Lorenzo Mérola, Uruguayan surgeon (Montevideo 29 February 1880 – Montevideo 05 April 1935)

Anticipated concepts about inflammation and cancer

Classified the forearm muscles

Discovered Mérola triangle and inter-ureteral lamina (later rediscovered by Albanese)

Described the axillary aponeurosis and Merola ligament (posterior axillary ligament)

Aponeurosis of the axilla. The existence of a posterior suspensory ligament. Rev. Hospital (1912)

Created a technique for approach the upper aspect of the liver  by thoracic frenolaparotomy 1916 (rediscovered by Schwartz and Quenu in 1919)

Ensayo de acceso a la fosa frenica. Anales Fac. Med. Montevideo 1:199, 1916

Described thoraco-abdominal transphrenic approach

Manera de abordar la cara superior del hígado. Incisión toraco-abdominal. Anales Fac. Med. Montevideo 2:105, 1917 

Modified Halsted radical mastectomy or Merola operation (from 1912 but published in 1936). This technique was rediscovered independently by Patey in 1948   

Performed the world’s first mastectomy without removing the pectoral

Developed occipital transtentorial approach to the pineal body for tumors of this region

Abordaje de los cuatro ventrículos pedínculos y epífisis. Anales Clin. Mérola (1926)

First to use colon rather than stomach in dogs

Notas Anatomicas y Clinicas. Rev. Hospitales 87, 1912

Others surgical innovations include Disinsertion of mesenterium (1917), Rectum amputation by via abdominal, Organ systems extirpation and Synthetic approach of brain and cerebellar fossae

Most of this text extracted from Cir. Del Uruguay 51(4):297-315, 1981

LINKS

HTTP://www.smu.org.uy/publicaciones/libros/ejemplares/merola.pdf

His homonym son, Lorenzo Mérola Soñora, surgeon (Montevideo 02 September 1920 – Montevideo 23 September 1980)

Authored over 40 works 

Created original techniques

Un Nuevo procedimiento de unión esofagoyeyunal después de gastrectomia total. Trabajo experimental.

SOME BIBLIOGRAPHY  

Esofagitis posoperatoria

Ileo biliar

Gastrectomía total por câncer: resección, restabelecimento del trânsito transduodenal y construcción de bolsa de yeyuno

La lámina retropericárdica

La resección anterior en el cáncer de recto

Tratamiento de las fístulas perianales extraesfinterianas

Resección ensanchada del esófago torácico inferior

Anatomia y embriologia de las zonas herniarias del diafragma

Gastrectomía total

Aplicación clinica de la esófago-yeyunostomia transmesenterica  

Extracted from Cir. del Uruguay 51, 1981