{{Short description|Canadian doctor, neurologist, pathologist}} thumb '''Charles Miller Fisher''' (December 5, 1913, Waterloo, Ontario – April 14, 2012, Albany, New York) was a Canadian neurologist whose notable contributions include the first detailed descriptions of lacunar strokes, the identification of transient ischemic attacks as stroke precursors, the identification of the link between carotid atherosclerosis and stroke, and the description of a variant form of Guillain–Barré syndrome which bears his name.<ref name=Estol1996 /><ref name=harvardcrimson />
==Education and career== Fisher received a B.A. from Victoria University in Toronto in 1935. He then attended the University of Toronto Medical School, where he received his M.D. in 1938. He continued training at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal.<ref name=massgen />
During World War II, Fisher served as a surgical lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Navy, and was aboard HMS ''Voltaire'' when it was sunk by German gunfire in 1941 off the coast of Cape Verde. Fisher was captured and spent 3.5 years in a German prison camp, until late 1944 when he was released.<ref name=strokeobit />
Following his return to Canada, Fisher began his residency at McGill University at the Royal Victoria Hospital. In 1946 he worked as a Fellow at the Montreal Neurological Institute of McGill University.<ref name=massgen /> He then began working at Massachusetts General Hospital on the stroke service, beginning a long career in stroke neurology.<ref name=MillerFisher2001 />
==Contributions== Fisher is credited with describing the clinical syndrome of the transient ischemic attack ("mini-stroke").<ref name=Estol1996/> Fisher proved, by a series of pathological studies, the relationship between stroke and the formation of blood clots in the heart in patients with atrial fibrillation. He also showed the relationship between stroke and carotid artery stenosis, which made preventive surgery possible and greatly reduced the incidence of subsequent strokes.<ref name=Estol1996/> He was a founder of Massachusetts General Hospital Stroke Service.<ref name=MGHstroke>{{cite web|last1=Anonymous|title=Founders|url=http://www2.massgeneral.org/stopstroke/strokeHistory.aspx|website=Stroke Service|publisher=Massachusetts General Hospital|accessdate=29 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208103920/http://www2.massgeneral.org/stopstroke/strokeHistory.aspx|archive-date=8 December 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> He contributed greatly towards the current use of anticoagulants for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation.<ref name=MillerFisher2001/>
He contributed greatly to the understanding of stroke, more specifically carotid artery disease<ref name=Estol1996/><ref name=MillerFisher2001/> and lacunar infarcts and their syndromes. With regard to the lacunar syndromes he described the concept,<ref name='lac1' /> the "pure motor stroke",<ref name='lac2' /> the "pure sensory stroke",<ref name='lac3' /> and the mechanism underlying the different stroke syndromes.<ref name='lac4' /><ref name='lac5' /><ref name='lac6' />
He made a number of contributions to the understanding of Cervical artery dissection (carotid artery dissection and vertebral artery dissection) in the 1970s,<ref name=MillerFisher2001/> and that of subarachnoid hemorrhage due to cerebral aneurysms.<ref name=MillerFisher2001/>
In 1956, he reported a variant of Guillain–Barré syndrome, nowadays known as Miller Fisher Syndrome.<ref name=fisher1956 />
The "Fisher test" is also used to describe the CSF tap test which may be required in the diagnosis of normal pressure hydrocephalus.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Adams |first1=RD |last2=Fisher |first2=CM |last3=Hakim |first3=S |last4=Ojemann |first4=RG |last5=Sweet |first5=WH |title=Symptomatic Occult Hydrocephalus with Normal Cerebrospinal-Fluid Pressure — A Treatable Syndrome |journal=New England Journal of Medicine |date=1965 |volume=273 |page=117-126 |doi=10.1056/NEJM196507152730301 |pmid=14303656}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|vauthors=Collins LG, Rovner BN, Marenberg MM|veditors=Arenson C, Busby-Whitehead J, Brummel-Smith K, O'Brien JG, Palmer MH, Reichel W|title=Reichel's care of the elderly : clinical aspects of aging.|date=2009|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=9780521869294|page=180|edition=6th |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=74FPjVwzGDUC&dq=%22fisher%20test%22%20NPH&pg=PA180|chapter=Evaluation and Management of Dementia}}</ref>
==Personal life== C. Miller Fisher was married to Doris M. Fisher for 68 years until her death in 2008. He had two sons and one daughter.<ref name=harvardcrimson />
