The Clamp, the Stomach, and the Spleen: Jules-Emile Péan (1830−1898)

Abstract

p The 19th century French surgeon Jules-Emile Pean was noted in his day for many surgical innovations. He is best remembered today for the following: the hemostatic clamp that he designed and that still bears his name, his performance of the first pylorectomy for a stomach tumor, and his performance of the first successful total splenectomy. The clamp has lost some of its luster to the hemostatic clip and to the new instrumentation engendered by the laparoscopic revolution. For the pylorectomy, which he was the first to perform in 1879, he had to cede eponymic fame for the operation to Theodor Billroth, who performed it in 1881. But untarnished in the annals of surgical history is his priority in the performance of the first successful total splenectomy in 1867. To each of these memorable achievements by Pean there is a tale worth retelling in the context of his interesting life and the impact of these innovations on surgical history.