Jean-Baptiste de Sénac

Jean-Baptiste de Sénac (1693-1770) was a French physician who was born in the town of Lombez. Details of his early life are sketchy, however it is generally thought that he studied medicine at the University of Leyden, and later in London, where one of his instructors was John Freind (1675-1728). Beginning in 1723 he practiced medicine in Paris, and was a personal physician to King Louis XV from 1752 until 1770.

Sénac is remembered for important studies of the heart during an era when cardiological medicine was rudimentary. In 1749 he published an influentual book on cardiology called Traité de la structure du coeur, de son action, et de ses maladies, which systematically dealt with the physiology, anatomy and pathology of the heart. In this treatise he discusses heart disorders and diseases he analyzed personally, as well as diagnoses described by other physicians.

Many of Sénac's discoveries were derived from autopsies. He was the first physician to describe the correlation between atrial fibrillation and mitral valve disease, as well as the first to provide a comprehensive study of cardiac hypertrophy. He also performed research of cinchona extract and rhubarb for treatment of cardiac irregularities.