Regarding “Fact and fiction surrounding the discovery of the venous valves”

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• To the Editors:
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To the Editors: 

Scultetus and his colleagues (J Vasc Surg 2001;33:435-41) described the controversy surrounding the discovery of the venous valves (VVs) reviewing medical literature from 1545. Their conclusions pointed out Charles Estienne as the first who described VVs in 1545.

One year before De Dissectione Partium Corporis Umani Libri Tres of Estienne, the Spanish anatomist Ludovicus Vassaeus mentioned VVs and furnished a clear description of their functional implications.¹

The work of Vassaeus was entitled De Anatomen Corporis Humani tabulae quator and was published by Valgrisi (Venice) in 1544. The anatomy of the cardiovascular system was so well depicted by Vassaeus that Marie Jean Pierre Florens² (1857) affirmed that he described the blood circulation a century before William Harvey (1628).

If it is important to establish who was the first to describe VVs (and blood circulation), the work of Vassaeus has to be taken into consideration. More than VVs and the anatomical basis of blood circulation, Ludovicus Vasseus also treated the argument of thrombosis. His contribution consisted in identifying the process of vascular “dessication” described by Hippocrates with the phenomena of “coagulation” (ie, loss of the liquid state of the blood).³

Ludovicus Vassaeus is not a well-known author, but he is quoted by Littré, Osler, Durling, Hirsch, and Wellcome. The Bibliotheca Walleriana owns the work of Vassaeus (#9918). In the past, his name has been reported also as Vasi, Vassé, and La Vasseur. A curiosity: in Italian, the word vasi means vessels.

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References 

1. Portal A. Historie de l'anatomie et de la chirurgie. Paris: Didot; 1770-3.
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2. Florens MJP. Historie de la decouverte de la circulation du sang. Paris: Garnier; 1857;
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3. Leibowitz JO. The history of coronary heart disease. London: Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine; 1970;
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