Historical vignette. Dominique Anel: father of the Hunterian ligation?

Abstract

On December 12, 1785, the famous British surgeon John Hunter ligated an artery that was feeding a popliteal aneurysm. During the procedure he ligated only the proximal side of the artery and left the aneurysm sac untouched. This is frequently viewed as a landmark event in the history of surgery. There is considerable evidence, however, that another surgeon, Dominique Anel, performed a substantially similar procedure more than 75 years earlier. It is possible that the weight Hunter's name has borne in the history of surgery has led to the procedure's bearing his name rather than that of the lesser known Anel.