Henri François Le Dran (13 October 1685 – 17 October 1770) was a French

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

. He gave lectures with the Royal Academy of Medicine in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and practiced

surgery Surgery is a medical specialty that uses manual and instrumental techniques to diagnose or treat pathological conditions (e.g., trauma, disease, injury, malignancy), to alter bodily functions (e.g., malabsorption created by bariatric surgery s ...

at Hôpital de la Charité. He is remembered for his work with surgeon Jean-Louis Petit (1674–1750). Among his students was Swiss

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

Albrecht von Haller Albrecht von Haller (also known as Albertus de Haller; 16 October 170812 December 1777) was a Swiss anatomist, physiologist, naturalist, encyclopedist, bibliographer and poet. A pupil of Herman Boerhaave and Jacob Winslow, he is sometimes r ...

(1708–1777). Le Dran made contributions in his pioneer research of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

, and his work involving military surgery. He was among the first physicians to realize that cancer was a local affliction, and not a systemic malady. He postulated that cancer progressed in stages, and that it began as a local organic disease. He advocated surgery for cancer before the

tumor A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...

was allowed to

metastasize Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spreading from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, ...

through the

lymphatic system The lymphatic system, or lymphoid system, is an organ system in vertebrates that is part of the immune system and complementary to the circulatory system. It consists of a large network of lymphatic vessels, lymph nodes, lymphoid organs, lympha ...

and affect other parts of the body. In 1741, Le Dran was the first to describe the phenomenon known as the Spigelian hernia. He was elected in January 1745 a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

. He is widely credited for introducing the medical term " shock" (''choquer''), which he defined in a treatise on gunshot wounds as a sudden impact or jolt. Among his written works was a 1749 surgical treatise called ''Traité des opérations de chirurgie'', being later translated into English and published as "The Operations in Surgery".book826_2005.html
ILAB Books

References

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Henri François Le Dran , Research & Encyclopedia Articles. 1685 births 1770 deaths French surgeons Fellows of the Royal Society {{France-med-bio-stub