Jacques Forestier was a French internist who was a pioneer in the field of rheumatology

Rheumatology

Rheumatology is a sub-specialty in internal medicine and pediatrics, devoted to diagnosis and therapy of rheumatic diseases. Clinicians who specialize in rheumatology are called rheumatologists...

. He studied and practiced medicine in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, and was founder of the National French Society of Rheumatology. His father, Henri Forestier was a director at the therapeutic spas in Aix-les-Bains

Aix-les-Bains

Aix-les-Bains is a commune in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.It is situated on the shore of Lac du Bourget, by rail north of Chambéry.-Geography:...

.

Jacques Forestier is remembered for his introduction of gold salts

Gold salts

Gold salts describe ionic chemical compounds of gold. The term, which is a misnomer, has evolved into a synonym for the gold compounds used in medicine...

 as a remedy for rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder that may affect many tissues and organs, but principally attacks synovial joints. The process produces an inflammatory response of the synovium secondary to hyperplasia of synovial cells, excess synovial fluid, and the development...

. Today, injectable gold salts such as gold sodium thiomalate and aurothioglucose

Aurothioglucose

Aurothioglucose, also known as gold thioglucose, is a chemical compound with the formula AuSC6H11O5. This derivative of the sugar glucose is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis.-History:...

 are considered by many to be the most effective treatment for arthritic ailments. Forestier is also credited for his descriptions of the diseases polymyalgia rheumatica

Polymyalgia rheumatica

Polymyalgia rheumatica , abbreviated as PMR, is a syndrome with pain or stiffness, usually in the neck, shoulders, and hips. The pain can be very sudden, or can occur gradually over a period of time...

 and diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis

Spinal stenosis

Lumbar spinal stenosis is a medical condition in which the spinal canal narrows and compresses the spinal cord and nerves at the level of the lumbar vertebra. This is usually due to the common occurrence of spinal degeneration that occurs with aging. It can also sometimes be caused by spinal disc...

.

With his instructor Jean-Athanase Sicard

Jean-Athanase Sicard

Jean-Athanase Sicard was a French neurologist and radiologist who was born in Marseille.He studied medicine in Marseille and Paris, where he studied with Charles Emile Troisier , Édouard Brissaud , Henri-Alexandre Danlos , Fulgence Raymond and Georges-Fernand-Isidore Widal...

 (1872-1929), Forestier demonstrated the use of Lipiodol

Lipiodol

Lipiodol also known as ethiodized oil is a poppyseed oil used by injection as a radio-opaque contrast agent that is used to outline structures in radiological investigations. It is used in chemoembolization applications as a contrast agent in follow-up imaging. Lipiodol is also used in...

 for spinal X-ray

X-ray

X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...

 examinations.

Olympics

He competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics

1920 Summer Olympics

The 1920 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event in 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium....

 as rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 player for France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. As a member of the French team he won the silver medal.

Associated Eponyms

• Forestier's disease: also known as diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis
  Spinal stenosis
  Lumbar spinal stenosis is a medical condition in which the spinal canal narrows and compresses the spinal cord and nerves at the level of the lumbar vertebra. This is usually due to the common occurrence of spinal degeneration that occurs with aging. It can also sometimes be caused by spinal disc...
  
   (DISH). It is a type of degenerative spinal arthritis
  Arthritis
  Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints....
  
   found in the elderly.
• Forestier's bowstring sign (signe de la corde de l'arc); a sign seen in ankylosing spondylitis
  Ankylosing spondylitis
  Ankylosing spondylitis , previously known as Bekhterev's disease, Bekhterev syndrome, and Marie-Strümpell disease is a chronic inflammatory disease of the axial skeleton with variable involvement of peripheral joints and nonarticular structures...
  
  (AS).http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16396691&dopt=Abstract