Marcel Lermoyez

Diagnoses

Vocation

Notable

French otolaryngologist and surgeon credited for establishing otolaryngology as a specialized medical field in France. He made contributions in the research of diseases such as tuberculosis of the ear, otosclerosis, and otogenous meningitis. He is known for Lermoyez's syndrome, defined as Tinnitus and loss of hearing prior to an attack of vertigo, after which hearing improves. It is considered a variant of labyrinth idropsy, similar to Ménière’s disease. While Ménière's disease is chronic and progressive, Lermoyez's syndrome is an acute phenomenon which results in no damage for the ciliated cells of cochlea. This is possible because the excess of pressure inside the inner ear is reduced by a break of the sacculum, in the vestibular labyrinth, with no long term consequence for the cochlea. In 1910 he became only the second otologist to be elected to the Académie de Médecine, the first being Prosper Ménière (1799-1862). After the death of his son in 1923, Lermoyez became completely withdrawn, remaining depressed until his death on 1 February 1929, aged 70. Link to Wikipedia biography