Jacques Lisfranc de Saint-Martin

Biography

• Born 12 April 1787, Saint-Paul-en- Jar, Loire
• 1806-1813 Interne à l’Hôtel-Dieu de Lyon et de Paris (under Guillaume Dupuytren)
• 1813 – Medical doctorate – Thèse de médecine de Paris n° 135 (Describing Dupuytren’s operation for the removal of the lower jawbone)
• 1814 – Army surgeon – Médecin-adjoint for a year
• 1826 – Chief surgeon at L’Hôpital de la Pitié, Paris
• 1830 – First to perform rectal carcinoma resection
• Died 12 May 1847

Medical Eponyms

• Lisfranc Amputation (Tarso-metatarsal disarticulation) – partial amputation of the foot at the tarsometatarsal joint. Famously performed by Lisfranc in less than a minute.
• Lisfranc joint – the tarsometatarsal joint
• Lisfranc ligament – connects the superolateral surface of the medial cuneiform to the superomedial surface of the base of the second metatarsal
• Lisfranc injury – fracture and dislocation/subluxation of the tarsometatarsal joints with lateral displacement of the metatarsals
• Lisfranc’s tubercle – scalene tubercle on the first rib at the insertion of the scalenus anterior muscle (1815)

“Lisfranc’s description of amputation through the tarsal-metatarsal joints requires several pages to describe it, but it took only 1 minute for him to perform it — not too short a time for the unanesthetized patient” – Cassebaum WH

Controversies

• Jacques Lisfranc of Saint-Martin was born on April 12, 1787 (and not on April 2, 1790 as claimed by most) – Review the baptism certificate and Plaque [Fischer LP 2005]
• Like Chopart (with the midtarsal joint), Lisfranc had his procedure of forefoot amputation and therefore the joint affected, and attributed fracture-dislocation injury eponymously attributed to him.
• Lisfranc, known for his booming voice and choleric lectures, referred to his teacher and colleague Baron Guillaume Dupuytren as “the brigand of l’Hotel Dieu.” Their rivalry was such that Dupuytren prevented Lisfranc from becoming a professor of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris.
• Excellent surgeon, but equally as polemic as Dupuytren and not a nice chap by all accounts…
• On his tomb, his favourite maxim: ‘Si la chirurgie est brillante quand elle opère, elle l’est encore bien davantage lorsque, sans faire couler de sang et sans mutilation, elle obtient la guérison des malade‘ [Surgery is bright when operating but it is still brighter when there is no blood and mutilation and yet leads to the patient’s recovery]

Major Publications

• Lisfranc J. Sur un nouveau procédé pour l’amputation du bras dans l’article applicable à la résection de cet os”. Mémoire lu à l’Institut le 21.11.1814, p66 [Lisfranc arm amputation at the shoulder]
• Lisfranc J. Nouvelle méthode opératoire pour l’amputation partielle du pied de son articulation tarsométatarsienne. Mémoire présenté à la première classe de l’Institut 1815, 52 pages. [Lisfranc amputation TMJ]
• Lisfranc J. Nouvelle methode operatoire pour l’amputation partielle du pied dans son articulation tarso-metatarsienne: methode precedee des nombreuses modifications qu’a subies celle de Chopart. Archives générales de médecine. Sep 1823:III; p52-67
• Lisfranc J. Mémoire sur de nouvelles applications du stéthoscope de M. le professeur Laënnec. Paris: Gabon, 1823.
• Lisfranc J. Mémoir sur un nouveau procédé pour l’amputation dans les articulations des phalanges Paris: Gabon, 1823.
• Lisfranc J. Mémoire sur l’excision de la partie inférieure du rectum devenu carcinomateux. Mémoires de l’Académie de Médecine. 1833, tome III, p. 191
• Lisfranc J. Clinique chirurgicale de l’Hôpital de la Pitié. Volume I, Volume II, Volume III. 1841
• Lisfranc J. Précis de médecine opératoire. Volume I, Volume II, Volume III. 1846

References

• Fischer LP. Jacques Lisfranc de Saint-Martin (1787-1847). Hist Sci Med. 2005 Jan-Mar;39(1):17-34. [PMID 15977358] [PDF]
• Jacques Lisfranc of Saint-Martin. Cimetière du Sud, dit du Montparnasse. Napoleon Monuments.
• Christie J, Clowes CB, Lamb DW. Amputations through the middle part of the foot. J Bone Joint Surg Br. 1980 Nov;62-B(4):473-4. [PMID 7430227] [PDF]
• Cassebaum WH. Lisfranc fracture-dislocations. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 1963;30:116-29. [PMID 5888997]
• Notice analytique sur les travaux de Lisfranc. 1834. Cote: 110133 vol. C n° 7. Bibliothèque interuniversitaire de santé (Paris)