Alexis Carrel
| Alexis Carrel | |
|---|---|
| |
| Born | June 28, 1873, Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, Rhône, France |
| Died | November 5, 1944 (aged 71), Paris, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Education | University of Lyon |
| Occupation | Surgeon, biologist |
| Known for | Transplantology |
| Notable works | |
| Website | Yale archive |
Alexis Carrel (28 June 1873 – 5 November 1944) was a French surgeon and biologist who made pioneering contributions to vascular surgery and organ transplantation. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1912 for his work on vascular suturing techniques and organ transplantation, becoming only the second surgeon to receive this honor.[1]
Early life
Alexis Carrel was born in Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, near Lyon, France on 28 June 1873. He was educated by Jesuits during his youth.Anon.[2] Despite his early adult agnosticism, Carrel remained preoccupied with questions of faith and its relation to scientific scrutiny throughout his life.[3]
Education and career
Carrel studied medicine at the University of Lyon, where he completed his medical training. In 1902, he published his seminal work on surgical techniques for vascular anastomoses in Lyon Médical.[4]
Facing limited career opportunities in France, Carrel emigrated and eventually gained fame at the Rockefeller Institute in New York at the beginning of the 20th century.[5] He was the first to demonstrate that arteriovenous anastomoses were possible, and his triangulation technique enabled successful anastomosis of blood vessels, which subsequently led to advances in blood vessel and organ transplantation.[6]
During the First World War, Carrel developed the Carrel-Dakin method of wound irrigation, an antiseptic solution developed with English chemist Henry D. Dakin that remains in use today.[7]
Notable/unique
Carrel's most distinctive collaboration was with aviator Charles Lindbergh. Beginning in 1929, Lindbergh became interested in developing a heart-bypass pump for open-heart surgery and was introduced to Carrel. Carrel persuaded Lindbergh to work instead on a perfusion system for the culture of whole organs outside the body.Malinin TI. "Lindbergh and the biological sciences (a personal reminiscence)."[8] By 1934, Lindbergh had developed a pump with floating glass valves that allowed precise regulation of perfusion pressure and rate.Malinin TI. "Lindbergh and the biological sciences (a personal reminiscence)."[9]
Together, they created the Carrel-Lindbergh Perfusion device, an early perfusion device that was able to keep organs alive ex vivo for weeks and is most appropriately viewed as a precursor to modern machine perfusion technologies.[10] They were the first scientists capable of keeping an entire organ alive outside of the body using this perfusion machine.[11]
Carrel's work formed the basis of modern cardiovascular and transplant surgery. The vessel bank, patch-technique, extracorporeal circulation, and the artificial heart all have their scientific basis in Carrel's investigations.[12]
Death
Carrel died in Paris on 5 November 1944.[13] In the 1970s, Paris and many other French cities named streets in his honor, though controversy erupted in the 1990s regarding his political views, and Paris eventually voted to remove Carrel's name from its streets.[14]
Published works
La Technique Opératoire des Anastomoses Vasculaires et la Transplantation des Viscères (1902), Lyon Médical Man, the Unknown (1935), Harper & BrothersCarrel A. Man the Unknown. Harper & Brothers; 1935. The Culture of Organs (1938), with Charles Lindbergh
Patents
Carrel and Lindbergh developed the Lindbergh-Carrel apparatus for culture of whole organs, which included innovations such as floating glass valves for precise regulation of perfusion pressure and rate, cotton filters for maintaining sterility, and mechanisms for oxygenating perfusion fluid through surface contact with oxygen-rich gas mixtures.[15]
References
- ↑ Benveniste GL."Alexis Carrel: the good, the bad, the ugly." ANZ J Surg. 2013 Sep;83(9):609-11. PMID 23617637.
- ↑ "[Alexis Carrell: the mystification ..]" Hist Sci Med. 2001;35(3):327-30. PMID 11624869
- ↑ Schneider SA. "Alexis Carrel and His Voyage of Discovery: Miracles and the Spirituality of Healing." J Relig Health. 2022. PMID 35939224.
- ↑ Carrel A. "La Technique Opératoire des Anastomoses Vasculaires et la Transplantation des Viscères." Lyon Médical. 1902;98:859–864.
- ↑ Dutkowski P, de Rougemont O, Clavien PA. "Alexis Carrel: genius, innovator and ideologist." Am J Transplant. 2008 Oct;8(10):1998-2003. PMID 18727692
- ↑ O'Neill JF. "Alexis Carrel: innovator extraordinaire." Ulster Med J. 2011 May;80(2):85-7. PMID 21476423
- ↑ Cavaillon JM, Legout S. "A Surprising Alliance: Two Giants of the 20th Century." Ann Thorac Surg. 2017 Jun;103(6):1700-1706. PMID 28528032
- ↑ Tex Heart Inst J. 2004;31(1):28-33. PMID 15227303
- ↑ Tex Heart Inst J. 2004;31(1):28-33. PMID 15227303
- ↑ Cui EY, Gouchoe DA, Salmon-Rekhi ST, Whitson BA, Black SM. "An Unexpected Partnership: Alexis Carrel, Charles Lindbergh, and Normothermic Machine Perfusion." ASAIO J. 2024 Oct 1;70(10):904-909. PMID 38595100
- ↑ Dutkowski P, de Rougemont O, Clavien PA. "Alexis Carrel: genius, innovator and ideologist." Am J Transplant. 2008 Oct;8(10):1998-2003. PMID 18727692.
- ↑ Schmitt W. "[Our surgical heritage. Alexis Carrel (1873-1944)]." Zentralbl Chir. 1983;108(8):495-503.PMID 6346749
- ↑ Anon. "[Alexis Carrell: the mystification ..]" Hist Sci Med. 2001;35(3):327-30. PMID 11624869
- ↑ Weksler ME. "Naming streets for physicians: 'l'affaire Carrel'." Perspect Biol Med. 2004 Winter;47(1):67-73. PMID 15061169
- ↑ Cavaillon JM, Legout S. "A Surprising Alliance: Two Giants of the 20th Century." Ann Thorac Surg. 2017 Jun;103(6):1700-1706. PMID 28528032
