Pierre Augustin Béclard
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Pierre Augustin Béclard (October 12, 1785 - March 16, 1825) was a French anatomist who was a native of Angers. He was a professor of anatomy in Paris and chief surgeon at the Pitié Hospital, and in 1818 he was appointed to the chair of anatomy. He was considered a brilliant lecturer.
Pierre Béclard is credited with introducing new amputative and surgical practices, and in 1823 was the first physician in Europe to perform a successful excision of the parotid gland. His name is lent to the eponymous "Béclard's nucleus", which is the core of ossification in the cartilage of the distal epiphysis of the femur during the latter part of fetal life. It is used in forensic medicine to determine the age of a fetus or newborn infant . With Jules Germain Cloquet (1790-1883) he translated William Lawrence's (1783-1867) "A Treatise on Ruptures" (Traité des hernies) from English into French.
- Associated eponyms:
- Beclard's anastomosis: or arcus raninus; An anastomosis between the right and the left end-branch of the deep lingual artery.
- Béclard's hernia: A femoral hernia through the opening of the saphenous vein.
- Béclard's triangle: An area whose boundaries are the posterior border of the hyoglossus, the posterior belly of the digastric muscle and the greater horn of the hyoid bone.
