André Levret

André Levret (1703 to 1780) was a French obstetrician who practised medicine in Paris, where he was born. He was a contemporary of the Scottish obstetrician William Smellie and, with Jean-Louis Baudelocque, helped advance the science of obstetrics in eighteenth century France. Many consider him the most influential figure in French obstetrics of that century. He is known for his work on breech maneuvers and on Caesarean sections, wrote several influential books on obstetrics, and attracted students from across Europe, among them the German obstetrician Johann Lukas Boër. He is credited with improving the birth forceps by adding a pelvic curve to the instrument. A classical procedure for assisted breech delivery is sometimes called the Mauriceau-Levret manipulation, after Levret and the physician François Mauriceau. He was a member of the Académie Royale de Chirurgie. His principal works include a treatise on difficult deliveries and a treatise on birthing, published in Paris in the eighteenth century.