René Leriche

René Leriche (1870 - 1955) was a famous French surgeon.

Eponymous terms

René Leriche gave his name to two syndromes:

• Leriche's syndrome - Impotence and buttock claudication and absent pulses in the groin and legs due to saddle embolus or atherosclerosis at the aortic bifurcation.
• Sudek-Leriche syndrome - Aseptic necrosis of bone following injury (=Sudek atrophy)

Career

Born in Roanne the son of a lawyer Leriche began his career in Lyon. In 1924 he was appointed Professor of Surgery at the University of Strasbourg. In 1927 he was made an honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He was the first surgeon to be made Professeur au Collège de France.

He was a technically gifted surgeon and had flair for teaching. This attracted students to him - many of whom became renowned in their own right. He emphasised the importance of regarding the patient as a whole - the holistic approach.

He devised a surgical procedure, the sympathectomy, to increase blood flow within arteries.

In 1958, a French postage stamp was issued with his name and portrait on it.

Personality

Leriche was a flamboyant character who enjoyed French cuisine and fine wine. He had a fine collection of art (one of his patients was Matisse). He was an excellent public speaker who never needed notes.

References

• B.G. Firkin & J.A.Whitworth (1987). Dictionary of Medical Eponyms. Parthenon Publishing. ISBN 1-85070-333-7
• R. Leriche: De la résection du carrefour aortico-iliaque avec double sympathectomie lombaire pour thrombose artéritique la l’aorte: le syndrome de l’oblitération termino-aortique par artérite. La presse médicale, Paris, 1940, 48: 601-607.