Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laennec (1781-1826): The Man Behind the Stethoscope
Open Access
- 1 September 2006
- journal article
- other
- Published by Marshfield Clinic Research Institute in Clinical Medicine & Research
- Vol. 4 (3), 230-235
- https://doi.org/10.3121/cmr.4.3.230
Abstract
Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laënnec (1781–1826) was a French physician who, in 1816, invented the stethoscope. Using this new instrument, he investigated the sounds made by the heart and lungs and determined that his diagnoses were supported by the observations made during autopsies. Laënnec later published the first seminal work on the use of listening to body sounds, De L’auscultation Mediate (On Mediate Auscultation). Laënnec is considered the father of clinical auscultation and wrote the first descriptions of bronchiectasis and cirrhosis and also classified pulmonary conditions such as pneumonia, bronchiectasis, pleurisy, emphysema, pneumothorax, phthisis and other lung diseases from the sounds he heard with his invention. Laënnec perfected the art of physical examination of the chest and introduced many clinical terms still used today.This publication has 8 references indexed in Scilit:
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