Léon Rostan

Léon Louis Rostan (March 17, 1790 - October 4, 1866) was a French internist who was a native of Saint-Maximin in Provence. He studied medicine in Marseilles and Paris, and was a student of Philippe Pinel (1745-1826). He spent much of his professional career at the Salpêtrière in Paris, and was a member of the Académie de médecine. He also attained the chair of clinical medicine at l'Hôtel-Dieu.

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In 1819 Rostan was the author of Recherches sur le ramollissement du cerveau (Researches on cerebral softening), which provided the first accurate description of cerebral softening. He documented that the disorder was caused by a vascular lesion that was distinct from encephalitis and apoplexy. His findings were harshly cricitized by followers of François-Joseph-Victor Broussais (1772-1838), because it contradicted Broussais' theories of physiological medicine.

He also did extensive research of animal magnetism and somnambulism, and wrote a treatise on charlatanism for his graduate thesis. Rostan performed early studies on the classification of body types, where he used a mathematical combination of factors such as arm span, chest circumference, sternum height, etc. for criteria.

• Associated eponym:
• Rostan's asthma: Known today as paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea. A type of cardiac asthma associated with heart disease, such as left ventricular failure.

References

• Unbound Medicine; Neurology in Parisian hospitals
• Dorlands Medical Dictionary