Jules Froment was a French neurologist

Neurologist

A neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Neurology is the medical specialty related to the human nervous system. The nervous system encompasses the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. A specialist...

. He earned his doctorate in 1906 with a thesis on heart disease

Heart disease

Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...

s associated with thyrotoxicosis. For much of his career he was a professor at Lyon.

Life

Froment is remembered for his work with neurological diseases. During World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 he was stationed at Rennes

Rennes

Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:...

, where he treated soldiers with nervous disorders. After the war he co-wrote an important work with Joseph Babiński

Joseph Babinski

Joseph Jules François Félix Babinski was a French neurologist of Polish descent. He is best known for his 1896 description of the Babinski sign, a pathological plantar reflex indicative of corticospinal tract damage....

 (1857-1932) concerning the etiology

Etiology

Etiology is the study of causation, or origination. The word is derived from the Greek , aitiologia, "giving a reason for" ....

 of phenomena such as "shell shock

Shell Shock

Shell Shock, also known as 82nd Marines Attack was a 1964 film by B-movie director John Hayes. The film takes place in Italy during World War II, and tells the story of a sergeant with his group of soldiers....

" and "combat hysteria." The study was titled Hystérie, pithiatisme et troubles nerveux d'ordre réflexe en neurologie de guerre, and was considered controversial at the time.

Also with Babiński, Froment is credited with describing a disease characterized by a combination of vasomotor

Vasomotor

Vasomotor refers to actions upon a blood vessel which alter its diameter. More specifically, it can refer to vasodilator action and vasoconstrictor action....

 disorders, muscular atrophy

Atrophy

Atrophy is the partial or complete wasting away of a part of the body. Causes of atrophy include mutations , poor nourishment, poor circulation, loss of hormonal support, loss of nerve supply to the target organ, disuse or lack of exercise or disease intrinsic to the tissue itself...

 and tissue damage. It is now known as Babinski-Froment syndrome.

Froment is credited with devising a series of tests for nerve dysfunction, including a simple way to test ulnar nerve

Ulnar nerve

In human anatomy, the ulnar nerve is a nerve which runs near the ulna bone. The ulnar collateral ligament of elbow joint is in relation with the ulnar nerve. The nerve is the largest unprotected nerve in the human body , so injury is common...

 weakness: if a patient holds a sheet of paper between thumb

Thumb

The thumb is the first digit of the hand. When a person is standing in the medical anatomical position , the thumb is the lateral-most digit...

 and index finger

Index finger

The index finger, , is the first finger and the second digit of a human hand. It is located between the first and third digits, between the thumb and the middle finger...

 and the thumb flexes, this indicates ulnar nerve

Ulnar nerve

In human anatomy, the ulnar nerve is a nerve which runs near the ulna bone. The ulnar collateral ligament of elbow joint is in relation with the ulnar nerve. The nerve is the largest unprotected nerve in the human body , so injury is common...

 palsy

Palsy

In medicine, palsy is the paralysis of a body part, often accompanied by loss of sensation and by uncontrolled body movements, such as shaking. Medical conditions involving palsy include cerebral palsy , brachial palsy , and Bell's palsy ....

. This test is used to assess the condition of the flexor pollicis brevis muscle

Muscle

Muscle is a contractile tissue of animals and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscles. Their function is to...

.

Written works

• La préhension dans les paralysies du nerf cubital et le signe du pouce; La presse médicale, Paris, 1915, 23: 409.
• Heredodegenerations retinienne et spino-cerebeleuse; variantes ophtalmoscopiques et neurologique présentés par trois generations successive J Med Lyon, 1937: 153-163.
• Troubles nerveux d’ordre reflexe. In their: Hysterie, pithiatisme et troubles nerveux d’ordre reflexe. J. Babinbski, J. Froment: Paris, Masson, 1917.

External links

• Jules Froment @ Who Named It
  Who Named It
  Who Named It? is an English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though this is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliographies. It is hosted in Norway and maintained by medical...