title: Govert Bidloo (1649-1713) and the first description of lipomyelomeningocele.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Govert Bidloo was a Dutch anatomist and royal physician who lived during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Most remembered for his anatomy text and feud with contemporary William Cowper, Bidloo's surgical text appears to describe the first case of what is now known as a lipomyelomeningocele.
  
  
  METHODS
  The authors review the life of Bidloo and his description of this pathologic entity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Govert Bidloo appears to have described a lipomyelomeningocele almost 200 years before the description often mentioned as the sentinel paper on this topic.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Neurosurgery, Children's Hospital, Birmingham, AL, USA. Shane.Tubbs@childrensal.org
authors.forename: R Shane
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Tubbs
authors.forename: Phillip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cezayirli
authors.forename: William T
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Blackerby
authors.forename: Mohammadali M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Shoja
authors.forename: Marios
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Loukas
authors.forename: W Jerry
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Oakes
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000715:Anatomy / Q000266:history; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008591:Meningomyelocele / Q000266:history* / Q000473:pathology*