Antoine Bernard-Jean Marfan (; June 23, 1858 – February 11, 1942) was a French

paediatrician Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until the ...

. He was born in

Castelnaudary Castelnaudary (; oc, Castèlnòu d'Arri) is a commune in the Aude department in the Occitanie region of southern France. It is located in the former province of the Lauragais and famous for cassoulet of which it claims to be the world ca ...

(département

Aude Aude (; ) is a department in Southern France, located in the Occitanie region and named after the river Aude. The departmental council also calls it " Cathar Country" (French: ''Pays cathare'') after a group of religious dissidents active i ...

Languedoc-Roussillon Languedoc-Roussillon (; oc, Lengadòc-Rosselhon ; ca, Llenguadoc-Rosselló) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, it joined with the region of Midi-Pyrénées to become Occitania. It comprised five departments, and b ...

) to Antoine Prosper Marfan and Adélaïde Thuries. He began his medical studies in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. The city is on t ...

, where he stayed for two years before moving to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

. He graduated in 1886, his education having been interrupted by a period of military service. In 1903 he became a professor of infantile hygiene in the paediatric clinic of the

University of Paris The University of Paris (french: link=no, Université de Paris), Metonymy, metonymically known as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, active from 1150 to 1970, with the exception between 1793 and 1806 under the French Revo ...

. During the same year, he became a member of the

Académie de Médecine An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

. In 1896, Marfan described a hereditary disorder of

connective tissue Connective tissue is one of the four primary types of animal tissue, along with epithelial tissue, muscle tissue, and nervous tissue. It develops from the mesenchyme derived from the mesoderm the middle embryonic germ layer. Connective tissue ...

that was to become known as

Marfan syndrome Marfan syndrome (MFS) is a multi-systemic genetic disorder that affects the connective tissue. Those with the condition tend to be tall and thin, with long arms, legs, fingers, and toes. They also typically have exceptionally flexible joints a ...

, the term first being used by Henricus Jacobus Marie Weve (1888–1962) of

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Nethe ...

in 1931. Today, it is thought that Marfan's patient (a five-year-old girl named Gabrielle) was affected by a condition known as

congenital contractural arachnodactyly Congenital contractural arachnodactyly (CCA), also known as Beals-Hecht syndrome, is a rare autosomal dominant congenital connective tissue disorder. As with Marfan syndrome, people with CCA typically have an arm span that is greater than their hei ...

, and not Marfan's syndrome.Antoine Marfan - biography
@

Who Named It ''Whonamedit?'' is an online English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though it is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliograp ...

Further

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

ous medical conditions named after Antoine Marfan include: *

Dennie–Marfan syndrome Dennie–Marfan syndrome is a syndrome in which there is association of spastic paraplegia of the lower limbs and mental retardation in children with congenital syphilis. Both sexes are affected, and the onset of the disease can be acute or ins ...

* Marfan's hypermobility syndrome * Marfan's law * Marfan's sign * Marfan's symptom * Marfan–Madelung syndrome Marfan also had interests in the paediatric aspects of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in w ...

nutrition Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficien ...

and

diphtheria Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...

. With Jacques-Joseph Grancher (1843–1907) and

Jules Comby Jules Comby (; 28 April 1853, in Arnac-Pompadour – 18 March 1947) was a French pediatrician. The eponymous "Comby's sign" is named after him, which is an early indication of measles characterized by thin whitish patches on the gums and buccal ...

(1853–1947), he was co-author of ''Traité des maladies de l’enfance''. From 1913 to 1922, he was publisher of the journal ''Le Nourrisson''.

References

External links

Antoine Marfan
@

1858 births 1942 deaths People from Castelnaudary 19th-century French physicians 20th-century French physicians French pediatricians {{France-med-bio-stub