Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Jean-François Bouley (Bouley jeune). Pioneer investigator in intermittent claudication.
- Journal:
- Spine
- Year:
- 1994
- Authors:
- Sugar, O
- Affiliation:
- Department of Surgery · United States
- Species:
- horse
Plain-English summary
In 1831, a veterinarian named Jean-François Bouley studied why horses sometimes limp due to a condition called intermittent claudication, which is caused by poor blood flow. He discovered that clots in the femoral arteries were responsible for the muscle issues leading to the limping. His findings later helped a doctor named Charcot understand a similar problem in a soldier who had a gunshot wound that caused blood clots and poor circulation in his legs. While Bouley's work was significant, it wasn't the first report of this condition in humans; that distinction goes to a case noted in 1835. Over the years, other researchers explored different causes of claudication, including issues related to the spinal cord and the concept of spinal stenosis, which was fully developed in 1949.
Abstract
Reports of pathologic investigations as to the cause of intermittent claudication in horses were made in France in October, 1831, by veterinarian Jean-François Bouley. Obstructive clots in the femoral arteries were found to be responsible for the muscular changes causing limping. Bouley's work in the horse was used by Charcot in 1858 to understand the mechanism of claudication in the case of a soldier with gunshot wound in whom a traumatic aneurysm, clotting, and ischemia of the legs developed. This was not, however, the first medically reported case of human claudication from vascular occlusive disease; the one reported by Barth in 1835 seems to be the first. According to Dejerine in 1911, the disease in the horse appeared to be due to invasion of the vessels by a parasitic round worm; earlier he had ascribed some cases of human claudication to impaired circulation of the spinal cord. It was not until 1949, however, that Verbiest elaborated the concept of spinal stenosis to explain one type of human claudication.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8171369/