==Awards and honors== In 1952 he was the recipient of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada's Prize in Medicine, and in 1998 he entered the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.<ref name=Estol1996 />
==Death== Fisher died April 14, 2012, in St. Peter's Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Albany, New York. He was 98 years old.<ref name=bostonglobe />
==References== <references> <ref name=Estol1996>{{cite journal |author=Estol CJ |title=Dr C. Miller Fisher and the history of carotid artery disease |journal=Stroke |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=559–66 |date=March 1996 |pmid=8610329 |doi= 10.1161/01.str.27.3.559|url=http://stroke.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/27/3/559|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
<ref name=harvardcrimson>{{cite web|url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/5/2/hms-clinician-and-professor-dies-at-98/ |title=HMS Professor C. Miller Fisher Dies at 98 | News | The Harvard Crimson |publisher=Thecrimson.com |date=1913-12-05 |accessdate=2012-05-04}}</ref>
<ref name=MillerFisher2001>{{cite journal |author=Fisher CM |title=A career in cerebrovascular disease: a personal account |journal=Stroke |volume=32 |issue=11 |pages=2719–24 |date=November 2001 |pmid=11692045 |doi=10.1161/hs1101.098765 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
<ref name=fisher1956>{{cite journal | author=Fisher CM | title=An unusual variant of acute idiopathic polyneuritis (syndrome of ophthalmolplegia, ataxia and areflexia) | journal=N. Engl. J. Med. | year=1956 | volume=255 | issue=2 | pages=57–65 | pmid=13334797 | doi=10.1056/NEJM195607122550201}}</ref>
<ref name='lac1'>{{cite journal |author=Fisher CM |title=Lacunes: small, deep cerebral infarcts |journal=Neurology |volume=15 |issue= 8|pages=774–84 |date=August 1965 |pmid=14315302 |doi=10.1212/wnl.15.8.774|doi-access=free }}</ref>
<ref name='lac2'>{{cite journal |vauthors=Fisher CM, Curry HB |title=Pure motor hemiplegia of vascular origin |journal=Arch. Neurol. |volume=13 |pages=30–44 |date=July 1965 |pmid=14314272 |doi=10.1001/archneur.1965.00470010034005}}</ref>
<ref name='lac3'>{{cite journal |author=Fisher CM |title=Pure sensory stroke involving face, arm and leg |journal=Neurology |volume=15 |pages=76–80 |date=January 1965 |pmid=14257831 |doi=10.1212/wnl.15.1.76|s2cid=37516746 }}</ref>
<ref name='lac4'>{{cite journal |author=Fisher CM |title=The arterial lesions underlying lacunes |journal=Acta Neuropathol. |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=1–15 |date=December 1968 |pmid=5708546 |doi=10.1007/BF00685305|s2cid=6942826 }}</ref>
<ref name='lac5'>{{cite journal |author=Fisher CM |title=Lacunar strokes and infarcts: a review |journal=Neurology |volume=32 |issue=8 |pages=871–6 |date=August 1982 |pmid=7048128 |doi=10.1212/wnl.32.8.871|s2cid=5541621 }}</ref>
<ref name='lac6'>{{cite journal|author=Fisher CM | title=Lacunar infarcts: a review | journal=Cerebrovasc Dis | year=1991 |volume=1|issue=6 | pages=311–20 | doi=10.1159/000108861}}</ref>
<ref name=massgen>{{cite web| title=Fisher, C. Miller, MD| url=http://www2.massgeneral.org/history/catalogueDetails.asp?catalogueNo=45| accessdate=11 September 2014| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304055317/http://www2.massgeneral.org/history/catalogueDetails.asp?catalogueNo=45| archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref>
<ref name=bostonglobe>{{cite news|last1=Lawrence|first1=J.M.|title=Dr. C. Miller Fisher; neurologist advanced study of strokes|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/04/30/miller-fisher-neurologist-advanced-study-strokes/0q5PoRVHyjHDIyXNNdMySK/story.html|accessdate=14 September 2014|work=Boston Globe|date=May 1, 2012}}</ref>\
<ref name=strokeobit>{{cite journal|author=((J.P. Mohr, MD, MS))|author2=Louis R. Caplan, MD|author3=J. Philip Kistler, MD|title=C. Miller Fisher: An Appreciation|journal=Stroke|date=Jul 1, 2012|volume=43|issue=7|pages=1739–1740|doi=10.1161/STROKEAHA.112.661512|url=http://stroke.ahajournals.org/content/43/7/1739.full|accessdate=14 September 2014|doi-access=free}}</ref> </references>
==External links== * {{WhoNamedIt|doctor|1466}} *[http://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/med00182/catalog C. Miller Fisher Papers, 1827-2004 (inclusive). H MS c230. Harvard Medical Library, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Boston, Mass.]
{{Canadian Medical Hall of Fame}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisher, C. Miller}} Category:Canadian expatriates in the United States Category:Canadian neurologists Category:Alumni of Victoria University, Toronto Category:1913 births Category:2012 deaths Category:People from Waterloo, Ontario Category:Temerty Faculty of Medicine alumni