Last September, Dr. José María Aragonés Ollé passed away. His professional activity was closely related to Barcelonese and Spanish neurology. He was born on 20th September 1928; he started his primary and secondary school studies at the Escuelas Pías, and obtained his secondary school certificate in 1946.
Dr. Aragonés started his studies in medicine at the Faculty of Barcelona in the autumn of 1947. His vocation for neurology started early on, as when he enrolled in the third year of his degree course in 1950, he also joined the Neurology Department under the Medical Pathologist Professor Gibert Queraltó as an internal student. The department was run by Dr. Oliveras de la Riva, a neurologist with excellent clinical and anatomical training, the latter acquired with Dr. Fernando de Castro at the Instituto Ramón y Cajal of Madrid and the University of Illinois with the famous Dr. Bailey.
Under the tutelage and teaching of Dr. Oliveras de la Riva, Dr. Aragonés acquired the basic principles of clinical symptoms and semiology, not only neurological but also psychiatric.
He finished his degree course in 1953. That same year he joined Dr. Oliveras de la Riva's Department as an assistant doctor; in 1956, without leaving his previous post, he joined the Neurosurgery Department of Dr. Adolfo Ley Gracia and was in charge of this service's out-patients Department at the Hospital Clínico, Barcelona. In 1956, extending his neurological training, he attended a post-graduate course at the Institute of Neurology at the National Hospital (Queen's Square), London.
The collaboration with Dr. Ley expanded Dr. Aragonés’ field of clinical training. At the suggestion of that neurosurgeon, he moved to the Ear Nose and Throat Department of Righospitalet in Copenhagen, run by Professor Christiansen. During his stay, he learnt about functional cochlear-vestibular exploration techniques and electronystagmography. On his return to Barcelona, he organised a department for functional cochlear-vestibular exploration and electronystagmography, becoming a pioneer at that time in the study and diagnosis of vertiginous syndromes and disorders of balance. The experience acquired with helping and studying balance disorders was a determining factor in preparing his doctoral thesis, entitled “Topographic diagnostic value of vestibulometry in posterior fossa tumours,” which he presented in 1974 and received a mark of summa cum laude and a special distinction award.
In 1962, Dr. Aragonés obtained a specialist degree in Neurology and Psychiatry, and continued developing his professional career in the departments of Dr. Oliveras and Dr. Ley. In 1968, he obtained the post of attending physician via competitive internship examination and, in 1981, that of head of department in the Neurology Department. In 1973, he was hired as an assistant professor by the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Barcelona, teaching neurology to 5th-year students. Later he was named professor at the Professional School of Neurology at the Hospital Clínico (Barcelona) and awarded degrees in the speciality during the period 1968–1981 under the supervision of Dr. Oliveras de la Riva. Dr. Aragonés performed these duties until he retired in 1995, but continued practising privately until 2006.
Dr. Aragonés expanded his teaching activities by giving conferences and training courses on the symptoms and examination of vestibular pathology. In 1963, he imparted various lectures at the International Symposium on the pathology of the vestibular apparatus, organised at the Hospital de San Pablo by Dr. Capellá. In 1970, he gave various lectures on a course on nystagmus and electromyography, organised by the Catalan ENT Society together with the Institute of Education Sciences. During 1990–1994, he was president of the Spanish Society of Oto-Neuro-Ophthalmology, being the organiser and president of this society's 6th Congress.
Dr. Aragonés gave many speeches at the annual meetings and congresses of the Spanish Society of Neurology, those devoted to manifestations of chronic vertigo in brain tumours and head injuries with a study of the vestibular and nystagmus tests being especially highlighted. Among his publications we remember his collaboration in the monograph “Diagnosis of vertigo” (1970), written jointly with another neurologist, Dr. Obach Tuca, and with the ENT specialists Abelló, García Piris and Pinart. Special mention is due his chapter “Central vestibular disorders” in the book Otorhinolaryngology (1992), a work by Dr. Abelló and Professor Traserra.
Other publications that were also very clinically important were “Neuromuscular disorders and syndromes in potassium metabolism disorders” with Drs. Oliveras and Obach (Medicina Clínica, 1968), «Aspects Neurologiques de l¿hystiocytose X» (Revue Neurologique [extrait], 1971), «Progressive distal muscular dystrophy. Welander Distal myopathy» (Medicina Clínica, 1973) and «Hydrocephaly hidden to normal blood pressure» with Drs. Obach, Oliveras and Verdaguer (Psychiatry Department Journal at the Faculty of Medicine in Barcelona, 1980).
He attended and actively participated in International Neurology Congresses held in Brussels (1957), Barcelona (1973), Kyoto (1981) and Hamburg (1985).
While carrying out his professional and teaching activity, Dr. Aragonés showed great empathy, creating many friendships among his colleagues and students.
Among his hobbies we must highlight boating, a sport in which he took part in the speciality of skate sailing. Due to his enthusiasm for this sport, he was the President for many years of the Club Náutico in Calafell, a coastal town near to Tarragona where he spent his holidays.
He was aware that he had a serious vascular process and he died a Christian death in Barcelona on 2nd September 2010. May he rest in peace.
Please cite this article as: Balcells Riba M. In memoriam: Dr. José María Aragonés Ollé. Neurología. 2011;26:570-1.
