Raymond de Vieussens

Abstract

Raymond de Vieussens provided significant insight into more than one area of medicine and opened up the field of research for decades to come. Raymond de Vieussens was born in France and graduated with his medical doctorate in 1670 from the University of Montpellier. After graduation Vieussens was appointed as physician to the hospital of Saint Eloys in Montpellier. At the beginning of his career Vieussens' work was well received in the European medical community and is heralded as the most complete account of the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves to emerge in the 17th century. In 1706, Vieussens published Nouvelles Découvertes sur le Coeur, in which he presented detailed anatomy of the lymphatic system and blood vessels of the heart. Vieussens' observations on the heart were expanded in 1715 with the publication of Treatise of the Heart. In this treatise Vieussens described the pericardium, coronary vessels and muscle fibers of the heart in detail. His work also included the first documented clinical presentations and autopsy results of patients with mitral valve stenosis and aortic valve insufficiency. Vieussens' 1715 Treatise of the Heart was heralded as one of the most important discussions on the correlation between clinical symptoms of heart disease and the anatomical basis for these findings. The legacy of Vieussens persists today via the multiple eponyms attributed to his initial descriptions.