Eugène Bouchut (; 18 May 1818 – 26 November 1891) was a French

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. He made significant contributions in several medical fields, including

pediatrics Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until th ...

laryngology Laryngology is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders, diseases and injuries of the larynx, colloquially known as the voice box. Laryngologists treat disorders of the larynx, including diseases that affects the voice, swallowing, or upper a ...

neurology Neurology (from el, wikt:νεῦρον, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine), medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of co ...

and

ophthalmology Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a medic ...

Career

Bouchut obtained his

doctorate in medicine A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

in Paris in 1843. Soon afterwards, he became ''Chef de clinique'' at the

Hôtel-Dieu de Paris In French-speaking countries, a hôtel-Dieu ( en, hostel of God) was originally a hospital for the poor and needy, run by the Catholic Church. Nowadays these buildings or institutions have either kept their function as a hospital, the one in Paris b ...

. In 1852, he became a member of the medical staff at the Hôpital Bon Secours, and later at the Hôpital Sainte-Eugenie and the Hôpital Necker-Enfants Malades. He taught at the

École pratique des hautes études The École pratique des hautes études (), abbreviated EPHE, is a Grand Établissement in Paris, France. It is highly selective, and counted among France's most prestigious research and higher education institutions. It is a constituent college o ...

and Hôpital Sainte-Eugenie, and in 1857 and 1859 he substituted for André Duméril (1774–1860) at the Faculté de Médecine.

Notable achievements

In 1858, Bouchut developed a new technique for non-surgical orotracheal intubation to bypass obstruction of the

larynx The larynx (), commonly called the voice box, is an organ in the top of the neck involved in breathing, producing sound and protecting the trachea against food aspiration. The opening of larynx into pharynx known as the laryngeal inlet is about ...

resulting from a

diphtheria Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...

-related pseudomembrane. His method involved introducing a small straight metal tube into the larynx, securing it by means of a silk thread and leaving it there for a few days until the pseudomembrane and

airway The respiratory tract is the subdivision of the respiratory system involved with the process of respiration in mammals. The respiratory tract is lined with respiratory epithelium as respiratory mucosa. Air is breathed in through the nose to th ...

obstruction had resolved sufficiently. Bouchut presented this experimental technique along with the results he had achieved in the first seven cases at the

Académie des Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at the ...

conference on 18 September 1858. The members of the Academy initially rejected Bouchut's ideas, largely as a result of highly critical and negative remarks made by the influential

Armand Trousseau Armand Trousseau (14 October 1801 – 23 June 1867) 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 ...

. Undaunted, Bouchut later introduced a set of tubes (Bouchut's tubes) for intubation of the

trachea The trachea, also known as the windpipe, is a Cartilage, cartilaginous tube that connects the larynx to the bronchi of the lungs, allowing the passage of air, and so is present in almost all air-breathing animals with lungs. The trachea extends ...

, as an alternative to

tracheotomy Tracheotomy (, ), or tracheostomy, is a surgical airway management procedure which consists of making an incision (cut) on the anterior aspect (front) of the neck and opening a direct airway through an incision in the trachea (windpipe). The ...

in cases of diphtheria. Bouchut was also among the first practitioners of "cerebroscopy" (now referred to as

ophthalmoscopy Ophthalmoscopy, also called funduscopy, is a test that allows a health professional to see inside the fundus of the eye and other structures using an ophthalmoscope (or funduscope). It is done as part of an eye examination and may be done as part ...

), a technique used for examining the interior of the eye for diagnosis of brain disorders such as

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, headache, and neck stiffness. Other symptoms include confusion or ...

Publications

Bouchut published a number of works on pediatrics, and was the author of an important book on acute and chronic

neurasthenia Neurasthenia (from the Ancient Greek νεῦρον ''neuron'' "nerve" and ἀσθενής ''asthenés'' "weak") is a term that was first used at least as early as 1829 for a mechanical weakness of the nerves and became a major diagnosis in North A ...

titled ''De l'État nerveux aigu et chronique, ou nervosisme''. He also published ''Traité des signes de la mort et des moyens de prévenir les enterrements prématurés'', a treatise concerning the prevention of premature burials, which won an award from the Académie des sciences in 1846.Stethoscopes
Death, the Last Taboo

References

External links

Tracheotomy versus Intubation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouchut, Eugene 19th-century French physicians French pediatricians 1818 births 1891 deaths Physicians from Paris

Career

Notable achievements

Publications

See also

References

External links