[Lluís Barraquer Roviralta (1855-1928), founder of Spanish clinical neurology. The origin of the first school of neurology in Spain].
Lluis Barraquer Roviralta (1855-1928) was the founder, when he was 27 years old, of the first nucleus of clinical Neurology and electro therapy in Spain, in 1882. This nucleus was located in the Hospital de la Sta. Creu i Sant Pau (of the Holy Cross and Sant Paul), dated from 1401. His work was marked and founded upon a great and deep knowledge of the anatomy of the central and peripheral nervous system, and of the fine semiology approach of its pathological derangement, and also of the electrodiagnostic techniques. In this way he could make several princeps descriptions: of the generalisated muscular dystonia (1897), of the cephalothoraric lypodystrophy (1906), of the grasp reflex of the foot (1921) and of the diffused hemilateral atrophy of dystrophic-sympathetic pathogenesis (1925). He makes also a very minocious analysis of the idiomuscular reaction. He promoted the firts steps of neurosurgery in Barcelona. Another aspect of its activity was the study of the degeneration and regeneration of the peripheral nervous system in rabbits. He described the neural semiology of the lepra. He performed personaly a great activity in collecting images of the semiology of nervous disease and of macroscopic pathological anatomy, leaving about 2,000 images.
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Consultor-Director Emérito del Servei de Neurologia, Hospital Universitari de la Sta. Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain.
D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D009462:Neurology / Q000266:history*; D012577:Schools, Medical / Q000266:history*; D013030:Spain