Louis Xavier Édouard Léopold Ollier (; 2 December 1830 – 26 November 1900) was a French

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

, known for his pioneering work in

reconstructive surgery Reconstructive surgery is surgery performed to restore normal appearance and function to body parts malformed by a disease or medical condition. Description Reconstructive surgery is a term with training, clinical, and reimbursement implica ...

and

orthopedics Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...

Biography

Ollier was born in

Les Vans Les Vans (; oc, Los Vans) is a commune in the Ardèche department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southern France. Geography The village of Les Vans, the principal settlement of the canton of the same name in the south of the Ardèche ...

, department of

Ardèche Ardèche (; oc, Ardecha; frp, Ardecha) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It is named after the river Ardèche and had a population of 328,278 as of 2019.natural sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

, and in 1851 began work as medical interne at

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

Hospital. In 1857 he earned his medical doctorate 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 ...

, and in 1860 became chief-surgeon at the

Hôtel-Dieu 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 1877 he became a professor of clinical surgery. Following Ollier's death in 1900, his position at Lyon was filled by surgeon Mathieu Jaboulay (1860–1913). Ollier is famous for his work in bone and joint surgery. He became internationally known for developing techniques involving bone- resection, and is remembered for his extensive research of regeneration of bone by the

periosteum The periosteum is a membrane that covers the outer surface of all bones, except at the articular surfaces (i.e. the parts within a joint space) of long bones. Endosteum lines the inner surface of the medullary cavity of all long bones. Structure ...

following resection. He was a pioneer in the field of

bone grafting Bone grafting is a surgical procedure that replaces missing bone in order to repair bone fractures that are extremely complex, pose a significant health risk to the patient, or fail to heal properly. Some small or acute fractures can be cured wit ...

, and also devised a surgical operation known as astragalectomy. In 1872 he developed a split-thickness

skin graft Skin grafting, a type of graft (surgery), graft surgery, involves the organ transplant, transplantation of skin. The transplanted biological tissue, tissue is called a skin graft. Surgeons may use skin grafting to treat: * extensive wounding o ...

that was later improved upon by

Karl Thiersch Karl Thiersch, also spelled Carl Thiersch (20 April 1822 – 28 April 1895), was a German surgeon born in Munich. His father was educationist Friedrich Thiersch, his father-in-law was renowned chemist Justus von Liebig. One brother, Ludwig, wa ...

(Ollier–Thiersch graft). His name is also associated with Ollier's disease, a bone disorder that is also known as multiple enchondromatosis. Furthermore, the cambium layer (inner layer of the

) is sometimes referred to as "Ollier's layer". This is the layer of tissue where

osteoblasts Osteoblasts (from the Greek language, Greek combining forms for "bone", ὀστέο-, ''osteo-'' and βλαστάνω, ''blastanō'' "germinate") are cell (biology), cells with a single Cell nucleus, nucleus that synthesize bone. However, in the p ...

reside. On 24 June 1894 Ollier was awarded commander of the

Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

by French president Marie-François-Sadi Carnot. Ironically, later that evening Carnot was stabbed by an assassin, and Ollier was summoned to tend to the dying president's wounds. Today, the museum of

pathological anatomy Anatomical pathology (''Commonwealth'') or Anatomic pathology (''U.S.'') is a medical specialty that is concerned with the diagnosis of disease based on the macroscopic, microscopic, biochemical, immunologic and molecular examination ...

at the

University of Lyon The University of Lyon (french: Université de Lyon), located in Lyon and Saint-Étienne, France, is a center for higher education and research comprising 11 members and 24 associated institutions. The three main universities in this center are: ...

is named in Ollier's honor.

Selected writings

* "Des moyens chirurgicaux de favoriser la reproduction des os après les résections, etc.", in: ''Gazette hebdomadaire de médecine et de chirurgie'', 1858 (Ollier's layer described). * ''Traité expérimental et clinique de la régénération des os et de la production artificielle du tissu osseux'', two volumes (Paris: Victor Masson, 1867). * "Greffes cutanées ou autoplastiques", in: ''Bulletin de l'

Académie de Médecine An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

'' (Paris, 1872) (Ollier–Thiersh graft described). * ''Traité des résections et des opérations conservatrices qu'on peut pratiquer sur le système nerveux'' (Paris, 1885–1898). * "Exostoses multiples", in: ''Mémoires et comptes rendus de la Société des sciences médicales de Lyon (1889)'' (1890); (Ollier's disease described).Bibliography
at

Who Named It ''Whonamedit?'' is an online English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though it is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliograph ...

References

Sources

''Louis Xavier Édouard Léopold Ollier''
at

Louis Léopold Ollier "The Father of Bone and Joint and of Reconstructive Surgery"

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ollier, Louis Leopold 1830 births 1900 deaths People from Les Vans French orthopedic surgeons Commanders of the Legion of Honour