Charles Saint

Charles Frederick Morris Saint (1886 – 1973) was a British abdominal surgeon.

Saint’s Triad association of hiatal hernia, gallbladder disease, and diverticulosis is named after him

Biography

• Born 14 August 1886 Bedlington, Northumberland
• 1908 – Durham University College of Medicine, Newcastle
• 1910 – 1912 – House surgeon to Rutherford Morison at the Royal Victoria Infirmary
• 1912 – 1914 – Leading surgeon at Fleming Memorial Children’s Hospital
• 1916 – Won the French Medaille d’Honneur en Or for expertise in deployment in France
• 1920 – Professor of Surgery in the University of Cape Town
• 1935 – Honorary Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
• 1942 – Honorary Fellow of Greek Surgical Society
• 1950 – Hunterian Professor
• 1953 – Honary Fellow of Royal Society of Medicine
• 1967 – Honorary Fellow of the College of Surgeons of South Africa

Medical Eponyms

• Saint’s triad – Cholelithiasis (gallstones); Hiatal hernia and Diverticular disease (diverticulosis of colon)

Notable Quotables

Saint produced a collection of his own aphorisms and printed them for his students

A good assistant does not always become a good chief, but a bad assistant never does. A good chief has always been a good assistant.

The simpler the procedure, the better the results.

Major Publications

• Saint CFM. Saint’s triad.The origin and story of its recognition. Rev Surg. 1966; 23: 1-4.