Jean-Baptiste de Sénac

Jean-Baptiste de Sénac (1693–1770) was a French physician was born in the district of Lombez in Gascony, France.[1][2]

Jean-Baptiste de Sénac
Jean-Baptiste de Sénac
Born1693
Gascony, France
DiedDecember 22, 1770

Early life and education

Details of his early life are sketchy, however, it is generally thought that he studied medicine at the University of Leyden, and later in London, where one of his instructors was John Freind (1675–1728). Beginning in 1723, he practiced medicine in Paris, later serving (from 1752 to 1770) as a personal physician to King Louis XV.

Contributions to medicine

Sénac is remembered for important studies of the heart in an era when cardiological medicine was rudimentary. In 1749 he published a book on cardiology called Traité de la structure du coeur, de son action, et de ses maladies, an influential work that systematically dealt with physiological, anatomical and pathological issues involving the heart. In the treatise, he discusses heart disorders and diseases that he analyzed personally, as well as diagnoses that were determined by other physicians.

Many of Sénac's discoveries were derived from autopsies. He was the first physician to describe the correlation between atrial fibrillation and mitral valve disease, as well as the first to provide a comprehensive study of cardiac hypertrophy. He also conducted research of cinchona extract and rhubarb as possible treatments for cardiac irregularities.

Gabriel Sénac de Meilhan was his son.

References
  1. Bowman, Inci A. (March 1987). "Jean-Baptiste Sénac and His Treatise on the Heart". Texas Heart Institute Journal. 14 (1): 4–11. ISSN 0730-2347. PMC 324686. PMID 15227324.
  2. Wooley, Charles F. (1995). "Jean-Baptiste de Sénac". Clinical Cardiology. 18 (12): 741–742. doi:10.1002/clc.4960181212. ISSN 1932-8737. PMID 8608677. S2CID 33992333.
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