[A brief history of mastoidectomy. Contribution of Jean-Louis Petit (1674-1750)].

The article is dedicated to the 350th anniversary of the birth and 275th anniversary of the death of the great French surgeon Jean-Louis Petit (1674-1750), who made an invaluable contribution to various branches of theoretical and practical medicine, including otolaryngology. Petit was the first who purposefully perform trepanation of the mastoid process in mastoiditis to drain mastoid cells filled with pus. It was described in his work "Traité des maladies chirurgicales", published posthumously in 1774. Subsequently, Hermann Schwartze (1837-1910) took into account J.-L. Petit's experience and improved the technique of mastoidectomy.