French physician and surgeon

Auguste Nélaton A fabricated image purporting to show Nélaton with Giuseppe Garibaldi in a hospital

Auguste Nélaton (17 June 1807 – 21 September 1873) was a French physician and surgeon.

Born in Paris, he began studying medicine in 1828 and graduated as an MD in 1836 with a thesis on the effects of tuberculosis on the bones. Three years later, he became an agrégé at the Hôpital Saint-Louis after his publication of On the treatment of breast tumors. From 1851 to 1867, he was a full professor, a post he abandoned when he became the personal surgeon of Napoleon III. Ramón Emeterio Betances—Puerto Rican pro-independence leader, surgeon and Légion d'honneur laureate—was one of Nélaton's prominent students.

In 1867, Nélaton was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

In 1868, Nélaton was appointed Imperial Senator.

Nélaton worked in plastic surgery. He was the first to re-emphasize ligature of the two ends of arteries in hemorrhages first promoted by Ambroise Paré in the mid-16th century. He invented the porcelain-knobbed probe for locating bullets known as Nélaton's probe. The probe was used to locate a bullet in the ankle of Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1862. He also made noted contributions to pelvic and abdominal surgery.

Nélaton is also credited with the invention of the Nélaton catheter. A rubber catheter which was a great improvement and relieved patients of the distress of tour de maître (catherisation with stiff implements). He is also *ociated with improvements in lithotomy.

Nélaton died in Paris and is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery.

References

External links

• Auguste Nélaton
• History of the Nélaton probe and its use on U. S. President Abraham Lincoln
• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Auguste Nélaton":. Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.