Bleasel, Kevin Fabian (1924 - 2018)
by
 
Noel Dan

Asset Name
E009872 - Bleasel, Kevin Fabian (1924 - 2018)

Title
Bleasel, Kevin Fabian (1924 - 2018)

Author
Noel Dan

Identifier
RCS: E009872

Publisher
The Royal College of Surgeons of England

Publication Date
2020-11-24
 
05/01/2022

Subject
Medical Obituaries

Contributor
The Bleasel Family

Description
Obituary for Bleasel, Kevin Fabian (1924 - 2018), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Language
English

Source
IsPartOf Plarr's Lives of the Fellows

Date of Birth
13 April 1924

Date of Death
7 June 2018

Place of Death
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Occupation
Neurosurgeon

Titles/Qualifications
MB BS Sydney 1946
 
FRCS 1951
 
FRACS
 
AO 1990

Details
Kevin Bleasel graduated in Medicine from the University of Sydney in 1946 and was appointed as a Resident at St Vincent’s Hospital to Douglas Miller. In 1951 he achieved his FRCS in General Surgery and after completing general surgical training he undertook training at The National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Queens Square, London in 1952. He returned to St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney in 1954 and was also appointed to the Lewisham Hospital at that time. He was Head of Neurosurgery at St Vincent’s Hospital for many years and introduced Neurosurgical training to St Vincent’s. His innovations included introducing carotid endarterectomy to St Vincent’s. He designed a stereotactic frame in conjunction with a physicist at The University of New South Wales which was used successfully to achieve localisation during stereotactic treatment of Parkinson’s disease. After a scholarship in the United States in 1963 he introduced cryogenic surgery for Parkinson’s disease to Australia. He also introduced cryogenic hypophysectomy for malignant bone pain. Amongst other procedures he introduced balloon compression for trigeminal neuralgia. He subsequently introduced transsphenoidal pituitary surgery which had been used in the early 20th Century but was abandoned for open craniotomy. He used cryogenic techniques for the pituitary with great success. He was an outstanding and skilful surgeon who related well to his patients and they admired him greatly as did his colleagues. L’Association Medicale Francophone D’Australie which became a significant organisation was created in 1969 on the initiative of Kevin and a few similarly motivated French speaking and Francophile Australian doctors. The organisation thrived for many decades. Amongst his honours he received The Officer of the Order of Australia in 1990 and in 2002 the Chevalier de L'Order National du Merite of France. His wife, Marianne, predeceased him. They had 5 children – Andrew, Simon (deceased), Virginia, Nicholas and Fabian and eight grandchildren.

Sources
*In Memoriam* www.surgeons.org/about-racs/about-the-college-of-surgeons/in-memoriam

Rights
Republished by kind permission of the President and Council of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons

Collection
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows

Format
Obituary

Format
Asset

Asset Path
Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009800-E009899