Foreign scientists on the contribution of Serbian physician and scientist Dr. Lazar K. Lazarević to medical science

Abstract

Dr. Lazar K. Lazarević (1851–1890, Julian calendar / 1891, Gregorian calendar) was an exceptional Serbian physician, scientist, writer and translator. During his short life and his close to 11-year-long professional career (1879–1890), Dr. Lazarević authored 78 scientific papers and presentations in various branches of medicine. His greatest contribution to the field of neurology and to medical science in general is his description of the straight leg raising test. The article titled “Ischiac postica Cotunnii – One contribution to its differential diagnosis” was published in the Serbian language (in Cyrillic alphabet) in the Serbian Archives of Medicine in 1880. The article was translated to German and republished in Vienna in 1884 in Allgemeine Wiener medizinische Zeitung. The straight leg raising test is usually called Lasègue’s test/sign, after the French clinician Charles Lasègue, although he never described it. However, there are numerous authors who admit that Lasègue never published the description of the straight leg raising test, and instead give full credits for its discovery to Dr. Lazarević. Our objective in this article is to highlight the major literature written by foreign scientists who give credit to Dr. Lazarević for his contribution to medical science.