Léon Bouveret

Who was Léon Bouveret?

Léon Bouveret was a French internist who was a native of Saint-Julien-sur-Reyssouze, a town in the department of Ain.

After receiving his doctorate in Paris in 1878, he became director of a clinic in Lyon that was run by professor Raphaël Lépine. Soon afterwards, he became associated with the "Hôpitaux de Lyon", and in 1880 was appointed professeur agrégé.

As a young physician, Bouveret played an important role in the fight against cholera. In 1889, he provided an early description of paroxystic tachycardia. "Bouveret's syndrome", named after him, is an obstruction of the stomach and the duodenum caused by a gallstone that migrated through a biliogastric or bilioduodenal fistula.

He is remembered for his written efforts, in particular, "Traité des maladies de l'estomac" and "La neurasthénie". With Raymond Tripier, he was the co-author of "La fièvre typhoïde traité par les bains froids", a book that recommended cold baths for the treatment of typhoid fever.