Dr. Louis A. Buie, Pioneer Mayo Proctologist

Historical Projiles ofMa!fo Dr. Louis A. Buie, Pioneer Mayo Proctologist Louis A. Buie was born in Kingstree, South Carolina, on JuI. 30, 1890. He received a B.A. degree from the University of South Carolina in 1911 and an M.D. degree from the University of Maryland in 1915. He was a surgical resident at the University of Maryland Hospital in 1915 and was in charge of the Kernan Hospital in Baltimore in 1916. He conducted orthopedic clinics at the University of Maryland dispensary in 1916 and 1917. Dr. Buie entered the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in 1917. After serving in the US Army between 1918 and 1919, he returned to Mayo as a consultant in 1919. Encouraged by Dr. William J. Mayo, he organized the Section on Proctology and was head of that section until he became a senior consultant in 1953. In addition, Dr. Buie was a professor ofproctology in the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine. When Dr. Buie became interested in the field of proctology and proctologic surgery, the specialty was disorganized and ill defined. Often, the principles of treatment were not based on a rational foundation or were so far behind the advances in related branches of medicine that they were virtually obsolete. Dr. Buie effected improvements in the entire field of proctology, and he won wide recognition for his successes in these undertakings. Dr. Buie made numerous contributions to the specialty. His first book, Proctoscopic Examination and the Treatment of Hemorrhoids and Anal Pruritus, was published by W. B. Saunders Company in 1931. He coauthored The Colon, Rectum, and Anus, published by Saunders in 1932, with Drs. Fred W. Rankin and J. Arnold Bargen. His Practical Proctology (Saunders, 1937) was widely accepted in the United States and abroad; a Spanish translation was published in Brazil in 1944, and an enlarged English edition was issued in 1960. Dr. Buie helped establish the journal Diseases ofthe Colon and Rectum in 1957 and served as its editor from 1957 to 1967. In addition, he designed several instruments and apparatuses, including the Buie sigmoidoscope, the Buie proctoscopic table, and the Buie forceps used to obtain tissue specimens for biopsy. Active in professional organizations, Dr. Buie served as president of the American Proctologic Society from 1927 to 1928 and from 1934 to 1935. He was made a fellow of the American College of Surgeons in 1929. He was a founder of the American Board of Proctology in 1934 and served as its president in 1934 and 1935. Dr. Buie was a member of the central certifying committee in proctology of the American Board of Surgery from 1936 to 1949 and was certified in proctologic surgery in 1942. He was chairman of the Section on Gastroenterology and Proctology of the American Medical Association (AMA) between 1936 and 1937 and was president of the Minnesota State Medical Association in 1947. Dr. Buie was interested in the problems that physicians encountered in their relationships with other physicians and with the public. From 1941 to 1955, he was a member of the House of Delegates of the AMA, and from 1945 to 1960, he served on its judicial council. In 1946, he joined the AMA Committee on Revision of the Constitution and Bylaws, and in 1951, he became chairman of the Council on the Constitution and Bylaws. Through these appointments, Buie had a major role in the revision of the Principles ofMedical Ethics of the AMA. Between 1949 and 1970, he was a member of the Advisory Board for Medical Specialties (later known as the American Board of Medical Specialties), serving as a member of the Committee on Standards and Examinations from 1953 to 1955 and as secretary-treasurer of the board from 1958 to 1970. Dr. Buie retired from Mayo in 1955. He died in Rochester, Minnesota, on Jul. 2, 1975. Clark W. Nelson, B.S. Emeritus Mayo Archivist

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© 1996 Mayo Foundation/or Medical Education and Research

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