[Pioneers of vascular medicine]

Most anatomical and early physiological discoveries on the vascular system began during the Antiquity and the Renaissance. After Ambroise Paré who performed ligatures of arterial wounds, the main milestones of vascular surgery occurred during the 20th Century with Alexis Carrel who started early arterial repairs and then René Leriche who developed an approach toward sympathetic arterial innervation. The vascular surgery school founded by Leriche included prestigious international surgeons and trainees such as João Cid Dos Santos, Michael E. DeBakey, Georges Arnulf, René Fontaine, and Jean Kunlin. This was followed by subsequent major achievements such as endarteriectomy, venous grafting, and arterial homografts. Many of the relevant successes in early vascular surgery were pioneered by French surgeons.