Théodore-Marin Tuffier, known as Théodore Tuffier (26 March 1857 – 27 October 1929
Geneanet
/ref>) was a French surgeon. He was a pioneerDawn and Evolution of Cardiac Procedures
Marco Piccichè, Springer, 2013, p. 56 of

pulmonary The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans and most other animals, including some snails and a small number of fish. In mammals and most other vertebrates, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of th ...

and

cardiovascular The blood circulatory system is a system of organs that includes the heart, blood vessels, and blood which is circulated throughout the entire body of a human or other vertebrate. It includes the cardiovascular system, or vascular system, tha ...

surgery and of

spinal anaesthesia Spinal anaesthesia (or spinal anesthesia), also called spinal block, subarachnoid block, intradural block and intrathecal block, is a form of neuraxial regional anaesthesia involving the injection of a local anaesthetic or opioid into the subar ...

Life

He was born at

Bellême Bellême () is a commune in the Orne department in northwestern France. The musicologist Guillaume André Villoteau (1759–1839) was born in Bellême, as was Aristide Boucicaut (1810-1877), owner of ''Le'' ''Bon Marché'', the world's first de ...

in Orne in 1857 and was an intern from 1879 onwards. He was appointed a hospital surgeon in 1887 and initially worked at the Hôpital de la Pitié, then at the hôpital Beaujon. In 1889 he was made an associate professor and in 1891 he carried out the first successful re-section of an upper right lung destroyed by

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

. Tuffier worked on cardio-vascular surgery alongside

Alexis Carrel Alexis Carrel (; 28 June 1873 – 5 November 1944) was a French surgeon and biologist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1912 for pioneering vascular suturing techniques. He invented the first perfusion pump with Charl ...

and carried out one of the first successful interventions for an

aortic aneurysm An aortic aneurysm is an enlargement (dilatation) of the aorta to greater than 1.5 times normal size. They usually cause no symptoms except when ruptured. Occasionally, there may be abdominal, back, or leg pain. The prevalence of abdominal aortic ...

as well as the first dilation of an

aortic stenosis Aortic stenosis (AS or AoS) is the narrowing of the exit of the left ventricle of the heart (where the aorta begins), such that problems result. It may occur at the aortic valve as well as above and below this level. It typically gets worse ov ...

. He also worked on the first

vascular The blood vessels are the components of the circulatory system that transport blood throughout the human body. These vessels transport blood cells, nutrients, and oxygen to the tissues of the body. They also take waste and carbon dioxide away f ...

prostheses. He worked on '

triage In medicine, triage () is a practice invoked when acute care cannot be provided for lack of resources. The process rations care towards those who are most in need of immediate care, and who benefit most from it. More generally it refers to prio ...

' for the wounded during World War One.Le triage des blessés pendant la Grande Guerre
/ref> Théodore Tuffier married Madeleine Herbault (1867–1940) and they had two daughters, Jeanne and Gabrielle. He is also notable as the last named French owner of the Fragonard painting ''

A Young Girl Reading ''Young Girl Reading'', or ''The Reader'' (french: La Liseuse), is an 18th-century oil painting by Jean-Honoré Fragonard. It depicts an unidentified girl seated in profile, wearing a lemon yellow dress with white ruff collar and cuffs and purple ...

''. He died in Paris in 1929. He is remembered in modern medicine through 'Tuffier's Line', an imaginary line connecting the iliac crests, used as a landmark for the Processus spinosus L4 to identify L4/5 vertebral interspace in spinal anaesthesia and lumbar puncture.

Works

*
Études expérimentales sur la chirurgie du rein
1889 *
Chirurgie du poumon
1897 *
L'analgésie chirurgicale par voie rachidienne
1901 *
Petite chirurgie pratique
1903 (in collaboration with P. Desfosses) *
Chirurgie de l'estomac
1907

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuffier, Theodore French thoracic surgeons 1857 births 1929 deaths People from Orne