Gabriel Casuso Roque

Dr. Gabriel Casuso Roque was not only a founder of Cuban Gynecology and Obstetrics, in which he made important contributions especially in the field of puerperal infection, but also through his energetic dissemination and scientific popularization of antiseptic and aseptic precepts contributed to the development of surgery in our country.

He was born in the small town of Guamutas in Matanzas. At age 16, in 1867, he received his Bachelor's degree and enrolled in the University of La Habana to begin his medical studies; but very soon he abandoned them to join the struggle for Cuba's independence, recently begun by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes at the sugar mill La Demajagua on October 10, 1868.

In Nassau he joined General Quesada's expedition and soon joined the insurgent forces where he remained for four years, after which he was taken prisoner. Being considered ill with advanced pulmonary tuberculosis he was sent to Spain, where he suffered an abscess that both confirmed the diagnosis of a hepatic abscess and initiated his recovery.

He resumed his medical studies and completed his degree in 1874, as well as his doctorate in January 1875, at the Central University of Madrid. But his medical vocation drove him to move to Paris and continue his medical studies, earning his doctorate at the Sorbonne in June 1879, thanks to the successful defense of his thesis on the treatment of vesico-vaginal fistulas. It was during this period that he accumulated surgical experience in the services of professors Tillaux and Verneuil; upon his return to Cuba he soon won the position of surgeon at the San Felipe y Santiago hospital.

With the death of Dr. Félix Giralt Figarola, the chair of Obstetrics Clinic became vacant. In the competitive examination for it, Casuso competed along with Drs. Serapio Arteaga, Bernardo Figueredo García and Serafín Sabucedo y García; these examinations were won by Dr. Serapio Arteaga. However, two years later, in 1884, he entered the Faculty of Medicine as an honorary professor. A devotee of medical education, "he carried a teacher within and wherever he gathered some students or physicians around him, he would improvise a lecture and hold an audience," for he knew very well the art of transmitting his ideas and achieving corrections of errors. Defending antiseptic practices, whose lack of knowledge and prejudices against them were deeply rooted, he would say: "It is a crime for the laggard who follows the old rules and only uses lamp oil in his care of births."

A prolific publisher, his works appeared in the Crónica Médica Quirúrgica de La Habana. His scientific life unfolded as an active member of the Society of Clinical Studies of La Habana, a corporation presided over by Dr. Serafín Gallardo and in which he presented his admission work on Herniotomy, followed by periodic communications on varied surgical topics, almost always discoursing on Lister's doctrine and the advantages, eminently prophylactic, of antiseptic procedures and aseptic methods in general.

His admission to the Royal Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences of La Habana took place on October 27, 1885, although his reception address on "Progress of Gynecology in Cuba" was delivered the following year and was answered by Dr. Luis Montané. In his academic debates he always demonstrated great capacity and clear medical-surgical vision; among these the defense of a regulation for midwives, especially demanding in antiseptic precautions, stands out, which became an Academy success recognized in the Spanish press.

Now as auxiliary professor, in charge of the substitution of the Surgery group, he was responsible for the chair of Obstetrics, General Pathology of Women and Children in the course of 1885-1886. In June 1887, on the occasion of the death of Dr. Félix Núñez de Villavicencio y Rossié, Casuso took over the position of permanent auxiliary professor in Obstetrics Clinic. And after the death of Dr. Arteaga (Mexico 1888) and with Dr. Pablo Valencia García occupying the chair of Obstetrics Clinic, Dr. Casuso filled the vacancy left by the former in the chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology, which was the name it had, since the 1887 reform, of Obstetrics, General Pathology of Women and Children, since that year pediatric teaching was separated from it.

In 1890 he founded the journal "El Progreso Médico", a publication to which he dedicated numerous works in which he developed an energetic campaign in favor of antisepsis and its techniques, as at that time septic complications, both in general surgical practice and in gynecological and obstetric practice, were very frequent and accompanied by very high mortality. He also addressed in his publications various and pressing gynecological-obstetric chapters such as ovarian cysts, eclampsia, incomplete abortion and the resulting placental retention, very frequently associated with serious infections.

In new competitive examinations (1892), he won the permanent position of the chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology, competing with Drs. Moreno de la Torre and Barrera, alternating the professorship with Dr. Valencia, until the latter's death (Nov. 1893). From then on Casuso took charge of both chairs assisted by Dr. Jorge Le Roy y Cassá. (Delgado García).

Among his publications are more than one hundred fifty works, the lectures from his chair and the exercises from his competitive examinations. He translated together with Dr. Rafael Weiss the book "Antisepsis in Gynecology and Obstetrics."

We list some titles of his publications in the Annals of the Academy of Sciences:

"Puerperal Asepsia." (1891)
"Multicellular mucoid cystadenoma of the right ovary." (1889)
"Communication on chloroform anesthesia." (1891)
"Considerations on some operated cases." (1893)
"The obstetrician's consultation in cases of placental retention." (1893)
"Eclampsia and its treatment." (1893)
"Extrauterine pregnancy." (1894) Vol. XXX pp. 184-187
"Strangulated hernia. Operative cure." (1889)
"Hysterectomies by abdominal and vaginal route." (1896)
"Total laparo-hysterectomy for subperitoneal fibroma. Vol. XXXI pp. 546-552"
"Report in case followed for death due to puerperal septicemia." (1894)
"Observations on the work of Dr. Ignacio Plasencia on radical cure of Hernias." (1887)
"Dermoid cyst of the right ovary. Vol. XXIV. pp. 343-347"
"Operative cure of hernia." (1888)
"Progress of Gynecology in Cuba." (1887)
"Prophylaxis of puerperal fever." (1891)

Casuso served as dean of the Faculty of Medicine on three occasions after 1908 and as rector of the University of La Habana until 1921. Dr. Gabriel Casuso Roque died on May 17, 1923.