Did Jean-Martin Charcot contribute to stroke?
Stroke was never identified as a significant, autonomous field of activity of the emerging school of neurology at La Salpêtrière, which developed after the appointment of Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893) during the last days of 1861. However, stroke was already present in Charcot's first paper (1851), which dealt with a case of multiple organ cardiac embolism, including middle cerebral artery infarction, at a time when the studies of Rudolf Virchow on thromboembolism were unknown in France. A few years later, Charcot made a still up-to-date description of vascular intermittent claudication, which had only been reported in the horse. In the 1860s, Charcot and his pupils presented several major works dealing with cerebrovascular disease, including famous studies on miliary aneurysms in cerebral hemorrhage. This work was done with Charles Bouchard, at the time Charcot's 'interne', but who would become one of his 'political' opponents 2 decades later, when in 1892, as president of the 'agrégation' jury, he rejected the professorship application of 4 protégés of Charcot, including Joseph Babinski and Georges Gilles de la Tourette. Further work on cerebrovascular disease by Charcot included histological studies of brain 'softening', paraneoplastic cerebral arterial occlusion and consequences of stroke (e.g. arthropathies, vegetative changes, contractures and abnormal movements). Brain localization, one of Charcot's major neurological topics, was also largely based on stroke case studies. Charcot's work on stroke remains poorly recognized, but it demonstrates his unique skills in stimulating scientific work in younger colleagues, many of whom subsequently became major figures of neurology and psychiatry.
Bogousslavsky
Julien
J
Genolier Swiss Medical Network, Clinique Valmont, Glion/Montreux, Switzerland. jbogousslavsky@valmontgenolier.ch
Paciaroni
Maurizio
M
D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000266:history; D005602:France; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D009462:Neurology; D020521:Stroke / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000266:history*