Amédée Bonnet

Amédée Bonnet (1809-1858) was a French orthopaedic surgeon.

Oft described as the grandfather of knee and ligament surgery.

Published the first cadaveric studies for the mechanism of knee ligament injuries in a 1300 page treatise on the treatment of joint diseases – ‘Traité des maladies des articulations‘

Biography

Born 19 March 1809 Ambérieu-en-Bugey, France son of physician Joseph Bonnet (1760-1839)
1825 – Bachelier ès lettre
1826 – Baccalauréat ès sciences
1827 – Student of medicine under Richerand and Récamier at the Hotel Dieu de Lyon
1832 – MD, Thesis: ‘Recherches sur quelques points de physiologie et de pathologie, tels que la surdité, les luxations, le mouvement des cotes, le siège des rhumatismes‘
1832 – Surgeon-aide of the Hôtel-Dieu de Lyon
1838 – Professor of surgery École Préparatoire de Lyon
Died 1 December 1858 Lyon

Key Medical Attributions

Bonnet noticed that the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptured most often at its femoral insertion (accompanied by a cracking sound), and rarely at the tibial attachment.
He described the development of haemarthrosis as a result of knee ligament rupture and explained the accompanying pain as due to the stretching of the nerve supply of the ligaments
In the cases of unstable knees he created an orthotic device with two hinges and invented various active motion machines to mobilise stiff knees after prolonged periods of immobilisation. However he recommended mobilisation as quickly as possible to reduce the risk of ‘absorption of the cartilage‘

Major Publications

Bonnet A. Traité des sections tendineuses et musculaires. Paris: Baillière. 1841
Bonnet A. Traité des maladies des articulations. Tome Premier, Tome Second, Atlas. Paris: Baillière. 1845
Bonnet A. Traité de thérapeutique des maladies articulaires. Paris: Baillière. 1853
Bonnet A. Méthodes nouvelles de traitement des maladies articulaires: exposition et démonstration faites à Paris en 1858. Paris: Baillière. 1859
Bonnet A. Nouvelles méthodes de traitement des maladies articulaires. Paris: Baillière. 1860

References

Fischer LP. Amédée Bonnet: Chirurgien major de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Lyon. Histoire des sciences Medicales – 1996;4; 449-448
Pässler HH. The history of the cruciate ligaments: some forgotten (or unknown) facts from Europe. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc. 1993;1(1):13-6. [PMID 8535990]