Jules Tinel (1879 in Rouen – 1952) was a French

neurologist Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...

remembered for describing

Tinel's sign Tinel's sign (also Hoffmann-Tinel sign) is a way to detect irritated nerves. It is performed by lightly tapping ( percussing) over the nerve to elicit a sensation of tingling or " pins and needles" in the distribution of the nerve. Percussion is u ...

Biography

Jules Tinel was born in 1879 into a family with a five generation history of medical professionals. He studied in Rouen before moving to Paris. He became in 1901 and in 1906. He studied under

Charles Emile Troisier Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

Joseph Jules Dejerine Joseph Jules Dejerine (3 August 1849 – 26 February 1917), was a French neurologist. Biography Joseph Jules Dejerine was born to French parents in Geneva, Switzerland, where his father was a carriage proprietor. During the Franco-Prussian Wa ...

, Louis Théophile Joseph Landouzy, and Arnold Netter, and was inspired to study neurology by Dejerine. He received his

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. ...

in 1910 with a thesis on ''nerve involvement of tabes'' which came from work done with Dejerine, Landouzy, and Laennec. He became in 1911 and chief of the laboratory at the

Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière University Hospital (french: Hôpital universitaire la Pitié-Salpêtrière, ) is a teaching hospital in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. Part of the and a teaching hospital of Sorbonne University. History The Salpêtri� ...

in 1913. In 1914 he was called up, and became head of the neurological centre at Le Mans. In Autumn 1915, he published his famous article about the distal regeneration sign, then baptised

. In 1916, he published in French an amazing book about the cutaneous nerves distribution of the whole body. Each aesthesiography is a mapping of the hypoaesthetic area induced by the nerve injury. In 1917, this book has been translated in English After he was

demobilised Demobilization or demobilisation (see spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and milita ...

in 1919 he worked on

psychosomatic medicine Psychosomatic medicine is an interdisciplinary medical field exploring the relationships among social, psychological, behavioral factors on bodily processes and quality of life in humans and animals. The academic forebear of the modern field of ...

. He was associated with the first description of a

phaeochromocytoma Pheochromocytoma (PHEO or PCC) is a rare tumor of the adrenal medulla composed of chromaffin cells, also known as pheochromocytes. When a tumor composed of the same cells as a pheochromocytoma develops outside the adrenal gland, it is referred t ...

in 1922. He worked as a physician at La Rochefoucauld from 1922 to 1936, then at

Beaujon Hospital The Beaujon Hospital () is located in Clichy, Paris, France and is operated by APHDP. It was named after Nicolas Beaujon, an eighteenth-century French banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and cr ...

( Clichy) until 1940, and in Paris at the Hôpital Boucicaut until his retirement in 1945. He became unwell in 1939 with heart disease, but returned to work after a few months. During the Second World War Tinel was active in the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

. He hid allied airmen whom his son Jacques would then smuggle from France to Spain. When Jacques was arrested Tinel searched for him in Bayonne and was himself arrested and imprisoned in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

. His wife and second son were also arrested and imprisoned in Fresnes. Tinel was released after several months, but Jacques was sent to Mittelbau-Dora where he died. After his retirement in 1945 Tinel continued to work in Boucicaut. In 1947 he had an episode of

aphasia Aphasia is an inability to comprehend or formulate language because of damage to specific brain regions. The major causes are stroke and head trauma; prevalence is hard to determine but aphasia due to stroke is estimated to be 0.1–0.4% in t ...

which recovered after some weeks, and he returned to work. He died in 1952 of heart failure.Barry G. Firkin, Judith A. Whitworth. ''Dictionary of Medical Eponyms'', page 395. Parthenon Publishing Limited, 1996. .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tinel, Jules French neurologists 1879 births 1952 deaths