René Le Fort
René Le Fort (1869-1951) was a French surgeon.
French army surgeon, Le Fort conducted a series of thorough, if slightly unethical, experiments on the heads of cadavers. As a result of this work he classified facial fractures as types I, II and III.
Le Fort had a distinguished career in surgery and teaching and served in both world wars.
Biography
- Born 1869 Lille, France. Nephew of Léon Clément le Fort
- 1890 – MD ‘Topographie cranio-cérébrale avec applications chirurgicales‘
- 1892 – French army hospital at Val-de-Grâce
- 1912 – Military physician in First Balkan War
- WW I – commendation for bravery for his actions at the Battle of Dinant
- 1919 – Hôpital des Invalides
- 1920 – Professor pediatric surgery and orthopedics, Lille Hospital
- 1936 – President, Société française de chirurgie et orthopédique
- 1937 – Retired
- 1939 – Returned to work at University of Lille covering for colleagues who were part of the war effort
- Died 1951
Medical Eponyms
Le Fort’s classification of facial fractures (1901)
Based on experiments conducted in 1900 by dropping bricks on 35 cadavers and observing the pattern of maxillary fractures.
- Le Fort R. Étude expérimentale sur les fractures de la machoire supérieure. Revue de chirurgie, Paris 1901; 23: 208-27; 360-79; 479-507
Major Publications
- Le Fort R. La topographie cranio-cérébrale, applications chirurgicales. 1890.
- Le Fort R. Étude expérimentale sur les fractures de la machoire supérieure. Revue de chirurgie, Paris 1901; 23: 208-27; 360-79; 479-507
References
- Noffze MJ, Tubbs RS. René Le Fort 1869–1951. Clin Anat. 2011 Apr;24(3):278-81. [PMID 21433077]
- Patterson R. The Le Fort fractures: René Le Fort and his work in anatomical pathology. Can J Surg. 1991 Apr;34(2):183-4. [PMID 2025808]
- Gartshore L. A brief account of the life of René Le Fort. Br J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2010 Apr;48(3):173-5. [PMID 19850380]
eponym
the person behind the name