TY - JOUR T1 - Prof. Paul Sadoul, 1918–2011 JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J SP - 1245 LP - 1247 DO - 10.1183/09031936.00165311 VL - 38 IS - 6 AU - E. Puchelle AU - P.H. Quanjer AU - A. Lockhart AU - E. Berglund AU - A.T. Dinh-Xuan AU - J. Widimsky Y1 - 2011/12/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/6/1245.abstract N2 - We learned with infinite sadness that Professor Paul Sadoul passed away on September 6, 2011, at the age of 93 years. Paul Sadoul was a prominent figure in the Nancy Teaching Hospital for 35 years from 1949. After a 1-year stay with Wallace Fenn and Hermann Rahn's group, and André Cournand's laboratory in the USA, he applied new technologies for evaluating patients with chronic respiratory failure, such as right heart catheterisation at rest and during exercise. He developed a great interest in pneumoconiosis in iron and coal miners in Lorraine [1]. The respiratory function tests and epidemiological studies that he conducted with his team, using research programmes funded by the European Community for Steel and Coal (ECSC), led to the official recognition of silicosis as an occupational disease. In 1949, Paul Sadoul established one of the earliest lung function laboratories in France; he then developed a clinical unit specialising in a condition later known as chronic obstructive lung disease. He was promoted to associate professor in 1955 and full professor and head of the Medical Department of Respiratory Insufficiency at the Maringer Hospital in Nancy in 1960. During that period, patient care benefited from the clinical research carried out in the lung function laboratory. The importance of this research was acknowledged by the establishment of the INSERM research unit number 14. Co-operation between clinical and basic investigators continued. Optimisation of mechanical ventilation benefited from René Peslin's basic research on lung mechanics and ventilators [2]. Acid–base management of lung failure benefited from Claude Saunier's work in the laboratory [3]. Paul Sadoul is also considered one of the pioneers of respiratory intensive care in France [4, 5]. He substituted instrumental invasive ventilation with a noninvasive mask technique. He also developed long-term home oxygen … ER -