Ambroise Pare

Who was Ambroise Paré?

Ambroise Paré was a French physician who is regarded as the 'father of modern surgery'.

How were gunshot wounds treated in Paré's time?

In Paré's time, guns were relatively new inventions. People believed gunshot wounds were poisonous and used to treat them with hot oil, which they believed helped them heal.

What did Paré observe?

Paré observed that using hot oil on the wound was very painful.

How did Paré improve the treatment of gunshot wounds?

During a French battle in 1537, Paré had to improvise when the hot oil ran out. Instead, he used a mixture of rose oil, egg white and turpentine to soothe his patients' wounds. Despite his worries, the patients slept well and their wounds healed quickly.

How did Paré prevent patients bleeding to death during amputations?

Paré used ligatures, or string, instead of cauterisation during amputations. Cauterisation involved putting a red-hot iron on the wound from the limb's amputation. Paré used an older method to stop bleeding, by tying ligatures around individual blood vessels.

Were problems did Paré encounter with his use of ligatures?

Ligatures could sometimes introduce infection to a wound because using them took longer than cauterising. Speed was crucial during battle.

How did Paré help amputees?

Paré had to carry out a large number of amputations and quickly moved on to creating false limbs for wounded soldiers.

What was the significance of Paré?

Paré had 2 main impacts on surgery during the Renaissance:

• ❖ He translated some of Vesalius's work from Latin into French, working to increase surgeons' understanding of anatomy.
• ❖ His book, 'Works on Surgery', was circulated throughout Europe.

How did Paré's work become popular in England?

Paré's work became popular in England for 2 key reasons:

• ❖ In 1591, an English version of his book was given to the library of barber-surgeons. It was printed for distribution in 1634.
• ❖ A number of English surgeons, most notably William Clowes, followed his approach to surgery.