Jean Casimir Félix Guyon (21 July 1831 – 2 August 1920) 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 ...

and

urologist Urology (from Greek οὖρον ''ouron'' "urine" and ''-logia'' "study of"), also known as genitourinary surgery, is the branch of medicine that focuses on surgical and medical diseases of the urinary system and the reproductive organs. Org ...

born in Saint-Denis, Ile-Bourbon (

Réunion Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...

). He studied 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 ...

, receiving his doctorate in 1858. He was appointed ''médecin des hôpitaux'' in 1864, and was later a professor of surgical

pathology Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...

(from 1877) and

genitourinary The genitourinary system, or urogenital system, are the sex organs of the reproductive system and the organs of the urinary system. These are grouped together because of their proximity to each other, their common embryological origin and the us ...

surgery (from 1890) at the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

. In 1878 he became a member of the ''

Académie de Médecine An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

''. At Hôpital Necker he held clinics that were attended by students worldwide In 1907, he along with urologists from Europe, the United States and South America established the ''Association Internationale d'Urologie''. In 1979 he was commemorated on a

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail). Then the stamp is affixed to the f ...

, issued by France on the occasion of the 18th Congress of the ''Association Internationale d'Urologie'', held in Paris. The Hôpital Félix Guyon, located in

Saint-Denis, Réunion Saint-Denis (, ; ), unofficially Saint-Denis de La Réunion () for disambiguation, is the prefectures in France, prefecture (administrative capital) of the France, French overseas department and region of Réunion, in the Indian Ocean. It is lo ...

, is named in his honour. Although he was primarily known for work with

anatomy 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 ...

, Guyon is credited with the discovery of the

ulnar canal The ulnar canal or ulnar tunnel (also known as Guyon's canal or tunnel) is a semi-rigid longitudinal canal in the wrist that allows passage of the ulnar artery and ulnar nerve into the hand. (These are named after the ulna, the long bone on the li ...

at the wrist. This canal channels

blood vessels Blood vessels are the tubular structures of a circulatory system that transport blood throughout many animals’ bodies. Blood vessels transport blood cells, nutrients, and oxygen to most of the tissues of a body. They also take waste an ...

and the

ulnar nerve The ulnar nerve is a nerve that runs near the ulna, one of the two long bones in the forearm. The ulnar collateral ligament of elbow joint is in relation with the ulnar nerve. The nerve is the largest in the human body unprotected by muscle or ...

from the forearm to the hand, and is now known as Guyon's canal. Ulnar nerve compression at this location is sometimes referred to as "Guyon's tunnel syndrome".

Additional eponyms

* "Guyon's isthmus": an elongated constriction of the junction of the body and

cervix The cervix (: cervices) or cervix uteri is a dynamic fibromuscular sexual organ of the female reproductive system that connects the vagina with the uterine cavity. The human female cervix has been documented anatomically since at least the time ...

. * "Guyon's sign": ballottement of the

kidney In humans, the kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped blood-filtering organ (anatomy), organs that are a multilobar, multipapillary form of mammalian kidneys, usually without signs of external lobulation. They are located on the left and rig ...

* "Guyon's urethrotome": a variant of Maisonneuve's urethrotome.

Œuvre écrite

* ''Sur les cavités de l'utérus à l'état de vacuité''. Doctoral thesis; Paris, 1858. * ''Des tumeurs fibreuses de l'utérus''. Concours-thesis, 1860. * ''Des vices de conformation de l'urèthre chez l'homme et les moyens d'y remédier''. Concours-thesis, 1863. * ''Éléments de chirurgie clinique, comprenant le diagnostic chirurgical, les opérations etc''. Paris, 1873. * ''Leçons cliniques sur les maladies des voies urinaires''. Paris, J. B. Baillière, 1881; 2nd edition, 1885; 1084 pages. This book is based on his lectures at the Hôpital Necker in 1876 and 1877. * ''Atlas des maladies des voies urinaires''. Published with Pierre Bazy (1853–1934). Paris : Doin. Book 1–4, 1881–1883. * ''Lecons sur les cystites et sur les prostatiques''. 1888. * ''Leçons cliniques sur les affections chirurgicales de la vessie et de la prostate''. Paris, J. B. Baillière, 1888. * ''Anatomie et physiologie pathologique de la rétention de l’urine''. with Joaquín Albarrán (1860–1912). (1890).

Honours

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

: culture.gouv.fr : certificate of the legion of honor (Fr)
/ref> ** Knight in 1868, ** Officer in 1893, ** Commander in 1906 * Officier d'Académie (

Ordre des Palmes Académiques A suite, in Western classical music, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes; and grew in scope so that by the early 17th century it comprised up to ...

) in 1869 culture.gouv.fr : award (Fr)
/ref> * Officier de l'Instruction Publique (

) in 1880

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Guyon, Jean Casimir Felix 1831 births 1920 deaths People from Saint-Denis, Réunion French urologists French surgeons Academic staff of the University of Paris Members of the French Academy of Sciences