "artificial anus" (colostomy). Extraperitoneal colostomy in the lumbar region for imperforate anus had been suggested some years earlier, and in this work Amussat reports on his success in adapting the method to the treatment of malignancies of the lower bowel and rectum where obstruction existed. His method of lumbar colostomy was popular until later in the century when anterior transperitoneal colostomy became the preferred method. Amussat devotes a considerable portion of the book to excerpts from earlier writers on the subject and includes his reflections on their writings.

Cited references: Garrison-Morton 3442; Waller 393

Gift of John Martin, M.D.