In Memoriam Michel Carcassonne

Michel Carcassonne recently passed away at the age of seventy-five years.

During that time, he has earned the reputation as one of the great masters of paediatric surgery. In France, he was a pioneer in the drive for the official recognition of paediatric surgery as an independent specialty. Internationally, he was one of her most fervent ambassadors.

The successor of Michel Salmon at Marseilles, he was a student of Oscar Swenson from whom he learned “all that which was essential professionally and much that was beneficial humanly”. He was able to profit from his training at the side of some of the most renowned paediatric surgeons. In Paris Petit, Fèvre while in the United States Swenson and Gross. A friend of C. E. Koop, an admirer of D. I. Williams, he was able to profit from each perspective in creating a comprehensive paediatric surgical department, one of the first in Europe. In so doing, he assembled all of the surgical subspecialties indispensable for treating the entire spectrum of childhood diseases. His service and the organization he put in place remain highly respected to this day.

Michel Carcassonne was particularly invested in paediatric oncology as well as the treatment of congenital malformations. His personal philosophy was “to treat early, to repair completely, to perform meticulously and to operate but once”. He was one of the first proponents of the early treatment of Hirschsprung's disease without the use of a diverting colostomy.

Michel Carcassonne was also one of the first proponents of the management of organ transplantation by the paediatric surgeon, participating not only in the first kidney transplant but also in cardiac and liver transplants performed at the Timone for the past twenty years. An active member of many international surgical societies, he was also passionately interested in the arts. He was known among his peers for his eloquence as well as his high culture. Member of the “Academy of Marseilles”, accomplished musician, he also excelled in the critical analysis of the theatre.

The influence of the work of Michel Carcassonne will certainly outlast his full seventy-five years of life, having laid the foundation for a practice of paediatric surgery based on excellency and an uncompromising consecration to the child suffering from illness. Few people have left their mark on the specialty of Paediatric surgery as has Michel Carcassonne who will remain one of the outstanding French paediatric surgeons of the second millennium.