Jean Zulema Amussat 1796–1855

Abstract

Jean Zulema Amussat was born November 21, 1796, at the St.-Maixent in the Poitou. He was the son of a physician and received his basic tutelage at the hands of his father and another surgeon in the town. As was the custom of the day, he in effect served an apprenticeship. Amussat joined the army at the age of 17 in a position equivalent to today's “medic,” and performed many battlefield operations during the Napoleonic wars. He became quite knowledgeable in anatomy through his wartime experience and by dissecting the corpses of Russian soldiers. Throughout his life he placed a great emphasis on anatomic dissection as the primary means of training a surgeon.

After the war, he went to Paris to finish his medical studies. While there he developed an interest in neurologic disease, and is credited for having invented the rachiotome.

He was a prolific writer and contributed extensively to the literature in many areas. In 1822 he described a technique for removing foreign bodies from the bladder and for dilating urethral strictures. In 1826, he described the different kinds of hernias as they related to the epigastric artery. In 1835, he published an experimental technique of intestinal anastomosis. He also presented classic works on experimental air embolism in animals, surgery for uterine fibroids, surgery for strabismus, and hemorrhoidectomy. He was considered one of the most ingenious and innovative surgeons of his time.

He was recognized by his colleagues through his elevation to membership in the Imperial Academy of Medicine and was a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.

TheClassic article that is presented here represents the initial description of colostomy as devised by Amussat for an obstructing carcinoma of the rectum. He is felt to be the first individual to describe this operation.

Amussat died May 13, 1855, at the age of 58, from complications of diphtheria.